Le Château du Moulin, en Sologne

Again, I quote from the Cadogan guidebook for the Loire Valley: "The Château du Moulin, lost in the Sologne woods 12 kilometres [7 miles] west of Romorantin-Lanthenay,is the romantic star of the brick châteaux of the Sologne. It's a dreamy place, hidden in the countryside, reached by an alley of oaks you have to walk down, and surrounded by trees dipping their branches into the moat. Swans swim elegantly in its waters. The buildings that remain are fragmnts of a more solid ensemble..."

The Château du Moulin, built in the 1480s (as was the Château de Fougères-sur-Bievre) is about 15 miles east of Saint-Aignan in the Sologne, a "natural region" of sandy soil, ponds, lakes, and pine and birch forests. It's flat and the soil is clay and sand, so bricks were the main building material for houses and châteaux. The Michelin guidebook says that Le Moulin was originally protected by high walls and turrets. Those were torn down in later centuries to make the place airier and more pleasant to live in.

The woman who owned the Château du Moulin lived there until recently (maybe she still does). I remember getting a glimpse of her when we toured the inside of the château in October 2000. We were the on last guided tour of the day, and I think we caught her off guard when we entered a room that was part of her apartments. The pictures in my slideshow here are some that I took in 2004 when, if memory serves, CHM and I visited Le Moulin, which is just 15 miles northeast of Saint-Aignan.

And guess what I just learned — the Château du Moulin is now closed to the public and has been on the market since last January. You can buy it for a couple or three million euros. It's described as having 30 rooms, including 20 bedrooms, and 100 acres (39 hectares) of land. Here's a link.

And here's a video I found on YouTube: