What is a Chateau?

We are often asked "what is a chateau?" The answer is always slightly complicated, and never completely satisfactory.

Any country building substantial enough that the owners feel comfortable telling someone else it's a chateau seems to qualify. It could be a chateau fort (fortress or castle in English) a chateau ferme (fortified farm), a palace, a 19th century retreat, a renaissance fantasy hunting lodge (like Chambord). No building style defines a chateau, nor does the presence (or absence) of towers, fortifications, a moat or a long driveway. Most chateaux in France were built between the late 10th and early 20th century, but I am sure there are some outliers.

Of course not all chateaux are actually in the countryside. If it's a castle (in the English sense) it could be in the middle of town (Langeais, Tours), looming over a town (Amboise, Chinon) or surrounding a town (Carcasonne). Other chateaux may have been built on the outskirts of town, or even in the countryside, and the town grown to absorb them (too many to mention).

This, for instance, is a chateau.

We know it's a chateau, because there is a sign.

Chateau Fromage is here. We have driven past it many times and never realised it.

(If you think this blog post was written just so I could post pictures of Chateau Fromage, you're correct.)