A 19th-17th century chateau and country house measuring 1 950 m², a Romanesque chapel,
gites and outbuildings and a lake set in 350 hectares of land
gites and outbuildings and a lake set in 350 hectares of land
Narbonne,
AUDE
languedoc-roussillon
11100
FR
Location
The property is south-west of Narbonne, 3 km from a village in the Corbières mountain range, where a limestone blockfield forms the transition between the Massif Central and the Pyrenees. Its Mediterranean climate has meant that the village has a remarkable natural heritage; the "Corbières orientales", a Natura 2000 listed site. The neighbouring village has a few shops, while Lézignan-Corbières and Narbonne have more shops and services. The estate is just 30 km from seaside resorts. Narbonne is 22 km away, at the junction of the A9 and A61 motorways, and has a TGV line, as does Carcassonne, which is 45 km away. There are several airports nearby, in various towns in the Occitanie region: Carcassonne, Perpignan which is 60 km away, Toulouse which is 150 km away and Montpellier which is 110 km away. Barcelona is 230 km away.
Description
Between 800 and 1820, three castles were built on the site, one of which, a feudal castle on a rocky spur, had two fortified walls. Its ruins give an idea of the strategic importance of the site. The second was built between the 15th and 17th centuries and the third during the Restoration. Over more than 1000 years, the estate has gone through three stages: from aprision, it became a secular seigneury from 795 to 1802, until the fiefdom was broken up during the French Revolution, when the turbulence of the period, during which land was drawn up and redistributed, turned it into the private estate it is today. Nowadays it covers more than 350 hectares: 40 hectares of crops, 3.4 hectares of vines and 3 hectares of olive trees, 60 hectares of woods and moorlands surrounding a 1.7 hectare lake on the other side of the main road, and 250 hectares of scrubland behind the 19th century building. The buildings - the country house, the Romanesque church with its square apse, set against the 19th-century chateau, and several outbuildings - all topped with terracotta tiles, are vestiges of the estate’s rich past. Shortly after leaving the village on the road that goes through typically hilly wine-growing countryside, a gate and a long driveway lined with Mediterranean plants leads up to the chateau, which overlooks the scrublands and vines as far as the eye can see. Sheltered by the rocky buttresses where the ruins of the original fortress still remain, it is flanked by the church and, to the rear, two sheepfolds converted into gites with a swimming pool. The building's north-east-facing facade is flanked by a vast gravelled forecourt, planted with flowers in the shade of ancient lime trees. At its foot, three lawned terraces slope gently downwards, broken up by a cypress avenue leading to the country house via a stone gateway topped with Medici vases. The walled grounds feature a large swimming pool that overlooks the terraces. Finally, the country house, in a U-shape on the edge of the estate and surrounded by various outbuildings - a former wine storehouses, forge, stables and other buildings - has its own private swimming pool.
A little history
It is impossible to talk about the estate without mentioning its rich history. Since prehistoric times, the Aude region has passed through the Roman era, the Visigoth kingdom, the Arab period, the Frankish period and the Cathar period, (which no castles remain from), among other historical eras, until its present day vineyards. Stories of its invasions, battles, sieges, liberations remain from its long and eventful history. This history saw the construction and destruction of many different buildings, some of which can be seen on the estate. Around 790, Gomezinde, a Spanish nobleman of Visigothic origin and a companion of Charlemagne, was given the estate lands by Charlemagne, which then covered 4 000 hectares. He built a fortified castle there, the remains of whose double ramparts can still be seen on the ridge. A royal charter dated 859, bearing the seal of Charles the Bald, confirmed Gomezinde's ownership rights over a seigneury that was linked to the French crown for several centuries by an oath of allegiance. A rare exception in the region, it was not accountable to either the Count of Toulouse or the Viscount of Narbonne, but only to the King. The estate remained in the hands of Gomezinde's descendants for 1000 years. St Paul's church, mentioned in a royal charter from the late 9th century, was destroyed and rebuilt at the foot of the castle in the 12th and 13th centuries and could accommodate up to 300 worshippers. Not mentioned in the charter of 859 but appearing in that of 899, it was apparently built during the movement to Christianise the countryside, which saw the emergence of numerous small rural churches between the 9th and 10th centuries.
The chateau
From the gravelled forecourt, the main building appears in all of its majesty. Built in 1823, its symmetrical architecture is typical of the Restoration period. Spread out lengthways, it has annexed part of the 9th century church. The facade, set between two towers, is rendered and has 31 windows and two doors, all protected by wooden shutters. The window and door surrounds are in ashlar and the spandrel frames on the ground floor are fan-shaped. The chateau has three storeys separated by stone stringcourses. A balcony tops the entrance porch, which is also in stone. The total living space is around 1 200 m².
