Their Home Is Their Castle

 

                    No, this is not their castle. It is Hautefort, one of many to visit locally.

We left a windy, raw Mont Saint Michel late in the afternoon and headed south into the storm clouds. There are toll roads for a couple of hours, but in France when you reach some remote regions you will find only local roads. It’s 345 miles, but the fastest route takes 7 1/2 hours.

More on driving in France in a later post.  Suffice it to say it’s a white-knuckle drive in the dark during a thunderstorm. It doesn’t help you are playing chicken with French drivers.

Calling ahead, Ed and Candace don’t mind we’ll arrive after 10pm, and I’m in no hurry to take risks driving too fast.

We met 3 years ago when they first arrived in Dordogne. Theresa and I rented a stone farmhouse for a month to see if we wanted to move to that region. One day we passed by a magnificent castle; I wanted to take pictures and there was a gentleman out front who I asked in French if this was his place.

Huh, he replied. I asked again and he said “Do you speak English?” He was a Canadian from Toronto and he recently bought the castle. He was putting up lights for a party that night. “You’re invited if you wish.”

Ed and Candace were there, drawn to him by his blog of buying a castle. We had a good conversation, and we found out they were eager to get some advice to buy their own chateau. 

“You guys speak French?” I asked. “No”
“You’ve explored the region already?” “No”
“You have friends or family nearby?” “No”
“And you want to buy a castle?” “Yes”



                       Plenty of room in the front yard to let the dogs play ball



They are amazing people, unassuming yet confident to move half-way around the world to follow their passion. They’ve traveled around the US and Europe and decided Dordogne will be their home.





                      The chapel and the pond.  The orangery is seen to the middle left with the castle behind                     the tree. Ed likes to fish - maybe he'll stock the pond some day.



They won’t brag about their adventure but I will. Before Theresa and I moved to France we had 5 years to plan, study French and make contact with the people we knew. They just showed up. He laughed when I suggested that half the people he knows in the US told him he was bat guano crazy, and the other half applauded him.

They had a manufacturing business in the US which they had to close when Covid hit. Since they were too young to retire, and they enjoy Europe, buying a castle would give them lots to do.

                                                                                                                     

 They had this bar in their home in Connecticut. It was part of the two-container shipment that arrived in France.

Ed competes in archery, long sword fighting, and an occasion joust - he has his personal suit of armor. (He told me don’t watch the movies - fighting in armor is nothing like you see on the big screen) They have 2 German Shepards and a motor home which takes them wherever they want. Candace has a legal background which is quite handy to stay afloat in the flood of bureaucracy within the French immigration system.

Kitchen with all modern appliances, yet barely enough space to get two people working together

Dining room for a dozen people, on sunny days it's a great place for breakfast.  (Chocolatines, beignets, croissants, cafe, et jus d'orange)

Do YOU want to buy a castle and live the life of nobility? They spent several months searching and had a few choices before settling on this 14th century fortress. Over the years it went from a defensive structure to a manor, the majority of the work dating from the early 1900’s.

The front door and the two 3-story towers.

Office and salon on the bottom right with two ensuite bedrooms on each floor reached by a spiral staircase.

Master bedroom and office on the middle second level with dining room on the middle ground floor.

Kitchen, laundry room and water heater on bottom left tower and staircase to the master.

Back side showing the oldest portion on the ground floor (kitchen) and a walk-in fireplace beneath the stairway.

There remains portions of the earliest buildings attached to the main structure, and they have a huge garage, an Orangery, (a type of greenhouse for citrus plants – a must have for nobility) and a chapel with a pond all surrounded by a short wall and iron fencing with an entry gate. Their property extends nearly 100 acres.

Instead of buying that suburban California bungalow, you can get a similar castle as theirs for the same price. Aha, the difference is that your French castle comes with maintenance costs which can easily approach many times that price.

Ed is handy and does major work such as a new heating system, while having heavy equipment: a tractor, backhoe, utility truck and cherry picker. The majority of his acreage is lent at no cost to local farmers to grow crops. “Why don’t you rent the land? Do they do anything for you in return?” “I’d have to pay lots of taxes on any income. Besides, they take care of the land and fences and it provides me a lot of goodwill with the locals.”

We arrive after 10pm thanks to our GPS and my recollection of the area having been there twice before. We last saw their castle just after they bought it, but before they took possession so I had only seen the outside. Getting close, the GPS said it was another kilometer down the road, but I saw the lights on and recognized the chapel and fortunately we stopped and backed up to pull into their driveway.

The exquisite liquor tasting room, no cigars, but plenty of sips and conversations.

Ed is an aficionado of Bourbons, Scotches, and Cognacs - his bar is stocked with well over 100 bottles of the finest brands. Tom and I were treated to a wonderful decompression after the harried drive. Ed insisted on the order in which that night’s Bourbon menu was presented. I didn’t know Tom was also well versed in such fine liquor, so I relaxed sipping these delightful pours and listened to stories of distillery visits.

Candace is rather a red wine drinker and I found at the local grocers a one year old Chateau-Neuf-du-Pape which was marvelous right now and bought more for their cave. Great wine in France is reasonably priced. You’ll find very good wines for about $10 and exceptional wines in the $20-$40 price range.

           Patriotic pictures adorn the staircase.  American as Tarte Tatin.

Tom and I each had our own ensuite bedroom and we spend 2 restful nights like royalty. During the night, I stepped out on the balcony to look up at the clearing sky and saw the most complete canopy of stars I had ever seen. No matter where I’ve been on the planet, the constellation Orion is always there, just at different times in different locations.

I revisited the castle alone after Tom & I headed south to balmy Biarritz on my way back north to Nantes.  Ed and Candace are such gracious hosts and invited me back on my next trip.  No problem coming back to meet up again.

Brantome en Perigord.  A stroll after dinner.