Château Shopping (no. 3)
With threats of another lockdown in France we have been doing our best to get out and see properties. Last Tuesday we saw two on the same day which is exhausting! Each property requires at least three hours of poking and prodding, peering and peeking, examining and scrutinizing, along with a lot of oohing and awing, and occasional scratching of the head.
The first Château that we saw in the town of Avensac is a beauty. It is graceful and delicate and has great potential. What is lacks in presence is made up for in lovely proportions and the incredibly beautiful landscape. The Château is in the Gers which is one of our most favorite areas of France. Undulating hills of green farmland, dotted with adorable villages and the home of Armagnac!
Château d’Avensac
Elegant and delicate!
The Château was built in the 1830’s on the foundations of, and using the building materials of a much older Château (a very common occurrence). There are sections of the original Château still in existence and they are in ruins. The interiors have a Napoleonic feel to them, and definitely are 19th century. We have been struggling with 19th century properties, thinking that they are practically brand new and that we should focus on older ones. They also tend to have smaller rooms inside, more numerous and tighter. One can assume that eventually it was learned that smaller rooms were easier to heat, but perhaps it was simply fashion that drove spaces to shrink down.
Château d’Avensac is on our top list and we are scheduled to revisit it again. I have reservations as it seems too much a ‘Ladies’ (No jokes allowed!!!) Château, but we are keeping it in the top three.
Château number two
I had a bad feeling from the get go. The photographs were very intriguing and peaked our interest! But the price seemed too low, too much Château for so little… what was wrong??? The Agent instructed us to meet at the town square as opposed to the actual Château… hmmmm, why? Was he expecting we would leave before he arrived? I will say, that from the front of the Château one could easily fall in love. Similar to Château d’Avensac which we had seen that morning, but bigger, more imposing, and really beautiful in its desperate need for love… Just keep facing it!!! DO NOT turn around!!!
Château Lavelanet-de-Comminges
You turned around didn’t you! You saw it didn't you! The A64… One of Frances major freeways, four lanes of high speed traffic day and night. We were wooed with stories of ‘sounds of the crashing waves’, and decibel levels being lower than people talking right next to you, the difference being, you can tell the people to shut up!
The Châteaux has a very large section on the left side that had been added onto and modernized in the 1980’s. You could almost forgive that and look at ways to rework the additions and changes to make them blend and flow with the rest of the structure, but I am afraid I couldn’t move beyond the lovely sounds of the crashing waves, and all those people talking right next to me!
The search goes on!