![]() ![]() Dordogne is named after the Dordogne river which is shown in the top picture and which boasts some of the most amazing views with bridges and valleys, besides the numerous tracks for walking and cycling. The beautiful country side with its many Castles, historic monuments and stately homes puts a smile on your face and not least because of the wonderful selections of great food and wines from the Bergerac area amongst others. Its Capital Périgueux and the various cities and towns are so worth visiting. The Dordogne climate is milder than northern Europe, yet still varied with average daytime temperatures at 20C or higher from May till October. This finally resulted in some of the finest future settlements in France as well as the Chateau type buldings erected since the 11th century to defend local communities.įor many Brits, Dutch, Belgians, French and Germans as well as Scandinavians Dordogne has over the years become one of the more popular tourist destinations and over the last several decades many foreigners have settled here with permanent residency. This region has a history of war over many hundreds, even thousands, of years involving the Romans, the Kelts and the British. Nouvelle Aquitaine is the result of three regions merging: Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes creating an area that covers 12% of France's surface totalling >84,000km2. Our team at Maxwell-Storrie-Baynes live and work in this area of France and are well placed to introduce you to one of these grand historic buildings.The département Dordogne, prior to the French Revolution (1790) known as the Region Périgord, is since the regional reform of 2014 part of Nouvelle-Aquitaine "New Aquitaine", the largest administrative region in France. It is a common dream to want to become the proud owner of one of the Dordogne’s reputed 1001 chateaux. When you actually cross the threshold of these historical buildings, you really get a sense of the past and see at first hand the incredible detail in the craftsmanship that went in to their construction and decoration, be it the carving of a stone fireplace, or painted beams ‘ à la française’ that have stood the test of time. It is also because a Dordogne chateau for sale is remarkably good value for money when one considers all that it has to offer. The international press often focuses on this remarkable collection of buildings, not just because Dordogne chateaux are beautiful to look at and set in extraordinary surroundings. ![]() When followed by a name with a capital letter designates a wine-growing estate in the Bordeaux appellation. Fortified feudal dwelling, protected by a moat, walls or towers.Ĥ. The Larousse French dictionary gives the following four definitions:ģ. There are 615 Dordogne chateaux and 382 ‘demeures’ listed as Historic Monuments of France. According to the Architectes du Batiments de France, if you encompass all definitions, there are actually around 3000 chateaux in the Dordogne today, and they are still being built. In current usage the term is generally used to designate a castle or fortress or large country house in the French countryside, be it a chateau, chartreuse, gentilhommière or manoir. The term was originally most commonly used to define a medieval construction destined to protect the “seigneur” and as a symbol of his authority over his fief or noble domain. Today the term ‘chateaux’ in widely used to refer to a variety of dwellings aspiring to varying degrees of grandeur. It is no surprise given its history that the Dordogne region has the highest concentration of noble dwellings in France.īut what exactly can be classed as chateaux, and how do we know there are 1001 in the Dordogne? The term ‘Chateaux’ originated from the latin ‘castellum’ which is a diminutive of ‘castrum’. The fact that many of these Dordogne Chateaux are fortified reflects its history as an area of conflict between France and England in the Middle Ages but it is also renowned as hosting some of the world’s most important sites of prehistoric dwelling in the area of Lascaux. ![]()
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