Are you still looking for an exclusive gift for your loved one for Valentine’s Year? Luxury Defined – the online magazine of the Christie’s International Real Estate – presents five fairy-tale French castles as possible presents and writes about them: «Once upon a time, in a faraway place, the castle gates swung wide. Then noble knights and princes rode out to quest for damsels in distress—until, perhaps, a fire-breathing dragon or an enchanted wood got in the way. Such was courting way back when, long before Valentine’s hearts and flowers, in days of yore and lore.
It was Charles Perrault, French poet, writer, and storyteller, who transformed those ancient folk tales into the beloved literary tradition we call the fairy tale. His classic anthology, Stories or Tales from Times Past, with Morals, or Tales of Mother Goose (Contes de ma mère l’oye), as it is commonly known, was written long, long ago … in 1697.
Among the eight simple stories therein is one of the fairest of them all, “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”. At the center of that kingdom, like so many classic fairy tales, is a castle. Legend has it that Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant was modeled on Le Château d’Ussé, in France’s Loire Valley.»
If you would like to read the whole article, simply click here. Or get a quick overview here:.
Château de Jonval in Oise, Hauts-de-France
This romantic hillside château in northern France is a work in progress: Its stately exterior has been superbly renovated. The interior awaits an owner’s vision to fulfill its living spaces.
Château Louis XIII in Cannes, Alpes-Maritime
This château in La Californie, Cannes’ “hill of millionaires,” offers sumptuous accommodation, privacy, serenity, and 1.5 acres (0.6 hectares) of landscaped gardens.
Medieval Castle in Uzès, Gard, Occitanie
With its arrow-slit battlements, high tower, portcullis, ogival arches, and bretèche balconies, enclosed within ivy-strewn curtain walls, this 12th-century castle in Gard is a world apart.
Château in Brittany
The ancient embraces the ultramodern in this impeccably restored 15th-century castle, ensconced within an enchanting riverine landscape in Finistère, Brittany.
15th-Century Castle in Gien, Loiret, Centre-Val de Loire
Rising from a romantic wooded park in the heart of the Loire Valley, the imposing façades of this 15th-century château are framed by dry moats, parterre gardens, and wide lawns with a three-century-old cedar of Lebanon.
