Château Shopping: Chapter 6
Musings from The Turret: We visit Château de Bourneau for the first time and wonder have we finally found "The One"?
This is the final instalment of the château shopping series. You can read the previous chapters via the links at the bottom of the page.
Excitement for the up-coming visit to Château de Bourneau reached fever-pitch and the longest two weeks of my life. I knew that behind the scenes, back in Vendée, multiple visits could be happening before we had our booked-in opportunity and any one of these visits could end in an offer that could be accepted at any moment and dash our chances once more. However, there was nothing we could do about it but wait and hope that some divine intervention would choose us over the flash Parisians looking for a weekend pied-à-terre.
Meanwhile, we had shown some of our family and good friends photographs of the château to gauge their reaction and it was a unanimous “wow,” which was a great encouragement and it was not the response we had received from our family and friends regarding other potential châteaux candidates over our château-shopping adventures thus far.
We converted this fever of nervous energy into useful research and activity into the area and consumed anything we could find out about the château and its history and with each google image of the castle that popped up, I fell in love with it again from every dreamy angle.
Geographically, we couldn’t wish for anything better. The region was well connected with no less than 3 international airports only 1 hour away or 2 hours from Bordeaux, a rarity in a lot of France that relies on the extremes of the country’s facilities with either Paris or Lyon airports. The château was also situated at the crossroads of 3 different regions and only 12 minutes away from the motorway exit with the fast TGV train that could bring you directly to the centre of Paris in only 2hr20 minutes. It had a lovely microclimate too - the second sunniest region of France but also temperate: not like intercontinental Burgundy where we were currently living with extremes of temperatures: freezing winters and roasting summers of 40C. The château was also near the beautiful historic city of La Rochelle and the golden beaches of Vendée and the quiet beauty of the 5000 hectare forest of Mervent hidden in the bocage. The climate and geography were a big tick.
Once more, the journey from Burgundy en route to Château de Bourneau, reminded me of how this château ticked all of our stringent criteria from the pragmatic to the princely. As we crossed into the Vendée again, we greeted the signpost like an old friend, and we were met with the glorious rolling countryside of the bocage with its scattered medieval villages and only 15 minutes away from the pretty Renaissance town of Fontenay-le-Comte, which had all the amenities.
As we entered the medieval village of Bourneau to the cheering toll of church bells, I felt my spirits surge with hope and the frisson of excitement but also fear. Were we too late? Had someone else already pipped us to the post? Would the château even want us? I know it sounds absurd but after the experience I had at the spooky château near Nantes (see Chapter 4), the “feeling” of a place wanting us as much as we wanted it seemed important to me in order to find not just our perfect business but also our new happy home.
We passed the church of St. Jean-Baptiste and turned right, entering through the arched double gates for the very first time and drove along the tree-lined drive towards the château.
First look
You don’t see the château completely at first. Just a few architectural subtle hints of honeyed brick flashing between the green of leaves and then a turret and then, oh! I felt my heart leap as the château suddenly grew in our view as we approached, all dreaming turrets and a Renaissance splendour of decorative features glowing in the afternoon light. It was more beautiful than I had imagined seeing it in reality. 8 years on and this very same view, that I see every single day, still has the power to take my breath away. As we crossed the moat bridge onto the château court we realised it was perfectly proportioned: human-sized but still with an elegance and grandeur without being cold and vast. I was already under her spell.
This time, we had a different estate agent. While the other was lacking in commercialism and proactivity, this once was all assumed arrogance, limp handshake and disinterested affect. He made it pretty clear that he did not think we were worth his time and didn’t have the budget. He appeared to know nothing much about the property other than the few basics we could read in the brochure, which seemed to stem from the fact that he knew it was a very popular château that had already garnered a lot of interest and would be sold very soon to someone regardless of his effort so why bother? He airily sauntered between rooms yawning, flicking back his floppy hair with clear disinterest.
“What? You want to see it all,” he said with a disappointed sigh and glanced at his watch.
Did the central heating function? Shrug, he guessed so. Was the land currently being exploited by a farmer? Bof. Probably. What were the actual limits and borders of the estate. He didn’t know. We hadn’t arrived in a flash car so we weren’t worth his time.
