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France 2016 – The Chateau (Part One)

I want to share with you my trip to France and the beautiful Chateau de Mondesir.

My time in France at Chateau Mondesir, 13th century Chateau - So Much Better With Age

I’m finally sharing with you today photos of my trip to France. I took 2500 photos in the two weeks I was there! So I’ll apologize now that you are going to be getting many photos and many posts but I will spread them out between new house photos as well.

The reason I went to the French countryside was for Heather Bullard’s The Academy and this is where is we stayed. In a 13th century Chateau called Chateau de Mondesir.

The French chateau with a stone front.

I’m going to share with you all the little villages that we went to, about the Academy itself,  Bordeaux and Paris but today it’s all about the French chateau!

Chateau Mondesir is located in the tiny town of Villefranche-de-Lonchat in the Dordogne region of France, close to Bordeaux (wine country!).

The Chateau was built between 13th and 16th centuries. The oldest part of the house built in the 13th century was the turret which you’ll see below then the rest was added on over the next three centuries. It was thought that the house was built for the Mayor of Villefranche-de-Lonchat’s daughter. I may have got that wrong so don’t quote me!

The chateau in the countryside.
Wrought iron balconies.

That little brown cabinet is actually a BBQ, I kid you not. Such a beautiful BBQ!

An old style BBQ on the porch.

This part of the chateau is called a gite. The dictionary defines a gite as a specific type of holiday accommodation usually fully furnished and equipped for self-catering.  So this gite has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a little kitchen that Heather kept stocked for us that we could use to store and make food any time (although I never used it because I never ate so much in my life on this trip!)

Shrubbery all around the chateau.
Wild flowers and shrubs by the chateau house.

This is where we ate breakfast every morning of French croissants, jam and yogurt.

The old wooden dining table where we ate breakfast.
Antique china on the wooden cabinet displayed.

If you go up one level you’ll enter into our living room. The owners live in the chateau and have their own living room but this one was for us. The doorway shows you how thick the walls are. Yes, thickness of the walls!

An antique wooden door.
An old wooden door frame.
A couch with a white sheet on it in the sitting room.
White window curtains held up by antique details.
An old mirror above the fireplace.

This was a bedroom that reminded me a Claude Monet painting. I love this worn blue plastered wall.

Worn blue plastered walls.
An old wooden desk by the window.

The Chateau was really dark inside so these photos were hard to get but I wanted to show the old rustic staircase. Man, the creaks in that thing! But the plank hardwood floors were just the best.

A curved wooden staircase.
Taking a picture and the image in an old mirror.

This is the entrance to my bedroom. I felt so lucky. It had the most beautiful wallpaper.

A beautiful bedroom in the chateau.

Heather gave each attendee a gift each day and upon arrival we had many gifts waiting for us. #sospoiled

A collection of French gifts on the bed.

Most attendees came with a friend/mother/roomie except four of us. So I had my own room but I shared a bathroom with Stacie (we became fast friends so I was lucky to have her has my bathroom roomie). It was nice that I had my own sink in my room so I could shower and come back to my room and let Stacie use the bathroom to have a shower. It worked out perfectly.

An old wooden dresser in the bedroom.
A clear blue glass sink in the bedroom.
A wooden chair in the bedroom beside the window.
More gifts on a chair.
Flowers on the vanity in the bedroom.
Pink and yellow flowers in a white vase.
Up close shot of soap and towels.
French handmade soap with a tag on it.
A canvas tote with a lilac bow.
A wooden roll desk.

So when you go up another level you’ll reach the turret where two girls, Lori and Michelle from New York, stayed.

Wooden beams in a French rustic farmhouse.

The top part of the turret was covered with plexiglass for protection as birds were always flying in and out of the Chateau and I think the birds thought the turret would make a lovely spot to build a nest. Lori eventually left this room because of a bird and she moved into the Claude Monet room. There was one that lived in Stacie’s room for two days too.

Up close shot of the wooden beams.
A small window in the room.

These ‘windows’ now covered with glass were where men defended the Chateau with bow and arrow. Just tiny enough to put the arrow through.

A stone porthole.

