An 18th-century chateau with a secondary house, indoor and outdoor pools, and eight
hectares of grounds with a stream, just over an hour from Paris by high-speed rail
hectares of grounds with a stream, just over an hour from Paris by high-speed rail
Bar-le-Duc,
MEUSE
lorraine
55000
FR
Location
You can get to Paris from the property in 2 hours and 30 minutes by car via the A4 motorway. The Meuse high-speed train station is 10 minutes from the chateau. From this station, you can reach the French capital in just one hour by rail. The charming town of Bar-le-Duc is rich in architecture and history. It lies around 15 minutes from the property and is one of the most remarkable Renaissance towns in France. A unique art found nowhere else in the world has been practised in Bar-le-Duc for centuries: the art of removing pips from redcurrants using a goose feather to create a luxury jam called ‘Bar-le-Duc caviar’. An annual event called ‘Festival RenaissanceS’ takes place in Bar-le-Duc on the first weekend of July. This is an original festival of street theatre, circus arts and music with an enchanting programme. An 18-hole golf course lies roughly 20 minutes from the chateau.
Description
The property is hidden at the end of a small, calm lane in a village with under 250 inhabitants nestled in a beautiful valley through which a stream gently flows. A large gate opens beneath a wrought-iron arch of spearheads that stand out against the sky. The chateau towers at the end a long driveway alongside which annexes lie. The drive leads up to the edifice’s front courtyard. Splendid grounds extend all around the chateau. Woods edge them. A stream snakes through the grounds and a canal with a washing place runs through them too. Bridges of stone, wrought iron and timber cross the stream. Stone benches dot the grounds. There is an outdoor tennis court here too. And an island features an elegant wrought-iron pavilion crowned with a zinc roof.
The 18th-century chateau
The chateau is made of Savonnières stone that the slightest sunray brings out marvellously. The edifice is built in a classic architectural style. It is rectangular with a roof of tiles laid in a scale pattern. Five dormers punctuate its roof. A front courtyard extends at the foot of the facade. From this majestic court, a pair of curved 18th-century flights of steps with wrought-iron balustrades leads up to the entrance door. The ground floor is raised. It lies above a garden-level floor that houses a former kitchen and cellars. The main door stands beneath a canopy with a wrought-iron frame. It is an oak double door with glazing and a finely crafted wrought-iron grate that incorporates the letters 'H' and 'B' – the initials of the owner who restored the edifice in the 20th century. The facade is punctuated with segmental-arch windows. A stone stringcourse runs beneath them.
The garden level
A long corridor runs from one side of the house to the other and connects to a cloakroom, a former kitchen that has been turned into an office, a room with a goods lift, a lavatory, a utility room, a storeroom, a garage, and four vaulted cellars. A staircase leads up to the ground-floor entrance hall.
The ground floor
The entrance hall lies in a central position in the chateau. An oak staircase with balusters leads upstairs from this hallway, where there is also a lavatory. The hallway connects to a kitchen, beyond which lies a summer lounge with a rustic stone fireplace and six arched windows that offer pleasant views of the stream. There is also a dining room on this ground floor. It connects the summer lounge via two oak doors that are partly glazed. Above them there are 18th-century paintings that depict landscapes with Romantic ruins. The living room has a black marble fireplace. It has kept its oak chevron parquet and a double alcove from the 18th century. It connects to a bedroom with a carpeted floor. An alcove is still there but it has been reduced in depth to create a bathroom. There are side doors with rococo mouldings. They have kept paintings above them depicting pastoral scenes. The adjoining marble bathroom has a bathtub and a shower. There is also a walk-in wardrobe and a lavatory. A second bedroom with an alcove, which was probably remodelled, looks out at the grounds too.
The first floor
This floor was created in the roof space in the 1980s. There is a mezzanine office, a lavatory, three bedrooms, a shower room with a lavatory, and a bathroom. There is a spare room that could be converted. It offers a floor area of around 28m². There are also two loft spaces, but their exposed roof beams are too low to make them easily liveable.
The secondary house
The secondary house is in a former outbuilding. Its stone walls are rendered. Only its quoins and large semicircular arch reveal the Savonnières stone that forms the structure. The dwelling is an imposing square building with a ground floor and a liveable loft. It is crowned with interlocking tiles. A single-storey wing protrudes from one corner, stretching to a square tower that was probably once a bakehouse. Outside, next to this wing, there is a swimming pool that is around 13 metres long and 8.5 metres wide. At the back of the wing, there is a shelter used as a wood store and a garage for two cars.
The ground floor
Terracotta tiling extends across the floors of this level. The entrance hall connects to a kitchen with a monumental stone fireplace that stands back-to-back against another fireplace in a vast lounge. The latter offers a floor area of around 92m². There is also an office on this ground floor. A corridor connects to a shower room with a lavatory, a bathroom, a bathroom with a shower and bathtub, two lavatories, a utility room, a storeroom, and four bedrooms. One of the bedrooms lies in the old bakehouse, where there is an office upstairs in the tower.
The first floor
From the vast lounge, a rustic staircase leads up to a mezzanine floor where there is a billiard room. Two loft spaces offer floor areas of 30m² and 60m² respectively. They could be converted.
The building with an indoor swimming pool
The building that houses the indoor swimming pool is a former stable. Its layout is almost identical to the dwelling opposite it with an old dovecote at one end. There is an entrance hall with a room for technical installations and there is a room with an apex skylight in the middle. The latter room gazes outside through large windows all the way along it. The swimming pool covers over 100m². There are changing rooms, a bathroom and a sauna. The building is extended with a workshop, a garage for gardening equipment, a storeroom and a boiler room, which houses the oil boilers for the three buildings.
Our opinion
This elegant chateau with a secondary dwelling is a delightful haven. Majestic trees and gently flowing water embellish its pleasant grounds. In this lush backdrop, you can enjoy a tennis court, a sauna and two splendid swimming pools. And another precious asset is a nearby transport link: from the Meuse high-speed train station – just 10 minutes away – you can get to Paris in only one hour.
Reference 223242
| Land registry surface area | 8 ha 79 a 18 ca |
| Main building surface area | 647 m2 |
| Number of bedrooms | 9 |
| Outbuilding surface area | 750 m2 |
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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.
