Looking for inspiration or a romantic setting? How about an abandoned French manor?

What’s the difference between a manor and a château? And what is a logis? A château, usually built after the 12th century, was a fortified residence that served as an administrative and judicial centre. Its thick stone walls were punctuated by towers, arrow slits, battlements, and all was protected by moats and drawbridges. Manor houses were more recent constructions. Built between the 15th and 17th centuries, unlike châteaux, they didn’t dominate the landscape but blended into it. With no defensive purpose, they were aesthetically pleasing and designed for the comfort of the lesser nobles who inhabited them and used their large reception rooms for parties and hunt gatherings. A manor was also a working farm, and was surrounded by barns, stables, worker’s cottages, a wine or cider press, and a dovecote for raising pigeons — once a seigneurial privilege. Less well known are the logis. Lacking the ostentatious features of a château and the agricultural buildings of a manor, they were the residences of lesser nobles and untitled wealthy burghers. Like manors, logis are recognizable by their lovely but understated façades, their mullioned windows, and internal spiral staircases. Some châteaux, manors and logis have been carefully restored; others are partially or totally abandoned; this is the fate of the manor of Aigrefoin. Set on the hill dominating the river valley and village where I live, Aigrefoin was built during the second half of the 15th century. It is a beautiful building, despite its neglected state. Above its granite doorway is an ogee arch with a now illegible coat of arms. The great hall on the ground floor has terracotta tiles, exposed beams, a large mullioned window, and an imposing fireplace. Behind, a granite spiral staircase housed in a tower leads to two more great halls on the second floor. Higher up, near the door to the attic, a small window not only provided light for the stairwell, but allowed the lord of the manor to survey the main east-west road far below and prepare for the arrival of visitors, or monitor the movements of roving robber and beggar bands.

Who lived in Aigrefoin? No stories have been passed down, and only a few names remain: in 1758 it belonged to Guillaume Le Duc de la Pironnaie and his wife, Louise Hamon, before being passed on to Urbain Besnier and his wife Anne Le Duc. In 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War, the manor and barns were requisitioned by Admiral Jauréguiberry — the battle of Saint-Jean took place less than a kilometre away. During WWII, this manor — like other manors, castles and logis —was probably occupied by officers of the Wehrmacht. By the time I first saw Aigrefoin in 1996, it had come down in the world. Its great hall was being used for furniture storage by a peasant family that lived in the adjoining foreman’s cottage. Then, twenty years ago, Aigrefoin was sold. The company that bought it planned to turn the surrounding fields into Equiland (an unfortunate name that smacks of Disneyland) an upscale subdivision for well-off families with horses; the lovely manor would be “renovated” into a modern clubhouse. Fortunately, that grim fate was avoided. The tasteless subdivision was never created — there are no bridle paths here, and the modern east-west road is busy and dangerous. The acquiring company vanished into thin air; the manor was left to languish. How long before it falls into complete ruin?

JIll (J.Arlene) Culiner writes Romance, Women's Fiction and more https://www.j-arleneculiner.com