CHATEAU DE SABAILHAN

This is a real fortified chateau with a walled and turreted courtyard, now laid out as a garden and including the swimming pool. Superbly sited on a promontory of rock overlooking the river Gimone, Chateau de Sabailhan is built on romance and history. With walls dating from C12th, later substantially added to in C16th and with current main house built mainly in C18th, you will enjoy here a feast of French architecture. The ground floor (or ground and first floors) of the property can be rented by four to eight adults (sorry, no young children) in what must be one of the most civilised holiday houses you could find. The present French owner, a great traveller and lover of the East, has furnished Sabailhan with a mixture of fine C18th French and Oriental furniture and paintings, all presented in an elegantly austere style. The main living areas and the master bedroom suite have tall windows and doors opening out on to south facing terraces overlooking a deep wooded valley with superb views across rolling hills. On a clear day you can see as far as the majestic mountains of the Pyrenees, dividing France from Spain. Massive stone walls, old oak doors, vast fireplaces, beamed ceilings, terracotta tiled floors, a spiral stone staircase and an unusual and beautiful C17th hexagonal ‘pigeonnier’ in the grounds (ideally placed for evening drinks or picnics in the setting sun) - all these combine to make Sabailhan a truly special and interesting place for a holiday.

The mediaeval entrance hall is reached from the walled courtyard garden and leads into the main sitting room, which in turn connects to the master bedroom on one side, the large terrace in front and the ancient dining room with its monumental fireplace on the other side. Beyond the dining room is the kitchen, and again beyond this is the housekeeper’s flat. The kitchen has its own breakfast terrace. The ground floor has two very large bedroom suites with superb modern bathrooms and the first floor offers the same accommodation, plus a separate sitting room and small kitchen. There is TV, a music system and broadband wireless internet access. Sabailhan therefore accommodates four to eight adults in great comfort and style, with room to entertain friends! The large walled courtyard is completely enclosed with old wide wooden carriage gates leading out to the park. Against the south wall of the courtyard is the 24m x 3m eco-swimming pool. The water is biologically filtered by aquatic plants in an adjacent pond, thus providing absolutely fresh water without the use of chlorine, salt or other chemicals. This pool is both functional and beautiful and the reflections of light between the water and the old stone wall behind the pool are a constant delight.

Sabailhan was very much part of French history, especially during the Religious Wars of the C16th and C17th, when the owners were close friends and allies of Henri de Navarre, the Protestant leader and later King Henri IV of France. Sabailhan was a Protestant military stronghold facing the nearby Catholic walled village of Sarrant. Henri IV was godfather to one of the owner’s sons and stayed at Sabailhan for the baptism. Nowadays, Sarrant is a lovely little village with a C15th church, about two kilometres east of Sabailhan and very well worth visiting. It has been so well restored that it is now one of the very select number of “Most Beautiful Villages of France”, of which there are only 4 in the ‘departement’ of the Gers. Sarrant hosts a mediaeval festival in August every year with street merchants, entertainers and musicians. Sarrant also has a grocery, with bread delivered from a nearby bakery (which also delivers direct to the chateau), a shop selling Gascony delicacies and an excellent bookshop which also sells homemade cakes, proper coffee and fresh fruit juices.

Chateau de Sabailhan can be rented either as the ground floor apartment only (2 double bedroom suites) or as ground and first floors (4 double bedroom suites), each with a large ‘state-of-the-art’ bathroom. There is a large book lined sitting room with a stone fireplace on the ground floor and a second sitting room and small kitchen on the first floor. One of the ground floor bedrooms and the sitting room lead out to the terrace overlooking the valley to the south below the Chateau. Next to the sitting room is the C16th dining room with its massive stone fireplace. The kitchen is well-equipped and leads out onto a covered terrace which also looks south over the Gimone valley.

Chateau de Sabailhan has a house-keeper/cook, either living in the staff flat, or nearby. The owner, when at home, lives in the first floor apartment of the Chateau if this is not let, and speaks excellent English. Some cleaning every day is included with the rent. Extra cleaning, laundry service or baby-sitting, and good local cooking, are all available by arrangement.

5 minutes drive to Sarrant – a local grocery selling good bread and the unusual bookshop!
6 minutes to Solomiac – doctor, post office, bakery, excellent tapas restaurant and an IT shop! Also night markets in summer.
10 minutes to Mauvezin – nearest large shops, banks, weekly market and good restaurant nearby
40 Minutes to Auch – large supermarkets and historic town centre
50 Minutes to Toulouse Airport
60 Minutes to Central Toulouse