25
The Front of Château Destinée
The front of Château Destinée tells its own story of time and change. The two side wings were built in 1626, as marked by the date stone, and the central section was added in 1904 to join what had originally been two hunting lodges.
In many ways, you could say that since 1904 the front of the château had not changed greatly. There had, however, been one major cosmetic alteration before we arrived: around 2005, fifteen years before we bought the property, the penthouse level was added. We would later completely gut and rebuild the inside of that space, but that is a story in itself.
It looked haunted
When we first arrived, the front of the château was far from grand. My mother and goddaughter were visiting from Australia at the time, and my goddaughter commented that it looked haunted. It was hard to argue with her. The driveway was mostly mud, with very little gravel left. Grass, weeds, and bamboo had taken over. The shutters were closed and looked tired, dull, and mouldy. The grass was overgrown, and the front terrace was so covered in moss and grime that it felt almost slippery enough to ice skate on.
A day of pressure washing in the rain
One of the very first priorities, especially with my mother visiting at the age of 84, was to clean the front terrace. In constant rain, Pete spent an entire day pressure washing it. As so often happens with old buildings, one job quickly revealed another. Once the terrace was clean, it became clear that it also needed regrouting, as the water was running through the stone rather than draining properly to either end.
A hacksaw against the bamboo
Another early task was tackling the bamboo at the front of the château. This was before Pete had started collecting tools, so armed with little more than a hacksaw, a great deal of determination, and the occasional colourful word, he cut it all down by hand. For the next year and a half, we kept cutting back the shoots to stop it taking over again, until eventually we were able to bring in machinery to dig it all out properly. That was a wonderful day. Once it was gone, we added new gravel and no longer felt the need to distract people from looking towards that side of the château and the path beyond. Later, that same patch of ground would become the site for part of our new heating system - but that is another story.
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Shutters, front door and windows
To stop the château looking haunted, the shutters, front door, and windows all needed attention. In our first year, we managed to wash the shutters and paint the windows, which already made a remarkable difference. Then, in year three, we sanded, repaired, and painted the shutters on the first level, along with the front door. At last, the façade was beginning to look more like the grand front the château deserved. Finally, in March 2025, five years on, and with the help of very high scaffolding, we completed the shutters and windows on the upper floor. It was a long job, but entirely worth it. The front of the château now truly looks like the front of a château, rather than a haunted house.
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At last, the gravel
Then there was the gravel. When we arrived, there was so little left on the drive that our removal truck could not actually come up to the house. All our belongings had to be transferred into a van from the truck parked up the road, then driven down to the barn. The driveway clearly had to be done, but COVID delayed everything. With the rubbish tips closed, all our renovation waste piled up on the turning circle, and we had no choice but to wait. Finally, in May 2021, the gravel was delivered. In a single day, the turning circle and driveway were transformed. Just in time for our first wedding, we finally had an entrance that was no longer muddy, mouldy, overgrown, or haunted.
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