I absolutely LOVE these portholes. You’ll see the little farmhouse across the front yard and the swimming pool is beyond that large tree. Off in the far distance is the town church which I’ll show you in another post.

Looking through the porthole into the countryside.
A tree in the window shot.

So here is the gite that I mentioned above. Aren’t those trailing roses just beautiful?

Trailing roses on the side of the farmhouse.

Here is where we had casual meals together. That one window leads to a bedroom.

An outdoor table to eat on.

That pasta dish was amazing. It had peaches in it. Yum yum as well as the pot de creme.

Bread, pudding and pasta for lunch.

Here’s the little indoor eating area.

An indoor eating area with a small tray with flowers on it in the middle of the table.

And the kitchen area just for us to use.

A white French kitchen.
Coffee mugs on the a wicker tray.

This room is where Lynda and Gina stayed. Their flight hadn’t arrived yet so I was able to sneak a pic.

A shared bedroom with a gold mirror.
A wooden mirrored armoire in the bedroom.

The detached farmhouse that you could see from the porthole is where mother/daughter Teresa and Shannon stayed. It was just amazing.

A garden area with a small table.
Potted flowers on the table.
A doorway ajar with a wrought iron bed.
A gold mirror above a small table with drinks and fruit.
There is white linen on the beds.

It had it’s own little sitting area and cute bathroom.

An old farmhouse door.
White towels by the sink.
Small curtains in the window.
Countryside window with shutters open.

That table outside is where we had many meals together. It was really like a dream.

An outside shot of the chateau.
A stone structure on the grounds of the chateau.

Denise, Stacie and I were touring the grounds while we waited for the other girls to arrive and get settled.

Looking at the trees.

Here’s the turret from the outside.

The turret on the the chateau.

We didn’t expect to see palm trees in the back.

A palm tree on the back of the house.

And seeing cala lollies growing in their natural habitat? Priceless!

Calla Lillies.

Chateau Mondesir has a 90 vineyard and their own wine label which was very good.

A vineyard.

(Taking a photo of Denise taking a photo.)

Taking photos of the grounds.
A wrought iron gate leading to the vineyard.
The rolling hills of the French countryside.
Stone fence of the vineyard.
Benches on the grounds.
A white doorway of the chateau.
My time in France at Chateau Mondesir, 13th century Chateau / view from window - So Much Better With Age

It truly was a dream to stay at this Chateau. There will be more posts coming up about my trip to France. I hope you stay around.

My time in France at Chateau Mondesir, 13th century Chateau / topiary - So Much Better With Age

Want to stay here?

Please check out Chateau Mondesir on Trip Advisor. I know they would love for you to stay there!

Click to See All My France Posts:

My Trip to France – Heather Bullard’s The Academy – Creative Styling & Photography Workshop

My Trip to France - Heather Bullard's The Academy - So Much Better With Age
That time I stayed in a 13th century French chateau / So Much Better With Age

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22 Comments

  1. God, this is simply beautiful. I love France so much. We’re off to Cannes for our honeymoon soon and I can’t wait.
    Loving the gift bags too – what a cute little tote filled with loveliness! Such a welcome.

  2. What a great start to your adventure A very charming place to stay. I will need to check it out.

    We love staying in France in gites or a house all to ourselves. It is all about the experience and living each moment.

    Looking forward to further photos and more of your activities. A trip to remember and how to bring a little French influence home.

  3. You lucky girl! We have had the priviledge of staying in a few historical places when we lived in Europe; your pictures made me kind of whistful for those days again. The welcome bags…gosh they look divine! Linda

  4. Lovely! 🙂 I felt like I was back there again! You are so sneaky… I had no idea you were getting those photos LOL your perspective of the chateau was just beautiful and captured so well. Thanks for sharing!

  5. Wow Jamie,
    Stunning pictures … Well done!
    What a wonderful experience for you.
    Now, I am left dreaming of my next trip to France 🙂

  6. What stunning photos, I was so happy to find your blog thanks to Little Farmstead this morning. It looks as if you had a fabulous trip, of course living in France I am biased, but every day I am still enthralled by the beauty all around me.

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