The village where our daughter and family live in France has a chateau at the top of the hill. Until a few years ago, this was owned by a, somewhat distant, descendant of a knight who went on the Fourth Crusade. The original castle was heavily modified in the 18th century to turn it into a house. However, the last owner wasn’t able to keep up the extensive maintenance and, as she never married, the property would probably have gone to her nephews and nieces who may have faced considerable death duties as well as ending up with a cash swallowing asset. As such, the owner gifted the chateau to the French State a bit like some families gifted their homes to the National Trust in times past.
Having acquired the property, the National, Regional and Departmental authorities set about carrying out the necessary renovations with a budget of some 4 million euros. This has involved a new roof, copper gutters and drainpipes, repointing the walls with lime mortar and the replacement of the exterior doors and windows. All in all, I counted 100 windows, 5 double doors and 4 single doors as per the photographs.
Quite a job for some workshop.
N.B. As a listed building, all works are subject to the same sort of constraints regarding materials as a similar listed building in the UK.
View attachment 1
Having acquired the property, the National, Regional and Departmental authorities set about carrying out the necessary renovations with a budget of some 4 million euros. This has involved a new roof, copper gutters and drainpipes, repointing the walls with lime mortar and the replacement of the exterior doors and windows. All in all, I counted 100 windows, 5 double doors and 4 single doors as per the photographs.
Quite a job for some workshop.
N.B. As a listed building, all works are subject to the same sort of constraints regarding materials as a similar listed building in the UK.
View attachment 1
