Chateau de Freyssinet

16/08/2024

✨ Discover France’s Hidden Gems During Indian Summer ✨

September and October are the perfect months to explore France without the summer crowds. Wander through enchanting châteaus and picturesque villages, hike and bike in the mild weather, and take a refreshing evening dip in our heated pool. As the sun sets, let the starry skies mesmerize you.

Nestled in the wild and wooded hills of Limousin, Chateau de Freyssinet offers the ultimate retreat to savor the last rays of summer.

Our two beautifully appointed holiday homes feature fully equipped kitchens, ample privacy, and a touch of luxury—ideal for couples or families who cherish the great outdoors.

🐾 Good news for pet lovers: We still have availability in September and October, and we welcome dogs during these months too!

25/07/2024

At last, summer has arrived at the chateau. And it’s better than ever, with a pool like this!

Every year, April to June are such incredibly busy months as we work towards our summer deadlines. This year, the goal was to have build a pool by June 1. But we had so much rain that it became impossible to dig, poor concrete and install liners, and so we slogged on, caught every dry moment, and finally finished it in the early days of July.

We have some landscaping still to finish, but it’s already looking magnificent, and what a luxury to be able to take an evening dive and enjoy the view in its golden hour light.

The Big Barn eagerly awaits our return and our next June deadline is already stirring in the back of our minds. Will we be able to open our 3rd holiday home next summer? I’ll keep you posted!

16/02/2024

Did you know the history of the castle goes back to 1270?

That year, Pierre, son of Aynard de Freyssinet, marries his 1st wive, Jeanne de Nanthiat. He’s just received ownership of the Freyssinet territory - granted to him by the Viscount of Limoges. He was the 1st in a family of knights to become a significant landowner.

Jeanne will have helped her husband manage the build of the first fortress of Freyssinet. The territory had to be defended in a time when the Viscount was fighting a war against the English. Pierre will have been away - as a knight he would have fought in the many battles happening close to home. The Middle Ages often saw noblemen away on war and it wasn’t uncommon for their wives to take responsibility for the estate in their absence.

There will have been a high stone wall, a tour or keep and a large hall, a well as smaller buildings to house staff & artisans, like masons & carpenters, who will have lived & worked on the estate for decades.
Jeanne & Pierre soon have a son - Pierre II. Jeanne dies, most likely in childbirth (20% of women do during childbirth or pregnancy in the Middle Ages) & Pierre remarries to Dulice du Chateau.

In 1285, Dulice gives birth to a baby girl, called Jourdaine. In 1301 Dulice & Pierre secure a valuable match for their daughter. She marries Boson de Lur - who was of more established nobility & wealth. Boson’s grandfather had been squire in Freyssinet & likely knew Pierre’s family from that time. He also owned land east & west of Freyssinet. A match with Jourdaine gave him a chance to connect his disjointed territories into one.

Jourdaine was 16 when they married. He was in his 30s. They had 4 children, but we only know what happened to the eldest, Geraud. He became a decorated knight who fought in the war of Perigord. From there, the family continued to grow their wealth & influence. Each generation delivered knights to local rulers & eventually to the Kings of France.

Today, we honor the very First Ladies of Freyssinet by naming our holiday homes after them. If you ever come to stay in Maison Jourdaine or Dulice, we’d love to tell you more about the history we’ve uncovered.

19/01/2024

We’ve got just a few weeks left available for the summer holiday.

I know I can’t wait for the summer to arrive!
Lazy mornings, an adventure in the afternoon, a plunge in the pool to cool off, dinner on the terrace, marshmellows with the kids, stargazing before bed.

Our holiday homes are super comfy and come with lot’s of privacy and a pool.

Check out our link in bio for more info or DM me with any questions!

15/12/2023

Can you spot the 5 differences? 😁

Transforming the Big Barn into a luxurious holiday home is our biggest project yet. Even though the end result feels very far away, we’re proud of what we’ve established so far. The building has transformed so much already!

When we found it, the barn was filled with the remnants of a cow farm. The previous owner farmed the typical Limousine beef cows of the region, and the barn was filled with old straw and the 19th century calf sheds were still intact (see pic 4).

