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 -
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.
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.
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 ...
