'COUP DE COEUR'

So, back to my adventure! It was 1988 and we had just returned from France after signing on with quite a few agents......

We had good results from the agents , soon envelopes of all shapes and sizes began pouring through the letter box filled with Chateaux and Manor Houses big and small! Then the sorting had to begin. Firstly we looked at their situation - it had to be in an area that was popular with the tourists! Secondly we looked at size--if we were intending to create some sort of business within a Chateau, it had to be big enough to accomodate enough people to generate an income for the upkeep of an old building. Thirdly, we looked at cost, obviously the cheaper (don't like to associate that word with a Chateau) the better. Then forgetting all of those things, we just chose the ones to view that gave us a ' coup de coeur '( started our hearts thumping) , and there were about six of those scattered all around France. To start with we decided to choose the biggest (trust us!) and it was an 80 roomed beautiful white Chateau with 11 hectares ( approx 27+ acres) in the Loire Valley near Angers! Then we decided we would work our way southwards to view the properties in the Auvergne , Dordogne, and Languedoc. We left just three weeks later, taking with us an old pal , Archie, a scotsman who could turn his hand to anything , and he had a good eye for seeing faults . He was also a craftsman and painter,and most of all he was a very dear friend.

We arrrived in the Angers area late afternoon. Having arranged to meet the agent the following morning, we decided to go on a hunt beforehand to see if we could find " La Roche Hue" , the chateau we were due to visit. We knew roughly where it was supposed to be and on the way passed a fantastic HUGE Chateau, ( see picture above) set back in its own land . We sailed past dismissing that one as being 'too good' . Half an hour later, not finding anything else we decided to take a closer look at the one we had passed by. We knew that Roche Hue had been a ' Colonie des vacances ', which means that it had been used as a summer school holiday residence, like many of the larger abandoned chateaux in France. As we drove up the long tree lined drive there was a Board which showed we had actually found the right place. IT WAS AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL , but far bigger than we had expected. It was a definitely love at first sight!