castle with pool for sale Brive-la-Gaillarde, France

A 15th-century chateau, its outbuildings, grounds and swimming pool, surrounded by 21 hectares of unoccupied land, along the outskirts of the Quercy region, twenty minutes from Brive-la-Gaillarde. In the 14th century, the lands owned by the de Chabannes family were transferred to Adhémar d’Aigrefeuille, Baron of Gramat, before the de Muzac family, whose patriarch was the King of France’s sergeant-at-arms, took possession of the estate in the next century, pledging his allegiance to the Viscount of Turenne in the process. Through marriages and successive inheritances, the fiefdom was then passed down to the de Tournier family of Corrèze, followed by that of the de Materre de Chauffour family, which owned it until 1870. Left abandoned for nearly a century, the dwelling was given a new life in 1966 when a painter and his wife bought the chateau, nearly in ruins, and undertook a large-scale restoration. From the wrought-iron gate, which indicates the estate’s formal entrance, a gravel lane traverses a large swath of lawn and leads to the property’s upper patio, the latter of which skirts the southeast exterior of the oldest of the three dwellings. Faithful to the origin of its name, the dwelling is made up of two adjacent edifices, which hug the land’s natural slope: the older of the two is located above the more recent construction, whereas the two wings are partially connected via a third dwelling abutting a square tower-dovecote. The upper edifice, from the late 15th century, is made up of a rectangular structure, the western part of which was completely reassembled with original materials recovered from the rubble after 1945, while a stately hexagonal tower, with a lauze slate tile roof, juts forward into the courtyard. In addition, mullioned windows, including two corner ones behind the dwelling, cadence its exteriors, whereas, in the interior corner of the second building, in all likelihood built in the late 17th century, a circular tower, completely rebuilt in 2025, is topped with a lauze slate roof. This same dwelling also features a balcony with balusters, supported by a basket-handle arch, while a series of dormers, crowned with finials, punctate the various rooftops – long, conical, pavilion and hipped – that have been deftly blended together. Lastly, slate and barrel tiles as well as tall chimneys, gracefully coiffed, create an overall aesthetic and aerial composition, whereas the outbuildings – a Limousin-style barn and a former hunting lodge – provide the finishing touches for this remarkable and historical estate.