The ground floor
Accessible from the front door steps, it begins with a terracotta-tiled hallway. Throughout the floor, the terracotta tiles vary in shape and colour from room to room. Mouldings on the high ceilings, period single-glazed joinery including fanlight windows and plenty of natural light enhance the entire floor. On either side of the hall, a succession of rooms open out through double doors. To the right, a music room features a mural depicting the history of the estate on its four walls. A Louis XV mantelpiece in carved grey Sainte-Anne marble adjoins a back door, which leads to a utility room with a washbasin, also accessible from the stairwell. A lounge/library continues in a line, which is closed off by a study with exposed stone walls and a door leading to the outside, on the south side. A hatch leads to a low-ceilinged antique room under the study. To the left of the hallway there is another sitting room with a grey marble Restoration fireplace topped by a large overmantel mirror. An adjoining dining room features wall mouldings framing chinoiseries painted on large panels. An identical fireplace warms the room. There is also a fully equipped kitchen with a dining area and a Languedoc-style fireplace, and, to the rear, a back kitchen for storing provisions. At the foot of the staircase in the entrance hall, a door opens on the right into the former kitchen, where a Languedoc fireplace has also been preserved, followed by a laundry room and a boiler room.
The first floor
A central staircase with stone steps and arches and a plastered-wall stairwell leads to the first floor, which is laid out in the same way as the ground floor. The only difference is the central corridor off the landing, which connects the rooms on either side. Opposite the staircase, a hall with a desk and sofa opens onto a balcony. The floor is tiled with a variety of terracotta tiles, both original and more recent, alternating shades of ochre and red from one room to the next. Nearly all have their own bathroom or shower and most have a wardrobe. Many also have a fireplace. To the right, a double door opens onto a north-east-facing bedroom with large windows overlooking the forecourt and views of the Corbières. To the left, one bedroom connects with another en suite, which is also accessible from the corridor. To the rear, along the corridor, two smaller bedrooms share a bathroom, and a seventh, with a bathroom, occupies the corner of the tower on the north side. On the other side of the landing, to the right, a door opens into a bedroom and a bathroom. These two rooms reveal part of the arches of the church, which was truncated when the chateau was built. Finally, at the end of the central corridor, a door that is now closed over used to lead to the caretaker's apartment in the southern corner of the building, which could easily be reopened with a little work.
The second floor
The landing on the top floor opens onto three doors. The first, on the left, has two recently refurbished bedrooms with a shared shower room. The door opposite leads to a former bedroom and a vast space where several partitions have been knocked down. The door on the right leads to three rooms in a row and the south corner tower, where part of the old stone dovecote remains. Here, the bare spaces mean that it is easy to see what good condition the roof, framework and concrete reinforcements supporting the structure are in. The spacious, unfinished floor, with its high ceilings and concrete floor, offers numerous conversion possibilities, including the creation of up to 10 bedrooms.
The chapel
Partly annexed when the chateau was built, it stands at the southern end of the site. Today, it is accessed via a Romanesque doorway at the back of the building, opening from a separate entrance in what must have formerly been the transept. A few steps down from the baptismal font, the church reveals its square, rib-vaulted apse. Spanning around 75 m², it rises to a height of 8.3 m. Three south-west facing arched windows shed light on the marble altar in the centre of the choir.
The caretaker’s house
Set in the south wing of the chateau, the service quarters cover around 130 m². They are accessed at the rear through a truncated Romanesque doorway, which was probably the entrance to the original church. On the ground floor, a hallway leads to a storage and laundry room. A staircase leads to the upstairs corridor, to the right of which are the kitchen, a shower room and a toilet. Then there is a lounge/dining room, which can be heated by a closed hearth fireplace. Doors on either side open onto two bedrooms, one of which features a vaulted ceiling from the former church. Reopening a closed over entrance would provide access to the main house from the living room. The original door has been preserved on the side of the apartment, so the apartment can be easily reintegrated into the rest of the house.
The country house
It is accessible from the road via a gate halfway up the lane, around 300 m from the chateau below the parkland. It was built between the 15th and 17th centuries. Three storeys high and spanning some 750 m², it is surrounded by several outbuildings forming a U shape, including part of the former wine storehouse at the back, which runs the full length of the property. To the right, following on from the former stables, a 12 x 5 m swimming pool has been built, screened by an oleander hedge. On the left there are a succession of agricultural and technical buildings. A gravelled and lawned courtyard is decorated with Anduze pots filled with flowers, an olive tree and several cypress trees. The main stone facade, facing south-west, has numerous openings - eight doors and 15 single-glazed windows. Traces of old openings are still visible, vestiges of the various stylistic changes made over the centuries.
The ground floor
While all of the rooms on this floor can be directly accessed from the courtyard, the main entrance is through a stone-framed French window, which opens onto a hallway where a stairway leads to the upper floors. After going down three steps, a double door on the left leads to a dining room, whose exposed stone walls blend with the traditional Provençal wood and plaster ceiling. Following on from this in a row, a door leads onto a semi-professional kitchen. To the right of the stairwell, a vast lounge with a marble fireplace leads to a former tasting room. Tiled floors, plastered walls and exposed beams breathe a southern air into this part of the ground floor. From here, the first floor can be reached via a staircase with a toilet underneath. One door opens onto a wine-making cellar and another onto a technical room, boiler room and laundry room.
