Picasso Drew all Over the Walls of this French Chateau For Sale

I grew up part-time near a town called Uzès in the South of France and on our way into town, we would always pass a mysterious property by the roadside. I remember my mother telling us it used to belong to a famous art collector, and she would even let us stop and sneak up to…

Couple Buy an Abandoned French Chateau, Start a Blog to Share Their Journey

There are many reasons why you might start a blog, but documenting the revival of an 18th century neoclassical ruin seems like a pretty damn good reason if you ask me. In 2013, Australian husband & wife team Karina and Craig Waters purchased the Chateau de Gudanes, a decaying fairytale mansion in the Midi-Pyrénées that had…

Check in to the Most Beautiful Insane Asylum in the World

When you picture a mental asylum, this is probably not quite the image that pops up. Stark hallways and dungeon-like holding cells is what Hollywood has taught me to imagine, but over in the rolling hills of Tuscany, flying over the cuckoo’s nest was done in style once upon a time… Photographs (c) Alex Doomer Palatial grounds,…

The Lost French Castle That’s Taking 25 Years to Re-build

Let’s say a volunteer became involved in the early stages of building this castle at the age of twenty. By the time construction of the fortress is complete they would have doubled in age and already celebrated their 40th birthday. These days, that’s a heck of a long time to take building something, but that’s because this is no ordinary…

Won’t Someone Save this Scandalously Forgotten Chateau?

This post has been updated with new information you can find at the end of the post. With every passing day, the Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers falls further into ruin; another stone becomes dislodged by strangling vines, what remains of the roof sinks a little lower. Nature is winning. (c) Jean-Luc She’s a sleeping beauty situated in the…

Adopt an Abandoned French Chateau

So you know how I’m always telling you about these incredible chateaux left to ruin here in France? And then you ask, “why can’t someone save that place?” Well, I’ve come across something that can certainly help us try… Adopte un Château is a relatively new association dedicated entirely to saving endangered castles by working with…

10 French Châteaux For Sale just in case You Win the Lottery

With talk of lottery jackpots reaching over a billion dollars these days, I’ve been having more frequent daydreams about what sort of French chateau I’d like to retire in. So, just in case, I took it upon myself to see what’s currently on the market. From ready-to-live in palaces to crumbling DIY projects, today I’ve made…

The ill-fated Abandoned French Chateau: Before & After

For those of you that have ever done any derelict digging of their own on the net, it’s likely you would have come across a photograph of this room with its impressive circular stained glass window and the decaying leather armchair sat facing it. This is the Chateau de Pont Remy Somme, also known…

Empty Mansion Hunting

This can’t all just be down to luck, I thought as I scrolled through his collection of abandoned luxury real estate; some of the most stunning urbex documentation I’d ever seen. To protect his identity, we’ll just call him by his photography pseudonym, Soul. He has curated his locations carefully, uncovering forgotten pearls of Europe one after…

A Billionaire’s Fairytale Replica Chateau Sitting Empty next to Versailles

Parisians would probably like to think they know of all the major Châteaux in their vicinity. There is of course Versailles, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, Fontainebleau, and the hunting palace of Chantilly. But just a fifteen minute drive from the heart of Paris, nestled deep within thick forest walls, lies a jaw-dropping chateau, or a not-so-mini version of Versailles,…