Buy an abandoned castle7/26/2023 ![]() This last piece of the old manor would make a charming cottage today it consists of an upper and lower level, four bedrooms, and a kitchen. “The Château du Bouilh has an ‘escape or keep’ which is all that is left of the medieval part of the chateau,” says Linda. mansart / Flickr ©mansart / Flickr ©mansart / Flickr The 16th century escape keep / Wikipedia “The reason for the sale,” she says, “is that the current family cannot afford to run and maintain the château.” No kidding. “The chateau has been in two families since its construction by Jean-Frédéric de La Tour du Pin, owned the estate from 1524,” said Linda. The many titles of the maître (master) of the château gives a good idea of the clout they carried across France: Monsieur le Count of Paulin, Marquis of La Roche-Chalais, Marquis of Cenevières, Count of Chastelard, Vicomte of Tesson and of Ambleville, Vicomte of Calvignac, Baron of Cubzac and of Cubzaguais, Lord of Formarville, and lieutenant-général of the Kings armies in 1781. The noble house of Bouilh was owned by its first family since the 1300s and eventually, ownership shifted to another aristocratic family in the 17 th century – one that was also in extremely high standing. The entirety of the lot is a whopping 700,000 m² – to give you a bit of perspective on that, your average studio apartment in Paris is about 35 m². There are 30 bedrooms, numerous grand salons, a library, vaulted ceilings and vineyard a neo-gothic chapel, water tower, and seven hectares of caves for stashing your treasures (aka wine). It feels like a veritable Versailles, a compound of structures and follies that, in some cases, span back thousands of years. The most magical thing about the castle is that it doesn’t just consist of one grand building. “The main logis has not been lived in for nearly a century,” says Linda Matthew, the agent representing the home for Leggett who gave us the full dossier of its storied past. Naturally, we investigated its rich past, present, and the hopes for its future Lord or Lady. The entire château, interiors included, is for sale with a €7,500,000 price tag. But it’s stayed the sands of time – and isolation – long enough. It’s been the keeper of the most intimate secrets of Marie Antoinette’s court, with roots going back even to the Middle Ages. The “Château du Bouilh” was tailor made for the last King of France, and has been left virtually untouched since the country’s Revolution, from dusty armchairs to the cobwebbed curtains. Something in our gut told us that this castle, of the many we’ve fallen for, was to be different from the rest – and we were right. That of a curious, half-moon shaped castle unlike any other we’d seen before, tucked away in the quiet warmth of Bordeaux’s countryside. ![]() We held our breath as its story unfolded. ![]()
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