The first floor
The main staircase, with terracotta floor tiles and a stone nosing, leads to a corridor on the same floor, which leads to four bedrooms at the back, with a fifth that is accessed by a few extra steps. Each has a bathroom with a toilet and was renovated a few years ago. The floors are terracotta or parquet in the bedrooms and ceramic in the bathrooms.
The second floor
From the main staircase, the top floor opens onto two adjoining bedrooms with a shared bathroom, and a vast bedroom where a roof truss separates the different sleeping areas. Near the bathroom with a toilet, a door leads to the back staircase, which leads to the ninth bedroom in the house, which has its own bathroom. The rooms on this floor have roof windows in addition to the windows in the facade, providing the rooms with plenty of light. Here too, the floors are ceramic, terracotta or parquet, and the walls are exposed stone or rendered.
The outbuildings
The group of buildings
Among the many buildings on the estate there is a vast wine storehouse, which has not been used since 2010 but which still has its concrete vats. Its roof is 10 m high. A carport and several other buildings are arranged around the square courtyard of the country house: a garage, barn, forge, hen house, bread oven and sheds, which can be renovated to develop a variety of activities, whether agricultural, tourist or artistic. Finally, the former stables occupy the right wing of the complex. Renovation work is required on most of the buildings.
The three gites
Two have been built in the former independent sheepfolds at the rear of the chateau, the other is on the first floor of the left wing of the country house. The first gite, measuring around 100 m², has a living room with fireplace, a kitchen opening onto a terrace hidden from view, a bedroom with a bathroom and toilet on the ground floor, and two bedrooms upstairs. The second gite, measuring around 60 m², is made up of a ground-floor living room/kitchen opening onto a private patio and a toilet. Upstairs, there are two bedrooms and a shower room. It is bordered by a terrace hidden from outside view in the shade of tall trees. Both houses can use a nearby 7 m x 3 m swimming pool. The third gite which is around 90 m², can be reached by climbing a staircase at the back of the country house. The front door opens onto a lounge/dining room, and the house also includes a separate kitchen, three bedrooms, a bathroom and a toilet.
The parkland, woods, scrublands and farmland
The main facade of the chateau to the north-east is accessed via a large gravelled terrace on the upper terrace, which opens out onto the horizon and stretches from the former entrance gate to an old pool backed by a stone railing. The space, shaded by lime trees and a plane tree, is ideal for outside dining, and also enables vehicles to drive up to the front door. It overlooks the terraced gardens and a cypress avenue accessed by a double stone staircase, providing a link with the country house below. In addition, the walled parkland surrounds the various buildings with its ancient trees and variety of vegetation. The lake on the other side of the road covers an area of around 1.7 hectares, which varies depending on the time of year. There is a small pontoon where you can moor a boat or cast a fishing line. A borehole has been dug; springs feed the pond and pools in good years, particularly those near the chateau - one under its left-hand side, and the other, slightly lower down on the right, converted into a swimming pool measuring around 25 x 10 m, whose beach, covered with stone slabs, is shaded by pine trees. Of the estate's 350 hectares, around 30 hectares are former vineyard that can be farmed. A total of 40 hectares of farmland is available. At present, only 3.4 hectares of vines of Corbières-Boutenac PDO are planted with Syrah and Grenache. They are directly farmed, with the harvest taken to the cooperative winery in the neighbouring village. No less than 11.5 hectares of land and vines are classified as boutenac PDO, subject to validation by the Inao (National institute for origin and quality), attesting to the quality of the soil. Around 3 hectares are covered with olive trees, planted by the current occupants. Finally, the woods and shrublands, planted with common Mediterranean species - notably holm oaks, conifers and arbutus - form natural boundaries to the west of the chateau and on the other side of the main road.
Our opinion
A huge estate, comprising a vast chateau, a country house and its outbuildings, all of which form a harmonious whole, which have been tastefully restored without ostentation. With a nobility that shuns arrogance, it discreetly dominates the Corbières massif. But you have to turn your gaze towards the horizon, all greenery and hills, to embrace the grounds of the property, take in their surrounding environment, and grasp the exceptional character of the property. Everything you need is here, nourished only by nature as far as the eye can see. Expenses will have to be allocated to the upkeep and renovation of the second floor of the chateau, as well as to the refurbishment of the outbuildings and the wine storehouse. The immensity, configuration, architectural strength and multiple potentials of the site more than justify these renovations.
4 300 000 €
Fees at the Vendor’s expense
Reference 429625
| Land registry surface area | 350 ha |
| Main building surface area | 1950 m2 |
| Number of bedrooms | +20 |
| Outbuilding surface area | 1900 m2 |
Aucune procédure en cours menée sur le fondement des articles 29-1 A et 29-1 de la loi n°65-557 du 10 juillet 1965 et de l’article L.615-6 du CCH
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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.
