Chateau Guygaudie

About this property

Walled gardens with play areas, a heated pool and a meadow filled with sunflowers: Chateau Guygaudie, a luxury chateau in the Dordogne. With dinner service included from Sunday to Friday, and breakfast and lunch also available at an extra cost, it is the ideal holiday rental for large families or private gatherings. The three-acre grounds include a bamboo forest and several planted gardens, including a tropical theme near the pool’s Bali-style pergola with sound system.

From the large oak doors to antique French furniture, this chateau exudes grandeur. The expansive house sleeps 8 - 12 guests. Several bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms, renovated to retain their historic character, and others can be either twins or doubles depending on your needs. You’ll love the elegance of the drawing room with a Louis XIV card table and its proximity to the music room/library and children’s playroom, for careful monitoring. The house is well kitted out for tiny tots, including a mobile playpen, booster seats, and children’s cutlery.

This area is perfect for water adventures, with canoe rental (5 min. away), a water park (20 min.), and a sandy beach at Lac Jemaye (15 min.). The Chateau Guygaudie is only 1 km from Riberac, where the Friday market has children’s activities. Fly into Bordeaux (an hour’s drive) or Bergerac (35 min.), and arrange taxi service through our concierge.

There are numerous childrens activities in and around the surrounding areas that are not age restricted. Canoeing is 5 minutes away but restricts the age of participants to a minimum of 3; this is the case with all canoeing in the Dordogne.

Within a 5 to 20 minute drive:
- The town of Riberac has a very well organized water activity centre for days out on the river. 5 minute drive away from the house.
- There is an equestrian centre close by and hacks are organized on a daily basis.
- There are bicycles at the house but in the case of larger numbers or bicycles with children’s trailers, there is a local hire shop with a large selection and at a reasonable price.
- The town of Riberac has six municipal tennis courts that are maintained to immaculate standards.
- Lake Jamaye is less than 15 minutes away from the house and has a beautifully maintained sandy beach with free boating activities, a floating raft, two play areas with swings and climbing apparatus, sand pits and slides. There are quite nice restaurants/bistros at the site if you haven’t arranged a picnic. There is also a volleyball area and beautiful walks around the lake.
- The beautiful town of Aubterre is very close and makes for a splendid excursion. There is a leisure complex at the river’s edge and a controlled swimming area with diving boards, boating activities, restaurants and even a monolithic cathedral carved secretly into the mountainside in the centre of the town. You could always visit the glass blowing factory afterwards. The town is lovely and boasts superb restaurants and snack bars making it a perfect venue for a day out.
- The town of Brantome, called the Venice of the Dordogne, boasts a wonderful church cut into the mountain side, numerous water activities, glass blowing factory, riverside walks and some of the best restaurants in the Dordogne. Just 10 minutes away there is the wonderful cave at Villars with its historic cave drawings, stalactites and stalagmites.
- Less than 20 minutes away is a lovely water park with slides, go-carts, boating, trampolines, swings, swimming areas and a children’s adventure playground.

Further afield:
- There are numerous world famous prehistoric caves and the Dordogne is at the very centre of these, at less than 40 minutes away.
- For the more adventurous there is a harnessed tree climbing activity site. 

Very local:
- Although markets are, traditionally, the love of adults, the market at Riberac (every Friday) has terrific children’s activities within it. There are usually roaming knights enacting the crusade paths that passed through the Dordogne on their way to Arabia and all sorts of hurdy gurdies, jugglers and balloon artists - a lovely family day out.
- Adults may wish to take in a concert, a myriad of which occur to all tastes throughout the summer. There are baroque evenings, jazz nights and many other things to do - antique street markets, night markets and organized town street parties, for example.
- There are several pizza houses and restaurants which all accept children.

 

National carriers all fly to Bordeaux, which is just over an hour away, but there are numerous alternatives which are much closer. Easyjet, Flybe and Ryanair fly into Bergerac, which is just 35 minutes from the house. There is a free shuttle service available into Riberac, alternatively a taxi service can be arranged though our concierge service.

Accommodation

Chateau Interior

Bedrooms

Upstairs there are six bedrooms, the bedrooms lead off the main corridor that runs through the length of the chateau. The four double rooms are all en-suite whilst the two bedrooms each with three single beds share a large family bathroom and toilet, in total 6 bedrooms. There is an additional twin room which shares the family bathroom. Each room has a unique colour theme and all are furnished with big pieces of antique French furniture.

All the bedrooms with en-suite facilities have either double or king size beds.

Sleeping in the house is almost a new experience as the only sound you hear are country ones, there is a magical silence at night and many of the guests are quite surprised at the quality of sleep they attain whilst here. All the adult beds have orthopaedic mattresses and all the children’s beds have roll out guards.

The staff at the chateau are very discreet and they work to your time schedule allowing you to relax and enjoy your holiday.

There are numerous cots at the house and these can be placed where and when required, and there is also a mobile play pen which can be used for afternoon naps or play time for a tiny tot.  In fact the chateau has numerous facilities for tiny babies and tots if required, from high chairs, booster seats, prams, changing facilities, children’s cutlery/plastic plates, steriliser, potties, toys, books, films, stair gates, baby alarms, pool accessories etc.  (please specify what is needed when making your booking.