Even though we do most of the work ourselves, there are some things we like to outsource. We outsource generally when a job is too specialist - like intstalling a septic tank system. Or when a job would take too long to do by ourselves - like a new roof.

Windows are another example. The new windows in the Big Barn transformed the building over night. The largest ones are aluminum - the rest is PVC. The dark grey color is exactly the same on both and eliminates the plasticy look you can sometimes get with white PVC. Our supplier was .

Follow along as we tranform the Big Barn into a beautiful holiday home!

22/10/2023

Nothing adds warmth to a room like a woodfire.
And in the case of Maison Dulice, it’s our main source of heat.

Next to French bureaucracy, which still blows me away at times, the cost of heating has been the biggest challenge for us here.

The castle is heated with a central heating system running on fuel. The price of fuel when we came here in 2021 was about 1 euro per liter. It’s gone up 35% since then. The first year - before the energy crisis hit - we weren’t as conscious as we are today, and we burned through 6000 liters in a winter. The second year, we did much better, brought it down to 3200 liters.

But is smells like a Shell station, you can hear it just guzzling up your money, and it’s fuel - which is about the least sustainable way to heat your house. So we’ve been looking at ways to replace the system from the start.

Heatpumps don’t have the power to heat a house this size. Gas isn’t sustainable, and thermal heat is for millionaires.
There are some wood based central heating systems available: woodchips, woodpellets or logs. The woodchip and pallet machines need big reservoirs and piping to transport the chips/pellets to the machine. All in all - it’s pretty costly. The first quote we got (and I hope you are sitting down) - 133K. Well… clearly that was a no go. Second quote: 77K. Still nowhere near our budget.

Now we’re looking at a log based system, which requires us to manually feed the system every morning. But it’s a lot more affordable, and we’d be able to do much of the installation ourselves.

It’s not something we’re looking to do this year - our priority is to get our third holiday home finished.
So we’ve decided we’re going to move into Maison Dulice this winter. It’s smaller - so easier to heat, and just to navigate in general. And it will allow us to save some money & burn less fuel. We’ll heat the chateau to a minimum, and in Dulice we’ll install a new convection woodburner (thanks to the incredible kindness of John’s folks). It’s a woodburning stove which blows hot air around, and I can’t wait to try it out.

07/10/2023

It’s a special kind of friendship that shares a passion for crazy big chateau renovation projects. Jan and Ayla are those kinds of friends!

Friends have been so important in a big project like this. Old friends, who come to help, who trust us enough to book a holiday months before it’s livable, who tell others about our beautiful place.

And new friends, who have so generously shared their lessons about living and doing business in France, who have so warmly received us in their homes and who have lend a sympathetic ear when it all just gets to be a bit much.

Lovely to help out a bit this weekend and to spend some time together with these lovely people!

❤️ 🙏🏻

03/10/2023

Even small buildings are worth saving. We renovated the roof of this centuries old little building in a week!

For a building, a roof is its greatest protection. If the roof falls in, the walls will soon follow.
And so, even though we have no short term plans for this little gem, we had to prioritize giving it a new roof. It's such a charming structure. One day it may turn into a sauna, a tiny bar or a secret little house for our youngest guests to hide and play in.

You can see the full transformation in our newest highlight: A new roof

And now it's back to renovating the big barn!

05/09/2023

She’s pretty in the late summersun…

✨

13/08/2023

Even the kids quiet down for these summer sunsets!

One of my favorite things about the summer season is when I glance out of the kitchen door and happen to catch a glimpse of pure joy.

Our guests chatting straddled on the chateau wall, a sunset moment like this, or a little kid trying to catch a frog or a stuffing a stray strawberry into their mouth.

❤️

09/08/2023

Check out the newest holiday home in our collection!

And you can still book it for August! She’s available between 17 August and 2 September.
Check her out on AirBnB or our website and don’t miss out on a great Last Minute deal!

Maison Dulice

17/06/2023

Still can’t believe that this is home sometimes!

Our fairytale chateau is a green paradise. What we love most about it isn’t even that it’s a pretty chateau. It’s the delight of living amidst so many wild things.

We are rediscovering the joys and challenges of living to the beat of nature’s rhythm. Something that had gotten all but lost to us while living in the city.

