Chateau Chronicles – The Hunt
Jet lag has me awake every morning at 4:30 am, so I’ve had rather a lot of time to toss and turn and try to sort through my last two weeks in France traipsing through the French countryside looking at properties. If I had hoped that my trip might extinguish my little chateau obsession, I was sorely mistaken. If anything, it’s kindled it. I’m right back on all the French real estate websites, seeking new listings, or re-contemplating some of the properties I didn’t have a chance to see.
My friend Kristine who lives her life by way of spreadsheets (it a good way) helped me begin to articulate my goals in this little endeavor. Why on earth would I want to do this? And where is this obsession coming from?
My Goals in Buying a Chateau in France
#1 – Community
I’m sure this goal is something everyone is feeling right now, as the pandemic has closeted us all away in our homes, with precious little time with what I have come to call my community – that group of family and friends who keep us sane, who make us laugh, give us purpose and a sense of belonging. I have always had insecurities around my own sense of community (as we all do), mostly because I am actually quite an insular person, and I very much like my alone time. I am one of those people who can seem to be outwardly social, but in reality, I often feel quite lonely in a crowd. I need lots of alone time after big social events.
So why on earth would I move 5,000 miles away from the people who know me best to a country where I don’t even speak the language?
I don’t have a good answer to this, other than in France, the lifestyle is geared toward social interaction and eating. Everything shuts down from 12-2 so people can gather for long lunches. After work, people gather in cafés for apéritifs and restaurants don’t open until 7:30 or 8 pm for long, multi-course dinners. It’s clear to me that if I lived in a small town in France, I would quickly get to know the baker, the butcher, the grocer, as I would shop each day rather than every 10 days in a large anonymous grocery store. Would I ever be fully accepted by a small French community? Probably not. Would most of my friends actually wind up being other ex-pats? Most likely.
But, I would definitely meet new people and grow a whole new community while maintaining the one I have here and elsewhere. I’ve lived so many different places at this point, that I know this to be true. I also learned there is quite a thriving community of chateau DIY YouTubers with whom I could connect. They all help each other out and often appear in one another’s videos. This group could also help with the potential marketing of whatever endeavor I choose to sustain the chateau.
The other aspect of this is that if I did buy a big, fat chateau with lots of rooms, I could grow my own community, as Stephanie has at Chateau Laland. Her friends and family now come regularly to help out, volunteer and so her chateau is always teeming with people. Would I want this? I’m not sure. But I’m curious to try it. Of course, the fear is that everyone will visit in the first year or two, and then by year three, I’m left to ramble around alone in a big huge chateau.
#2 – Beauty
I’m always seeking beauty in my life or trying to create it where I can. I don’t think I need to say that I would find this in spades in France. A chateau would be the ultimate in beautiful settings.
#3 – A House Project
Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good house project. I know I wouldn’t be able to do a lot of the work on a chateau on my own, but I am a good project manager and generally have a pretty good vision, along with a deep respect for the historical significance of any property I am lucky enough to steward. Finding a run-down chateau to fix up is kind of the ultimate.
#4 – Retreats
My hope is that this property (if I find the right one), could ultimately sustain itself. My vision would be to organize 4-5 art/writing/healing retreats each year where people could come and learn and for a week or so become part of an intimate community in a beautiful setting. Also depending on the property, I could Airbnb rooms, or turn separate outbuildings (gites) into self-sufficient rental units. The income generated would then fund ongoing house projects and operating costs. This also ties into #1 in terms of creating a community around the property.
Ok, now the fun stuff…
The Properties I Saw
Below, you can see each property I visited, along with the video I made (sorry, my videos are pretty crappy, but I’m learning).
Property #1 – Maison in Marciac
Overall impression:
This house was very beautiful and was in a fun town that hosts a 4-week Jazz festival every summer that attracts the likes of Sting and its founder Wynton Marsalis. It has a separate Gite (rental dwelling) that can be rented out during the festival at a price that covers most of the costs of running the house for the year. It also has another house that would make a great art studio with a second-floor loft bedroom (hopefully without all the taxidermy). The downside to this one for me is that there was no way to have separate living quarters if I wanted to rent out any of the rooms in the main house, so it would be difficult to carve out a private space unless I wanted to renovate the attic into an owner’s suite. But then I’d be living on the third floor which is a lot of stairs.
Property #2 – Chateau in Langon
Overall Impression:
I wanted to love this one. It was the one I was excited to see since it was the only one I was seeing that really looked like a chateau. While it did have some lovely features (the interior chapel was amazing!), it was so disappointing to see how poorly it had been cared for and how many original features had been lost. Coupled with its proximity to a busy highway and a not-so-interesting town, I left disappointed.
Property #3 – Maison in St. Sever
Overall Impression:
This one I didn’t really expect to like much at all, but of all the properties I saw, it was the most intact in terms of original features and had the most surprising garden - park really - all just a block from the town’s main square. It had an amazing greenhouse with a beautiful porticoed terrace on top, and although a ruin, it had a separate outbuilding that could, in theory, be renovated into a whole other rental gite. The other plus with this one was that the original servant’s quarters could be made into quite an amazing suite, allowing me to rent out the rooms in the other part of the house and still maintain my privacy. The problem, of course, is the price of this one is quite high and for the same price, I could buy a real chateau-y chateau. This house is handsome but rather plain when compared with a chateau.
Still, the sense of history about this one was incredible as it has been in the same family for hundreds of years. There were books and furniture that were clearly incredibly old. I actually picked up a tiny little book that was an almanac from 1792!