The adult bedrooms are all en-suite and there is an overflow family bathroom on the upstairs corridor. The bathrooms have been carefully renovated to retain as many of the original features as possible, including the roll top baths and generous sized basins, showers and toilets.

The stairs are gated, there are a series of night lights placed along the corridor which are dark sensitive and come on at night and where potties have been grown out of the family bathroom acts as the children’s w.c. bath-nights are a pleasure in the large roll-top bath where you can do three at a time comfortably.

The standard and general quality of the adults bedrooms is 5 star and the children’s bedrooms are like something out of Alice in wonderland with beautiful murals and completely stuffed full of toys and games.
In all the years we have never had even one complaint from the children who are often found asleep in the morning in full pirate or princess attire.

Living Areas

The drawing room is particularly elegant and it connects with both the music room/library and the children’s sitting/playroom.

A splendid evening can be passed in the drawing room perhaps playing cards and or listening to music or even just reading a book. Having this communication with the family room enables the family to closely monitor their children whilst spending quality adult time together.

We often have requests by guests who have friends in the area or friends visiting the area at the same time to set up a nice drinks and canapé evening followed by a dinner in the formal dining room. Chef is always happy to oblige with these types of request and this affords the guest ample time with said party instead of having to nip off on a continuous basis to prepare and fetch and carry, the maid is pleased to be used in these circumstances.

The maid can also monitor the children for you and if a peep is heard inform you enabling you to relax and enjoy the security this service affords.
Chateau Details

Like many large period houses there are numerous things of interest in and around the property, there are two wells at the property one has retained its original pump from the 19th century and the other its original pouring stone from the 16th century many of the nooks and crannies will be of interest to those who enjoy the spirit of old houses.

When the property was refurbished and restored it retained the beautiful large roll-top baths and extra-large sinks, its oak panelling and doors. The sympathetic manner of the restoration has made it a show house, for the equivalent of the English heritage sites, in France and many a feature has been written about the house and its condition.

The grounds are mostly set to lawns, a further acre is tree/woodland with a wonderful bamboo forest, however, at least half an acre is planted to garden with over a thousand plants shrubs and roses and one area is planted in a tropical theme which surrounds the Bali-style pergola and which many of the guests use as their preferred eating venue during the spring and summer months. This is also placed in front of the swimming pool area and has seating for 12, a music centre and beautifully subdued lighting making it a most romantic place in the evenings, many a person has slipped off the dinner area straight into the pool on a hot summer’s evening.

There are several other eating areas in the grounds but the tropical garden seems to be the favourite and on those chilly or miserable evenings dinners are served in the main dining room which is, to say the least, “splendiferous”

The children’s room is furnished with all sorts of nice pirate seats or princess seats with a wonderful dressing up box to match, super large flat screen high resolution TV with satellite, WiFi,  video and DVD  player with surround sound. The video and DVD collection runs into the thousands and a playstation with a large selection of games.

The children also have a gated playroom with monitor with a huge selection of toys and games for their afternoon quiet time or they might like to watch a video downstairs, handy if the age gap requires segregation.

For the adults there is a large and comfortable drawing room and next to this a communicating music room cum library, there is a music centre and the book collection is extremely varied in both English and French with in excess of a thousand books. The large drawing-room has a wonderful Louis 14th card table and there is an access into the children’s playroom through a door in the library, this is particularly handy for monitoring purposes.

All the children’s rooms are gated as are the stairs both up and down and all electrical sockets, not in use, are safe-plugged.

The swimming pool (10mx3m) is walled and gated with a lock, a key for which is provided, the pool is also audio and video monitored this is relayed onto a flat screen in the kitchen area and is a very useful tool in ensuring both the good behaviour of the children and peace of mind for the guest who is able to leave those who are more able in the swimming department, whilst popping into the kitchen for an afternoon cuppa. The video audio monitor can be switched off if it is not needed.

To easily enjoy an al fresco meal in the privacy of your garden, our portable BBQ is at your disposal. There are lovely den areas, woodland and gardens including a folly for the children to play in all surrounded by a high stone wall for parent’s peace of mind.

The breakfast room is semi-attached to the kitchen and seats 8 so breakfast for the children is made very easy, with several high chairs and seat boosters.

The benefits derived from the chef’s free cooking service is that the adults are able to continue spending time with their loved ones without having to traipse down to the shops and prepare food and the maid then steps in and cleans up the mess, plenty of quality time is gained in this way.

There is a multitude of activities in the locality and the maid or chef will be pleased to assist you in the booking and/or organising of same.
Although it is extremely difficult to restrain one’s natural instinct to tidy up and wash the dishes and make the beds at first, within 2 days you get the hang of it and your holiday takes on its true meaning and intention of a break and this continues even when you arrive back home because you do not have to scramble to get the laundry done as even this will have been taken care of.

If you feel the inclination to learn a new recipe chef will even teach you how to bring it together, this is a wonderful opportunity for those who adore good food or like to hold dinner parties. There is no territorial problem with chef and the kitchen, nor are the recipes perceived as secrets. Guests may also use the kitchen to prepare lunchtime meals.