And sometimes - we see something truly special - like the oriole diving and dipping like a yellow arrow slicing through the trees.
The blue flash of a kingfisher grazing the water and then racing off so fast it’s only it’s bright color that deceives her presence.
A fox making its way gingerly through the long grass, then looking over its shoulder and spotting you - three big jumps and it’s gone - leaving just the colorful shadow of his orange fluffy tail in your mind’s eye.

Want to come see for yourself? We still have availability this summer! Find more in our Linkinbio.

❤️

29/04/2023

This is us.
Clearly Ben hates these family photoshoots. 😂

The season has started again and we love it!
Our firsts guests arrived this week and kicked off our second year as hosts. We’re geared up for a full summer of working and playing hard!

And we had family over and they were an incredible help to get us to our deadline to finish Maison Dulice. There was the usual DIY bonanza that is John’s dad. John’s mom taught me how to wallpaper and thanks to her the two walls we did I swear don’t show a single seam! And we had my brother-in-law & family cooking, pruning, cleaning and heavylifting!

Thanks guys, for a great start to the season.

Photocredits

😊 🇫🇷

23/04/2023

Hidden away in the woody hills of the Limousin is Chateau de Freyssinet. A perfect getaway to catch the first rays of summer.

And with the Tour de France in town on July 8th and 9th - we really are the place to be!

Roam the woods, bike down countrylanes, enjoy music and food on one of the night markets the region is famous for, discover castles and medieval myths, go treasure hunting on vide greniers and in porcelain shops.
Breathtaking views, fresh air and birdsong the only noise.

Maison Jourdaine is a cozy and luxurious chateau cottage, sleeps 4-5 people in 2 bedrooms and comes with a fully equipped kitchen and private pool.

We still have availability from 1 through 16 July.

DM us for the best rates!

17/04/2023

It's pretty challenging to combine two big building projects, on top of the daily upkeep of the chateau and its park. Oh, and I nearly forgot my dayjob as well.

On the one hand, we're working to finish Maison Dulice, our second holiday home, before the summer.
On the other hand, we had to get started on the Big Barn this winter. In it, we're building a holiday home for 13 people, and the scope of the work is massive. Once our first guests of the season arrive, we stop doing any noisy and exterior work. That limits how much we're able to do between May - October. So if we want to open this 3rd home in the summer of '24, we need to get all the big structural work done now.

These past 2 months, we've worked really hard to get the site ready to receive a whole team of builders, who are leveling the floor, replacing the roof, taking down a big part of the massive (and ugly) old open cowshed behind the barn, and putting in windows.

We've had to draw and redraw plans for what the Big Barn holiday home will look like. The day we open this space for guests might be far away, but we already had to decide where every shower, tap, and socket will be in the future. That way we can hide all our wiring & piping under the concrete floor.

We've had to clear out tons of old wood, hay and rock, and we've had to cram machinery, building materials, and furniture all into one small space - to give the builders room to work.

We've had to jump administrative hoops to get permits and subsidies and we've had to coordinate different builders to make sure the whole puzzle came together before May.

But I'm happy to say the end is in sight. Work is progressing really nicely. I'm especially excited about the windows for the Big Barn, so stay tuned to see how they will turn out!

This week - we're back in Maison Dulice - we're painting, we're doing some floors - and we're confidently working to finish her before summer. She will be gorgeous and I can't wait to show her off.

10/04/2023

The chateau looking so pretty for Easter!

07/04/2023

It's not all roses and moonlight here - all this hard work doesn't always go without a hitch.

While excavating the big barn to create a level floor - our digger man ran into a challenge. He found that the walls of the building don't run equally deep everywhere, and one piece of wall did not have foundations all the way down to our dig level. He quickly scooped the dirt floor back in place, because leaving the wall without support might lead to it collapsing.

We'd need to build a concrete support as a new foundation. The need for a lot of concrete had us speed up the next part of the project. Our digger man dug trenches that will serve as foundations to the inner walls we're building up here - and if we were going to have an expensive concrete truck come, we might as well pour the concrete into those trenches right away. And then there were the sills we needed to build for the windows that are coming in. The old barn doors were fine sliding open over a dirt floor, but with large windows arriving in their place - we needed to build a solid base for them to rest on.

