listed castle for sale Saint-lo, France

Perched in the hills of the Vire Valley, with 22 hectares of land, a listed chateau from the 13th and 15th centuries. On the outskirts of the city, a long tarmac driveway lined with horse chestnut trees descends towards the property’s entrance. Gradually, the landscape becomes less and less urban and the lawns on either side of the road become more expansive. The road leads to a wrought-iron gate supported by two solid schist rubble columns, extended on either side by low walls topped with fencing. Nearby, a chapel stands on a hill. On one side, the driveway runs along the length of an outbuilding, which is used as a garage, before reaching a square tower. The chateau stands on a promontory, with, as its background, the woods, which blanket the flank of the small valley and fields that border the Vire River. The fortress was built along the edge of a cliff overhanging the river by about twenty metres. Impregnable to the north, it was protected to the south by walls, towers and a drawbridge, which were destroyed in the 19th century. Today, the edifice is composed of the vestiges of an imposing construction and a wing built at a right angle to the body of the main building. Constructed out of schist rubble stone, it was built over three levels, including the attic space. Hipped dormer windows punctuate the slate roof on the side facing the Vire River. To the south, the front entrance is framed by columns, which support a straight lintel and triangular pediment. A three-sided, slightly projecting, tower houses the interior spiral staircase. It is topped with a triangular dormer with an oval oculus. A second round tower with a pepperpot turret roof is attached to a corner of the building. The mullion and cross-window surrounds are in granite ashlar stone. On the exterior corner of the two main buildings, a square extension with a slate hipped roof was built over two stories.