Château Shopping (no. 7)
Should we buy a stone ruin… or, please talk us out of it!
As winter drags on in the south of France, I keep myself entertained on instagram by looking at the lovely shots of Châteaux in the north, in the Loire Valley blanketed in snow. So beautiful! and I am so glad we are not there! Although it is somewhat chilly in the south, at least it is no longer freezing cold.
With the exception of a third visit to Château d’Avensac (Go Team Avensac!) scheduled for next week, contractor in tow, Château shopping has ground to a halt. We are desperate to look at properties, and there a few we would like to see, but no one seems to be in a hurry to sell their properties. Phones go unanswered and emails unread. I know that they will eventually get around to it, but these homeless boys are getting anxious!
When the calls do come in, our next visits will be to Ruins! Castles that have been left to basically rot. There are ruins of all kinds everywhere you go in France and it is one of my favorite things about being here, the ruins of a Château just call out to me! There is one we drive by on the motor way that just breaks my heart. Granted it was/is a late 19th century residence, but it once was incredibly beautiful, monstrous, and now a completely burned out, abandoned shell. Apparently a lot of shady goings on led to its downfall and it is a complete shame. At the same time abandoned structures like this are works of art, the leftovers, for good or bad, of what man once was, and completely compelling and fascinating.
The two Châteaux (more than one Château) that we attempting to see, that are in ruins, are fairly close to Carcassonne. One to the Northeast and one to the South. Château de Villarzel is to the northeast, and is in really poor condition. It soars above a small village and is imposing, impressive, (in that really medieval Knights in shining armor kind of way), and frightening all at the same time.
Château de Villarzel
Why a Ruin you may ask… That is a really good question and I am not sure I have a sane answer. There is just something so enticing about taking on the rescue of one of these once incredible castles. We know that they do not fulfill the romantic vision of a French Château, at least from the outside, but they are magical in their own way. This one in particular may be too far gone for our pocketbook - the interior was described as a single ground floor with three story cathedral ceilings, and fireplaces floating on the walls above you. Translation… all of the floors between the ground floor and the roof have collapsed in on themselves. Now if that doesn't make you run screaming for the hills, nothing will. Add to that, the Château is built of brick, has been standing for five hundred years, and there are cracks in the walls and towers that could be doorways… I am think of running for the hills myself!!!
The second Château on our tour of “should you buy a stone ruin”, is called Château de la Serpent. The Château of the Snake! La Serpent also sits on the edge of a tiny village and it is truly massive, dwarfing the village it protects.
Château de la Serpent
This is the one we really want to get inside of. In the picture above, the Château is to the right, the village to the left. The way into the Castle is through a pair of mysterious wooden gates in the village itself. We know very little of la Serpent, except that it was built in the 1600’s and hasn’t changed much since. From Wikipédia - The current building was built on the site of an older fortified castle dating from the Middle Ages.
I found the below written description from 1908 which has made me want to see inside of the Château even more!
A visit to the Château de La Serpent, Aude, in 1908
“Having left Carcassonne on April 26, 1908 at six o'clock in the morning, fifteen members of the Aude Scientific Studies Society offered to visit the fortified church of Antugnac (eleventh century), the castle of La Serpent (17th century), the Visigothic Tower of Fa; to search for fossils "in the rich deposits of this region which belongs, geologically speaking, to the lower Nummulitic"; to take "an excellent bath of air and sun". MM. L. Gavoy and A. Fages are here the rapporteurs of this day of excursion, and more especially of the visit, much appreciated, of the castle of La Serpent…
“A small path, traced in the middle of thin fields where no vegetation yet appears, brings us to the village of La Serpent, where we arrive at 11 am. We pass in front of the church, the door of which we only half open to examine the interior, because it is the time of the services. As far as we have been able to judge from the ogival shape of the vault, its construction dates back to the 13th or 14th century.
Very close to the church, to the north of the village which it seems to protect with its imposing mass, stands the castle. It is a vast building, three stories high, in the shape of a parallelogram, flanked at each of its angles by a square tower, with a main courtyard in the center. Built in the second half of the 17th century (1650 to 1680), on the plan of the Palace of Versailles, it offers a remarkable and perfectly preserved specimen of the architecture of the century of Louis XIV. As such, it is recommended for the attention of tourists and archaeologists.
Informed of our visit, the current owner, MA Caizergues, a well-known industrialist, came expressly from Béziers to receive us. As soon as we enter, he welcomes us with a few kind words of welcome and invites us to enter the old stately home, the doors of which open wide in front of us. We first enter a huge dining room where we notice a bust of a queen in white marble; next to it opens the living room, also a large room, where two portraits attract our attention: above the fireplace, a portrait of a woman in Louis XV costume, opposite, a portrait of a man dressed in armor, without doubt the marquis and the marquise de Béon, to whom the castle once belonged.
Large bedrooms, with adjacent smaller rooms probably reserved for children and servants, take up most of the first floor. Some of these rooms have preserved their old furniture, four-poster beds, Louis xv chests of drawers, strangely bypassed armchairs and chairs, etc.
These apartments are served by a beautiful stone staircase, a veritable staircase of honor, which occupies the center of the building, and by service stairs, of smaller proportions, which occupy the wings. The walls are remarkably thick. In this princely residence, everything, up to the kitchen with its vault and its immense stone fireplace, presents an air of grandeur which recalls the splendor of the time of the Great King.
We leave amazed.
In the main courtyard, planted with beautiful elms whose first buds are barely showing, a wine of honor is offered to us in the form of a vermouth which, judging by the dusty appearance of the bottles, must be d venerable age.
Noon is ringing. It's lunch time.”
Fear not, if we get serious about buying a ruin you all will have ample opportunity to talk us out of it. You can find us hoarse from screaming somewhere up in the hills of France!