Still, we had a few sleepless nights. The concrete truck wouldn't come till after the weekend - and the weather was terrible, with wind and rain beating hard against out foundationless wall. We were afraid the water might make the earth slide.
But it turned out to be a great test for the solidity of the building - it stood there strong and proud on Monday morning - not a hair out of place.

John had been hard at work all weekend building casings for the window sills. The one for the new foundation to the wall could not be put in place until the morning of the day the concrete truck arrived, because we didn't want to remove the earth to make place for the casing - that would only create instability. We scrambled all morning to get things ready.

The real fun was yet to start tho. Read the whole story in our very first Freyssinet blog! The link is in our bio.

16/02/2023

Only a few spots left available this summer in Maison Jourdaine.

9 - 16 july
20 aug - 3 sept

Imagine yourself with a quiet coffee out on the terrace. In the cool of the morning - before it heats up outside and the family wakes up.

She’s waiting for you!

And if you aren’t tied to school holidays - we’ve got a few spaces left in May and June as well.

13/02/2023

This is the old oven of Chateau de Freyssinet.

Although I have no idea how old it is, this oven will have baked all the bread eaten on the estate for centuries. It could even have served the entire village of Freyssinet at one time. It's located all the way at the far end of the castle walls - indicating that it might have served more people than just those living on the castle premises.

Although bakeries these days are found in the smallest French villages, in the Middle Ages there was no such thing as a boulangerie. Instead there was the Four Banal - owned by the local lord. People weren't allowed to use any other way to bake their bread, and even had to pay the lord to use the Four Banal. All land laborers were required to hand in a 16th of their grain production and that would feed the entire community with bread.

The oven didn't bake every day - there could be a week between bake days. A staple food in the middle ages was soup - it being a dish where a little goes a long way. The often stale bread would be put into the bottom of a bowl- and the soup would be poured on top - to make for a more filling meal.

It was a far cry from today's buttery croissants and baguettes baked to perfection.

Although we don't have short term plans for this little building - we will make sure that it doesn't collapse. It's an important part of the local history. Maybe one day, it will become a pizza oven, or a sauna, or even a tiny house.

If it was up to you, what would you transform this charming little building into?

27/12/2022

Hidden away in the woody hills of the Limousin is Chateau de Freyssinet. An intimate holiday retreat with gorgeous and comfortable holiday homes. Perfect for families, our homes come with private swimming pools, and a beautiful chateau park to play in.

Book you summer adventure now! Explore the hills & forests of the wild & undiscovered heart of France. A green fairytale landscape dotted with castles, beautiful little villages, and sparkling lakes.

Maison Jourdaine is a cozy and luxurious chateau cottage. She sleeps 4-5 people in 2 bedrooms and is perfect for both couples and families.

Maison Dulice is a gorgeous home for 6-8 people in 3 bedrooms. A spacious house for larger families and friends.

Both houses come with fully equipped kitchens, fluffy towels, beds made up & ready to dive into and private gardens with access to fresh produce from our veggie patch.

Open for bookings now!

DM us for the best rates.

20/12/2022

It's a challenge to create a space full of character without breaking the bank. Certainly in a foreigh country with unfamiliar shops & vendors. Here’s what we've learned.

For beds, choose comfort over esthetics. An antique French bed is gorgeous, but usually no wider than 1.40m. Choosing modern high quality beds: worth the investment! Guests will have some space during hot summer nights & with all different people coming through, quality is a must.

IKEA kitchens are affordable, flexible & generally last. But they come in pieces, a 1000 pieces. Essentially you're putting together a massive Ikea closet, and you know what that's like! For us, it turned into a nightmare job that took us 4 days! Other affordable vendors offer a pre-assembly service. Cabinets come assembled. You just install them, any equipment and a worktop. Time is money.

Jumble sales are fun & a great way to explore the region, but in terms of furniture there is little choice, it’s often expensive & it can be a time suck. We've had more success with the Emmaus consignment shops - lot's of furniture, mostly under €100 a piece. Also, auctions! You can join any auction online these days - so you can combine an auction (which often takes 3-4 hours) with other jobs at home. Pro-tip: hang on for the last 50 lots. Most people have left by then & and things go for a bargain.

