"Liebe auf den ersten Blick" - A lovely Chateau

'Love at first sight'

It is 27 years ago during one of my early visits to the Périgord

that I first saw this Château nearby us and fell in love with it.

The Château was built during the 17th and 18th Century
and is a fine example of the great Classical mansions in our area.

*

It looked unlived  in and I tried to find out what has happened.

I learned at that time that it belongs to an elderly woman 

with a goat farm which was close to the Château.

Locally she had a reputation for being rather eccentric.

And the Château, in all its crumbling state,

was for sale at around 4 to 4,5 million Francs (less than 700 000 Euros),

a large fortune at that time.

Whenever I passed it, I fantasised about living there, but......

The Château in the early 1990's

* 

As the years past it was slowly but surely crumbling away until it seemed that suddenly

windows broken, shutters missing or hanging off and walls collapsing.

The whole place was in a sorry state.  Nobody was interested in buying it and

spending another large fortune on restoring and maintaining this Château.

Finally it was bought about 10 years ago by, it is rumored,

a very rich company, definitely French.

Luckily, the lady in charge of all the work that had to be done

was determent to ensure that every detail

of what had to be repaired and replaced was authentic.

Lime stone finials, shutters, doors, windows, roofs, facade, outside walls,

floors, panelling and so on......

facing  East, Northeast

facing  West, Southwest

It now looks like it was originally,

just nicely faded which restores its charm.

I love it even more!

 *

The Romanesque church, L'Eglise Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption,

situated next to the Chateau, dates from the 12th Century

Le portail roman possede....

des chapiteaux sculptés d'animaux fabuleux
 

de figures géométriques

et de feuillage

*

The hamlet of  four - five houses close to the Château

looks all the happier now.

Bon weekend!

Remark:

All photos my own