A 19th-century chateau on wooded grounds of 4 hectares,
twenty minutes from the coast in the north of the Vendée department
Challans, VENDEE pays-de-loire 85300 FR

Location

Straddling the border of the Loire-Atlantique and Vendée departments, the property is located 45 minutes southwest of Nantes and 45 minutes northwest of La Roche-sur-Yon. The nearby town of 2,000 inhabitants includes local shops and services, while, to the west lies the Breton Marsh and, to the east, wooded countryside. In addition, the closest beaches are twenty kilometres away, whereas the international airport and high-speed rail station are accessible in 45 minutes, after a brief stint on the A83 motorway, 44 kilometres away.

Description

In a hamlet three kilometres from town, the property covers approximately 4 contiguous hectares of wooded countryside. Once the past the property's gate, a drive winds its way through oaks and cedar trees and passes, on one side, a small pond before terminating at a courtyard on the chateau’s northern side. Built in 1871, the chateau is composed of a four-storey central main building as well as shorter pavilions on either side, one of which provides access to a semi-circular wooden conservatory. Constructed over a basement level, the two-room deep chateau contains a ground floor, a first floor and a last level under the eaves for a total inhabitable floor area of approximately 380 m². Under its slate roof, the chateau’s exteriors present an interplay of polychrome décor, alternating between brick and stone in its windowsills and quoins as well as its cornice and chimneys, while the side facing the grounds is festooned in Virginia creeper.
In addition, the chateau’s central row of vertical windows is topped with a curvilinear pediment and a dormer window, whereas the building itself is flanked by two round towers with slender roofs that gently flare out at their base. At the end of the entrance courtyard, former outbuildings are used as a garage of approximately 120 m² and an independent dwelling of nearly 140 m² with horseboxes and a saddle room on the ground floor.
Scattered with lofty trees and vast lawns, the grounds extend to the south behind the chateau, while a pond includes a natural swimming pool and a constructed wetland. Lastly, an orchard and a vegetable garden have also been created in an enclosure of approximately 1,300 m², and thick curtains of eastern American black walnut trees wall off the grounds’ lower section.

The Chateau


The ground floor
The dual-aspect entrance hall, with original cement floor tiles and accessible from either side of the chateau after ascending a few granite steps, includes a grand winding wooden staircase safeguarded by wrought-iron balusters, which are, in turn, topped with an oak handrail, while a metal orb decorates the staircase’s newel post.
This entrance hall provides access, on one side, to a dual-exposure dining room decorated with a grey marble fireplace, oak chevron-patterned hardwood floors, wainscoting, cornices and ceiling roses. Continuing on from here, a dual-aspect semi-professional kitchen is equipped with range cookers, a cooktop, an extractor hood and oven, while terracotta floor tiles provide cosiness and character for this functional space. In addition, a glass door in the kitchen communicates with the Victorian-style semi-circular wood and glass conservatory crowned with a rotunda truss roof system, which provides panoramic views of the garden.
On the other side of the entrance hall, double doors open onto two adjacent rooms: a living room and a study with straight-plank hardwood floors, moulded ceilings and wood panelling. A white marble fireplace topped with a mirrored chimneybreast decorates the living room, while the study has triple exposure and direct access to the garden from the chateau’s western gable end.
The first floor
A landing and a small corridor provide access to three bedrooms, one of which is the parental suite of approximately 28 m² with its adjacent shower room located in one of the towers. Currently used as a reading/music room and bathed in light thanks to two wide windows facing south and north, this space has pitch-pine hardwood floors that match the customised pair of wooden bookshelves located on either side of the marble fireplace fitted with a wood-burning stove. On the other side of the corridor, the space is divided into two bedrooms, one of which communicates with the shower room located in the turret on the chateau’s southwest gable end, while a marble-clad bathroom is located opposite the staircase.
The second floor
Located under the chateau’s wooden rafters, this level includes three bedrooms, including an immense room under the eaves of nearly 33 m², illuminated by two geminated windows, which is used as a dormitory and communicates with the tower where a small reading room with views of the grounds and surrounding countryside was created. Opposite the staircase, a shower room still contains its original white ceramic pedestal washbasins, while the entire level, with a floor-to-ceiling height of 2.15 metres, has solid, wide-plank pitch-pine hardwood floors and white-painted walls.
The base level
Accessible from the entrance hall or via a staircase in the kitchen, this level with painted concrete floors is composed of many spaces, including two cellars, a furnace room and storerooms.

The Outbuildings

At the end of the drive that leads to the chateau, two buildings make up a portion of the former outbuildings and have conserved their Italianised architectural style that can be found in many rural 19th-century edifices in the south of the Loire region: tile roofs, arched windows and doors as well as window/door surrounds clad in facing bricks. The garage contains a single, narrow parking space, while two adjacent rooms are used as a workshop. As for the second outbuilding, renovated and converted, it has been transformed into a dwelling of nearly 140 m², which includes intact horseboxes and a saddle room on the ground floor, as well as a single immense room of approximately 70 m² on the first floor, which is crowned with visible original wooden rafters and heated with a gas tank. In addition, the property also contains two kennels.

The Grounds and Land

Entirely enclosed by walls, gates or fencing, the property extends over approximately 4 hectares. To the northwest, the drive traverses a wooded section composed of a variety of different trees, while the grounds stretch as far as the eye can see behind the chateau. Closer to the edifice, a gravel area skirts its southern exterior and precedes an immense lawn scattered with a number of magnificent ornamental trees, such as sequoias, plums and oaks, whereas multi-century plane trees provide shade for the “swimming area”, a natural swimming pool with an integrated biological filtration system set within a pond and surrounded by a wooden deck. Bubblers guarantee an optimal level of oxygen for the swimming pool, while the constructed wetland is home to a number of aquatic plants as well as moorhens, kingfishers and frogs. As for the vegetable garden and orchard, accessible via well-defined paths that circumvent the lawns, they are located inside an enclosure of approximately 1,300 m², where wooden fencing protects peach, plum and kiwi trees as well as rows of vegetables, while a greenhouse makes it possible to grow seedlings during the winter and spring months and a small, functioning chicken coop will provide the property’s future occupants with eggs all year long. Lastly, eastern American black walnut trees form a verdant curtain towards the back of the property.

Our opinion

Secluded from view on its immense wooded grounds, nestled between land and sea, this remarkable and human-size 19th-century chateau – flanked by its elegant, slender turrets, festooned by thick Virginia creeper and only a stone’s throw away from the Vendée coast – does not require any renovations. Ideal as a main residence or for a tourism-based activity, especially since the property also includes an independent dwelling in one of the outbuildings, its wooded and enclosed grounds also contain, under a verdant canopy, a small pond and its natural swimming pool bordered by agapanthus.

1 280 000 €
Fees at the Vendor’s expense


See the fee rates

Reference 314265

Land registry surface area 4 ha 79 ca
Main building surface area 380 m2
Number of bedrooms 6
Outbuilding surface area 240 m2

French Energy Performance Diagnosis

Consultant

Nelly Richardeau +33 1 42 84 80 85

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NB: The above information is not only the result of our visit to the property; it is also based on information provided by the current owner. It is by no means comprehensive or strictly accurate especially where surface areas and construction dates are concerned. We cannot, therefore, be held liable for any misrepresentation.

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