A quiet country lane runs around 1,800 metres from Sarrant up to an electric gate. The chateau is rather isolated, but a stone building standing at one side suggests that the dwelling is not entirely cut off from the rest of the world. Its calm, bucolic surroundings are free from any possible disturbance.

The chateau lies on a rocky plateau overlooking its 3.5 hectares of grounds, which are steep in some areas. These beautiful grounds are made up of woods and enclosed meadows. The edifice enjoys absolute privacy behind the high walls that run around it. The seigneurial dwelling is rectangular. It has a ground floor and two upper floors and it leads out onto a south-facing terrace that offers a panoramic view. A polygonal tower adjoins the edifice. Five of this tower’s sides protrude from the dwelling’s north elevation. On the building’s east side, a lower adjoining outhouse with a first floor extends the main section. A square tower marks the walled enclosure’s south-east corner. Two wings extend from the dwelling at a right angle to it, stretching northwards on either side of the courtyard. A covered terrace lies in the court’s north-west section, adjoining the west wing. It offers a shady poolside space for relaxation near the 24-metre-long lap pool that runs alongside the court’s north wall.

All the buildings lie around the courtyard. Two towers mark the north corners of the court, which is enclosed by high walls. A carriage entrance in the east wall forms the main entry into the courtyard and a door on the west side leads to stairs that take you to a car port and a stable. On the south and west sides, the land has been turned into a counterscarp. A hexagonal dovecote built in 1630 stands in a meadow that has been turned into a paddock. Two driveways lead up to the property. One takes you straight to the main entrance and the other one runs around the enclosure’s walls to a parking area and the stable on the west side, at a level lower than the wall.

The seigneurial dwelling

The edifice’s oldest section has a gable roof underlined with a triple-row génoise cornice. The architecture, combined with the walls of an old medieval tower that once stood at the chateau’s south-west corner, bears witness to several centuries of history since the year 1000. Most of the current edifice dates back to the 16th century and to Jacques de Mauléon, whose son Denis was a comrade in arms of Henry of Navarre, who later became King Henry IV of France. The north elevation is typical of the Renaissance with its stone-mullioned windows. The south elevation is punctuated with five evenly spaced bays made up of 15 windows with remarkable surrounds of dressed stone. A broad terrace enhances the reception rooms and offers a sweeping view of the countryside and the Pyrenees mountains.

The ground floor
From the courtyard, two hallways side by side connect to the dwelling’s fine interior. The main hallway takes you to a splendid spiral staircase of timber with a one-piece central axis. This staircase climbs all the way up to the loft. It connects to a bedroom at an intermediate level and to the house’s two upper floors, which could be separated from the ground floor to each form an independent apartment. The second hallway, which is of modest height, has plain ceiling beams that rest upon large corbels and contrast with a pale floor, which is more modern, and with a recently made bathroom and lavatory that the room connects to.

This hallway leads to a large lounge bathed in natural light. This vast reception room sets the tone of the whole house: it features a fireplace containing a stove for improved energy efficiency, a high ceiling and French windows that lead southwards out onto the terrace. This extensive lounge connects to a dining room beside it via tall timber doors. This dining room features a French-style beamed ceiling and a tall, wide fireplace with a mantelpiece of dressed stone upon two pilasters. A broad insert on the hearth adds a modern touch. The dining room connects to a fitted kitchen that leads out onto a south-facing covered terrace. At the other end, on the dwelling’s west side, a bedroom and a teak bathroom lie between the walls of the old tower. Terracotta floors give the ground floor aesthetic coherence.

A wing of annexes stands in line with the dwelling’s noble rooms. It stretches eastwards to a square tower that marks the chateau’s south-east corner. The building houses a workshop that is now used as a wood store, which leads to a second ground-floor bedroom with a bathroom and lavatory. The room is rustic in style with an old sink and walls of exposed stonework and bricks with timber framing. Loft spaces extend across the top of this east wing. They can be reached via a staircase of raw timber. Two floors in the square tower need to be converted.

The first floor
The first floor looks like a separate apartment. A hallway leads to a small kitchen on the left with a tall cross-window. The fittings are hidden behind old doors installed to conceal them for greater discretion and elegance. A lounge with white walls that has a fireplace with a white-marble mantel is decorated more plainly, combining an 18th-century spirit with a more modern style. Tomette tiles and terracotta tiles adorn the floor. Mouldings embellish tall timber double doors. These fine doors are fitted onto cupboards and others open into a bedroom that has a timber-mantel fireplace and a bathroom with an island bathtub, a walk-in shower and a lavatory. The hallway also connects to a vast bedroom with a floor area of over 40m² and an en-suite bathroom adorned with a floor of gleaming terracotta tiles, pale-plastered walls and solid lime-coated beams.

The second floor
The second floor has the same layout as the first floor. Only some connections between rooms differ. Most of the structural work on this floor has been completed. But contrary to the rest of the dwelling, the window frames here have not yet been replaced. And to fully convert this level, bathrooms or a kitchen could be created using the water inlets and outlets fitted for such purposes. This floor offers an unrivalled view of the surroundings and it is filled with natural light optimally.

The cellar
The basement bears witness to the ancestral period of this edifice’s story. It has two different levels. The first one is a semibasement. You reach it via several stone steps. It leads to a second level lower down that has a vaulted ceiling. This cellar was probably a prison long ago.