CastleBesançon (25)

A chateau listed as a historical monument with outhouses, an English-style garden and an orchard, nestled in a village between Besançon and Dole in France’s beautiful Jura area. On the main road into the village, you go past a gate before you get to the village. This wooden gate, the property’s entrance, is framed between two stone columns and crowned with a triangular pediment. Beyond it, the chateau, built in the 18th century, soon comes into view, as does its English-style garden. A gravel drive runs past a farm building made of stone. A series of wooden doors set in stone surrounds and semicircular arches lead inside this outhouse. The chateau, designed in a Directoire style, has a ground floor, a first floor, a second floor and a roof space. A hipped slate roof crowns the edifice. The facade features a large sculpted triangular pediment. Three chimney stacks rise up from the roof. A balcony on the first floor protrudes over the main entrance, which is made up of three wooden doors set in stone columns and segmental arches. Two wings were added to the main section in the 19th century. A hexagonal tower made of dressed stone, capped with a hexagonal roof, adjoins the rear elevation. Two outhouses stand behind the chateau: a former kitchen, which has kept its imposing fireplace, and a farming building for storage. In an enclosure wall, there is a wooden gate that leads out into a village street. Another gate takes you to the church that neighbours the property. A former caretaker’s house, which adjoins the farm building, also has a separate street entrance. The English-style garden in front of the chateau is dotted with trees and rose bushes. There is also a spring and a stream, which flows to a pond. You can follow a path to walk all the way around the garden. An orchard and a meadow complete the grounds. Fields and meadows edged by the River Doubs extend around the grounds. The elevations and roofs of the chateau and outhouses, the main staircase in the chateau, the rockery of the court fountain, the garden with its stream, pond and enclosing walls, and the east and north gates have been listed as historical monuments since 1992.