We’ve chosen tiles for the living spaces. Indestructible, easy to clean, cheaper than wood. Pro-tip: choose large tiles. 60x60 is a good size - not heavy enough to be cumbersome, but large enough to make for fast work. We love those small decorative Zellige or Portuguese concrete tiles. But they aren’t always practical. Pro-tip: instead of tiling your entire kitchen with them, add them as a detail: to the inside of a fireplace or sink, or a small detail in your larger floor. For Maison Dulice I found a ceramic tile that evokes Portuguese concrete tiles, It comes as a 45x45 tile containing 4 smaller patterned tiles. Easy to lay & much less fragile than concrete tiles, which discolor & chip easily.

01/12/2022

The french have a word for the wooden framework that supports a roof. They call it ‘charpente’. And the people around here really appreciate a good charpente. Every time we have someone in here, their glance can’t help but turn up at the roof - murmuring: “quelle belle charpente..”

The cross beams in the big barn span over 13 meters wide and it’s hard to imagine the labor that went into hauling these up and putting them in place. All by hand! The building is 450 m2 and was used for rearing Limousine cows, keeping hay & straw and storing the farmer’s equipment.

But before becoming a barn - the long back wall may well have served a different purpose. If you look closely, you’ll notice that high up in the wall are long narrow slits. They start off in a wide shape and taper off towards the exterior. They have the same tapered shape as an arrow slit - allowing the bowman situated behind the wall to maneuver his bow left and right - while protecting him from enemy fire by keeping the exterior slits as narrow as possible.

Locals tell us that these kind of tapered slits aren’t very common in barns. We’ve found a lot of evidence to suggest that this castle was used mainly as a defensive structure during the first few centuries of its existence. And so our theory is that the back wall of this barn was once part of that defensive structure.

We’ll never know for sure of course, but we do know that in transforming this barn into holiday homes we’ll celebrate the long history and impressive craft of artisans long gone - by leaving the slit windows and parts of the charpente in sight.

It will be a big & challenging project - of a different scale than we’ve attempted so far. We’re a little daunted, but we can already see the endresult in our minds and we are so excited to get started!

20/11/2022

Before and After. The facade of Maison Dulice shows her age, her history. Swipe to see her transform.

We repaired her cracks and fissures, using a reclaimed antique door. We celebrate the stuff she is made of by showcasing some of her stonework.
Very slowly she is coming alive again.

We know just a little bit about her history. We found her as a neglected storage space for old things (furniture, many many beeboxes, and walnut casings left there by rodents).
But before that she housed a classroom for catechism class. Some of the older folk around here remember being taught here by the local priest and sometimes the Lady of the house. They tell us she was pretty strict. We even found some of their notebooks.

Before that she was probably a house for some of the Chateau’s staff. The ground floor will at some point have been a stable for animals. There was a still a wood structure recognizable as such when we just came to live here. The heat from the animals would have helped to heat up the main living space directly overhead.

History remains a mystery, but living here means sometimes you can almost feel what it might have been like.

14/11/2022

The chateau is ready for the winter and our family is ready for year 2 in France! Follow us as we get stuck in again - it will be a busy winter with lots of renovation work, but also our first big job as farmers! We’re planting 450 chestnut trees this month!

We’ve just returned from holidays - our first in a really long while. All summer long I’ve been just a little bit jealous of our guests splashing around the pool and reading their books in the sun 😂

It’s great to be back with a rested brain - The creative juices had shut down a bit from all the hard work, but now when we rummage the sheds & roam the land, I’m full of ideas again.

We closed Maison Jourdaine on November 1st and we’ll open back up at the end of April - this time with TWO holiday homes! We initially intended to stay open for the winter, but closing up means we can be extra noisy and extra fast when it comes to finishing Maison Dulice (updates on our progress soon!!)

We’re aiming for February to finish Dulice, and then it’s straight on to the next challenge: building an infinity pool.

But that’s not all. We’re starting work on the a 3rd building…. ✨ 😜 So stay tuned for the reveal of our next (monster!) project.