The French Chateau: Life, Style, Tradition

by De Nicolay-Mazery, Christiane

• ISBN13: 9780500282717
• ISBN10: 0500282714
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-04-01
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc

Summary

To live in a castle is among the first childhood dreams. For a number of families, that dream has been realized in the glorious chateaux of France. Though visitors and armchair travelers delight in chateau architecture, they seldom see the private side of chateau life: how the French live day-to-day in their marvelous buildings. These stately residences are not dusty uninhabited museums, but real homes. Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery, herself born and brought up in her family's magnificent property at Montfort-le-Rotrou, takes us across France to visit the great homes she knows so well, opening doors that are usually closed to the outside world and allowing an intimate view of the unique way of life that goes on through the seasons. In the spring we attend a wedding at the Chateau de Groussay, and we see the drawing rooms, bedrooms, greenhouse, and orangery at Le Lude in the company of the Comtesse de Nicolay. In summer we visit the Chateau d'Haroue in Lorraine as guests of the Princesse de Beauvau-Craon. In autumn we follow the hunt with the Marquis and Marquise de Brissac, returning to the Chateau de Brissac for dinner. Baron Eric de Rothschild opens his cellars to us at Chateau Lafite. The onset of winter is celebrated with a boar hunt at the Chateau de Courances and lunch in the forest in the company of the Marquis and Marquise de Ganay. Jean-Bernard Naudin's atmospheric color photographs capture all the beauty and charm of these chateaux and the private lives of their inhabitants. 326 color photographs.

Table of Contents

Preface	16	(2)
Philippine De Ganay
Introduction	18	(2)
Christiane De Nicolay-Mazery
SPRING
A Wedding at Groussay	20	(12)
The Elephant of Jas Crema	32	(6)
Romantic Montgraham	38	(18)
Elisabeth's Orangery	56	(8)
A Childhood at Le Lude	64	(20)
SUMMER
Invitation to Courances	84	(20)
The Kitchen Garden of Miromesnil	104	(6)
Haroue, a Palace in Lorraine	110	(20)
A Dinner Party at Le Lude	130	(14)
AUTUMN
Riding to Hounds at Brissac	144	(20)
The Carriages of Le Fresne	164	(16)
Chateau Lafite: The Rothschild Style	180	(16)
Hunting Wild Boar at Courances	196	(16)
WINTER
Haroue by the Fireside	212	(4)
Epoisses, A Literary Chateau	216	(6)
A Venetian Carnival at Neuville	222	(6)
Christmas at Brecy	228	(12)
The Chateaux and Their Proprietors	240