Tuesday 16 June 2009

Château du Coudray

This château is not far from us, and is normally open to visitors for guided tours only in August. But a friend of the owner organised a tour for a group of people last weekend, and we were part of it.

An interesting building, dating from the 12th Century when it comprised a moat surrounding 5 look-out towers and a small dwelling (a logis), with two further defensive towers at the drawbridge. Nowadays, one of the towers remains, and the rest of the space is given to a fine house.




The house itself is very imposing, but is smaller than you might think. The building is only one room deep, in an "H" shape. Although the rooms have high ceilings, they are not especially large compared to what you might expect in a stately home in England.












The owner keeps the tradition of putting out orange trees in tubs and overwintering them in an orangery. They are marmelade oranges, and they have the biggest marmelade production facility in West France. This is not saying much.












This is a device for carrying the orange tree tubs into and out of the orangery. It has been replaced in use by a more efficient fork-lift truck, but is classed as a national monument so stays intact.













This is the remaining original tower

2 comments:

Jonathan said...

I love the bell shape of the tower. The whole place looks idyllic.

Lia said...

Note to self....must get Chateau in next life. lol

Looks like a great place, was surprised to hear that the rooms are small, still I expect it makes it cosy inside.

Am now thinking that I should by a place in France and start an Orangery, might be able to get my own Chateau then.

As usual great photo's.

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