With this one and the one in Marciac (#1), I realized I really liked the idea of living in a walkable community, which is quite important to me. Many of the chateau-y chateaux are much more remote, and I’d really be living more in the country. If I ran retreats and whatnot, it seems like a good thing that people could just walk into town for dinner on their own without me having to cook all the time.
Property #4 – Maison in Salies-de-Béarn
Overall Impression:
This house is already being run as a B&B in a town well known for its thermal spa. A river runs through the town, making it quite pretty and clearly very old, with many 17th century buildings and bridges. The house is directly on the river which worried me because of the possibility of flooding, though the realtor assured me that flooding wasn’t an issue (of course he did). For whatever reason, this house did nothing for me at all. Not sure why.
I had made a reservation to stay for two nights in Salies, and so after the morning viewing, I killed time until I could check-in. When I went to check-in, I realized I had inadvertently booked myself into the very house I had just seen, so had an awkward couple of mornings being served the most delicious breakfast (she had been a pastry chef) by the woman who had shown me the house! I felt bad since she kept asking me what I thought of the house and I kept trying to give her positive answers (in French), but I think she knew I wasn’t interested.
Property #5 – Chateau in Thermes D’Armagnac
Overall Impression:
This house was very beautiful, though rather remote and definitely the most expensive on the list. It had 8 bedrooms all with ensuites, and everything was done - roof, heat, electric, etc. It had lots of spaces to enable expansion if desired, including a large barn with an upper level that could be used as a banquet hall or yoga studio. The property was beautiful, but it was quite remote with the nearest town with amenities a 15 min drive away. I think the two horses and donkey (Martin) could come with the property if requested. I did love this one, but for some reason, it didn’t win my heart the way a couple of the others did. Strange.
Property #6 – Chateau des Chats
Overall Impression:
This 16th-century chateau was really unique. It had a drawbridge and a tower, though the tower roof had burned down in the 1990s. It would be very cool to rebuild the tower roofs (there were two) which could potentially create three rooms in the tower that are now uninhabitable.
The owner is an art restorer and so the property has an atelier with a gallery, studio office, and bathroom, which makes it quite attractive to me. The artist owner has painted all the rooms of the chateau very dark colors making the already dark house seem even darker. The video was taken at midday and I could barely see anything in the dark hallway. Also, there were two religious-y bas relief pieces built into the wall, with faces painted on them that are downright creepy. Would I have the heart to paint over all the work she put into the chateau over the past 12 years?
Despite all that, the place has a whole lot of charm and romance. Like, #4, it too is quite remote, a 10-minute drive to the nearest town with amenities. Although the price on this one is the lowest of all the properties I saw, it will need new septic, roof (in some places), heat, probably electric and there was a room where they had bashed through the floor looking for a tunnel that connected the house with the nearby church. (??) The working kitchen is really small and narrow, so I think I would be tempted to relocate it, again adding to the cost. In the end, this one could wind up being the costliest of the bunch. But for reasons beyond my comprehension, this one kept bubbling to the surface for me.
Property #7 – The Bishop’s Summer House
Overall Impression:
This is another incredibly unique property. The house is literally built onto the back of a church and served as the Bishop’s summer home (from where I have no idea). There are many very old, original features in the house including the “maiden’s hearts” stone floors, fireplaces, etc. The original kitchen is on the ground floor, but the rest of the living quarters are on the first floor, where a small kitchen has been built. The ground floor is very charming though and it seems a shame to never use it, so I’d want to put the kitchen and living room there, but then everything else would be upstairs. For this reason, layout-wise it’s awkward.
The third floor is interesting with a large room that could be a big studio or divided into bedrooms, and then another area with two bedrooms and what could be two ensuite bathrooms, though they would need a lot of renovation. The electricity throughout the house was terrifying.
Also awkward are the outbuildings which unfortunately have no roofs. If they did, there would be 3 or 4 separate buildings that you could make into gites. The only problem is that they are kind of in the center of the garden, so the property seems divided in two.
Despite loving many of the features of this one and the fact that it is an in-town location, I ruled this one out.
Property #8 – The Chateau I Wish I’d Seen
Overall Impression:
It turns out that this Chateau is very close to the Chateau Des Chats (#6) and has the same realtor, though I didn’t figure that out until after I got home. When I asked him why he didn’t show it to me, given how close we were, he told me he thought it was out of my price range, though it’s almost the same price as the St. Sever house and the Chateau D’Armagnac.
He believes there are likely additional costs including bringing the septic up to code, upgrading electrics, and adding a new furnace. But this one is kind of the dream and is a 7 min drive to a cute little town, though there is a grocery store within walking distance. But there is a lake and an art studio outbuilding and a chapel tower and a stable and a ton of acreage, some of it rented.
It looks like it’s been on and off the market since 2019, which tells me there must be something wrong. I have looked at a couple of Chateaux that are near highways or chemical plants or quarries, but this one didn’t seem to have those issues. The owner is apparently in the process of raising the price, so maybe it’s just his price wrangling. This place would be the perfect YouTube-ready chateau and of course, would make a great retreat. It even has an outbuilding that’s an art studio.
I found the video online, taken in 2019 when it had been listed by a different realtor.
There are a couple of others that I saw as well, but I ruled them out pretty immediately so haven’t bothered to include them.
So now what? I’m not really sure. I guess I just sit and mull it all over for a bit. Maybe plan to go back in early spring? I have no idea. Perhaps a partner will appear to help?
Which one would you choose?