As we stepped through the double doors over the threshold, we were met with the grand and sweeping marble staircase and I immediately had a good feeling and one of welcome. A light and happy home. There was a scent like a cathedral - that slight humidity of old stone mixed with candle wax or incense but somehow pleasant and nostalgic. We were guided left into the west wing with a set of 2 salons that met enfilade. The first was very much in a state of project and yet the bones were beautiful: red marble fireplace, original wainscotting or boiserie, a 19th century grand crystal chandelier. It just needed refreshing rather than major work. This room led into what was termed The Red Salon. And wow, this was like stepping back into another century: a quiet faded grandeur of vast dark, plasterwork, high ceilings and beautiful Versailles parquet. A grand sculpted marble fireplace depicted clusters of bluebells and the room had a panoramic vista across the château court and moat. It had been left untouched since it was built and while the wallpaper was peeling and cobweb spun like fine silk needlework across the details is was still beautiful.
Six large portraits of the original family leant in towards the large room quietly observing our progress as we tip-toed around this time capsule. We then crossed into the South wing and the large Yellow Salon, bright with wintry sunshine and polished parquet that led into the what was once the original library, now a green panelled dining room. The owners had modernised these 2 rooms, and had also added a convenient downstair’s toilet and so they were ready to use function rooms for our purposes. Upstairs was less renovated but all in a good structural state. In fact, the owners had taken on gargantuan projects of structural engineering work at the château and converted the original vast outer buildings into 4 large holiday cottages, each with their own private swimming pools. The château had always remained their private home and like most of us, their private quarters were always the bottom of the priority list so they hadn’t yet made much interior design progress inside the château other than making some quick and functional bathrooms for family visits. But this was fine for us. We were looking for a project and a château to take care of and improve with each year. Everything about Château de Bourneau and its light and airy rooms, including the attics, charmed us and behind the 1970s lino or peeling wallpaper, we could see the potential behind some 30 forgotten bedrooms.
The château was already in a state of being packed up: family paintings had been removed from the walls and collected in corners, furniture labelled and stacked, rooms were slowly and carefully being emptied. For the first time on all our châteaux visits, I felt that this move was perhaps difficult for the owners - a well-thought out and considered decision but a difficult one, nonetheless, and one of love. We met them in the vast kitchen standing beside the fire and told them how beautiful their home was and exchanged polite smalltalk. It was clear they had such a huge attachment to the château and it was more than just bricks and mortar and I think they knew we understood that too. Their children were our age but had different lives and the château wasn’t necessarily part of it for them anymore and so they had made the difficult decision to sell so the château flourished under someone else’s care. It had been a wonderful holiday home for them but now it was time to pass the baton to others.
We looked around the holiday cottages, impressed by their vast size. They had been renovated 20 years ago and they needed refreshing but they were immediately functional and in fact, the owners were taking holiday bookings for that coming summer on behalf of whoever were the new owners so, we would be arriving at a project with an immediate income, which was more than wonderful news for us.
As we walked towards the romantic ruined orangery across the wildflower meadow, I could already imagine charming weddings and events being hosting in this unique venue and everyone staying on site at the cottages until we were able to do up more château chic bedrooms inside the château and expand our available accommodation. I ran down our list again: 16 hectares of land, forest, multiple possible venues, centred in a pretty village but not too close to neighbours, 4 working holiday cottages, 4 swimming pools, and then a château of fairytale vision, skirted by a moat no less. This château was so perfectly, The One on both paper and in heart.
We told the estate agent that we were more than interested and he barely responded. I would later find out from the owners that as we left, he told them that we were unlikely buyers (and also somewhat unprofessionally repeated this to his other clients who bought a château in a neighbouring village who clearly met more of his criteria of “worthy” châtelains with their London address.)
However, the owners disagreed with him. They told him we were serious and had fallen under the spell of their home. They knew we felt it and we wouldn’t be like the 10 other visitors who had arrived in their fast cars and talked about knocking down walls in the Yellow Salon to make a big, modern cinema room or putting a 5th swimming pool in the court. We would honour their family home and its history.
And so, we immediately put in an offer. It wasn’t the only offer the owners received and neither was it the biggest one. They were advised to “hang on” because they might get an even better offer because by now, the emails and phone-calls requesting to visit were going mad. But they chose us and accepted our offer because our values aligned. They knew we understood that we weren’t just buying a house, we were buying their family home and the history, the stories and the guardianship that comes with it.
And so, we launched the next chapters of madly infuriating and often pointless levels of French administration filled with stress and frustrations racing to plough through it all before the summer season (this could be a book in itself!) However, it would all be worth it. A few months on, as I walked with the previous owner in the sunshine of a declining summer evening, we both looked back at the château together and I said what an honour it was to take the reins from them and to be the custodians for this generation. He smiled and said it was exactly that: “being custodians” and that was why they picked us and once you understood that, once you listened to the building and didn’t try to just possess it, the rest fell into place.
They left us the 6 portraits of their family in the Red Salon, where they have always hung for the last 160 years. They didn’t have to do that, in fact, a jarring relative of theirs even tried to buy them from the owners under our feet but they refused, stating that they were part of the fabric of the château and its history that we would care for. I also had the delight of meeting this same relative at a dinner party when he informed me, with his locally well-known “charm,” that the portraits were more “his” than “ours.” I smiled serenely and reflected that sadly money doesn’t buy class or clearly historic appreciation, a lesson I would learn time and time again over the next 8 years.
When I first created an instagram page for the château, I received so many private messages from people telling me that they’d tried to visit but couldn’t because we had already signed or that we’d “pipped them to the post” with our offer and just missed out or that if we wanted to sell it to them they would be interested, which all makes me realise how very fortunate we were to be in the right place at the right time because I cannot imagine not sharing my life with Château de Bourneau.
The timing of Château de Bourneau arriving back on the market was also incredibly serendipitous for us. Nowadays, I love looking at châteaux for sale just for the pure appreciation of historic houses but I am yet to find one that ticks all the criteria like Bourneau and speaks to us in the same way Château de Bourneau did from the first moment we set eyes on her. The château-shopping adventures felt frustrating at the time but with hindsight, it was an important journey to really understand and fine-tune what we were looking for and without it perhaps we would not have responded so quickly to the fact that she was by vast standards The One. We might have hesitated in our newness, thought we ought to look around and she would have been snapped up at the end of that week and the dream would have passed us by. Château de Bourneau appeared at the absolutely perfect moment when we were ready.
Sometimes, on darker days, I wonder whether our personal luck might have done the château a disservice because some foreign multimillionaire could have arrived and poured funds into her with a wave of a wand, making her instantly grand again, whereas we have been working hard day after day for 8 years carefully looking after her and bringing her back to life as we are able but on a much longer and slower scale. However, I take the little wins as they come: family and friends who notice the little differences and improvements between each visit. The leak-free roof, the cleaned façade that we completed by hand, all the boilers we’ve changed, the plumbing we’ve fixed, the rooms we’ve refurbished, the important structural improvements and the little aesthetic details that make our brides smile and help bring the château back to her grand state with each passing year.
I think back to the day when we finally received the keys on a sultry summer evening at midnight and the next day, 42 holiday guests left and 42 new guests arrived and then 2 days later a film crew! There have been mad moments, hilarious moments, incredibly beautiful moments and extremely challenging moments too but we always knew we had a lot of hard work ahead of us and a steep learning curve which doesn’t scare us. We’re used to working long hours and it is so rewarding seeing the pleasure Château de Bourneau brings to others too. If we wound back the clock and had the choice again we’d make the same decision in a heart beat. Every day I am proud to call Château de Bourneau my home, as her guardian for this generation and I hope we serve her well.
Our château shopping series is at an end but what started this series in Chapter 1 was being asked to accompany our friends on a château-shopping visit to offer our advice on their potential dream home. Many of you asked me, did they put in an offer? Will they take the leap and do it? Well, dear readers, I am delighted to tell you that they did sign for this charming château and are about to start their own mad, frustrating and wholesomely fulfilling journey too.
Did you enjoy my château-shopping series? Do tell me what you would like to hear about next. The buying process? Our first week in the château? Filming for channel 4’s hit TV series? Before and afters? Daily château life? Life in France? As always, I love to hear your suggestions.
Best Wishes from Château de Bourneau,
Erin, The Intrepid Châtelaine
If you missed the other Château Shopping Chapters, here are the links to start from the very the beginning:
Chapter 1:
I really enjoyed reading about your chateau shopping journey. As to what next- all of your suggestions 😍
Oh my goodness, Erin, you made me emotional writing about how the previous owners chose you both as they knew you were The Ones for Bourneau, she was The One for you! Such a beautiful and karma filled connection! Thank you for taking the time to share all of this. For next updates, I'd love to hear about those first weeks. Thank you!