Hi guys! We continue our trip in Burgundy, with a focus today on two nearby castles. But let's start first with the lovely village bearing the name of Châteauneuf meaning literally Newcastle.

The village of Châteauneuf

Before entering the village, you can take a walk around it and enjoy the view from the hill. It goes as far as the nearby forest. In all cases, you will get a foretaste of what is to come, that is old stones.

The village is not the main attraction of Chateauneuf, but it is worth your time. It's a really small village, 80 inhabitants (gosh, and I complain about living in the countryside), and it holds a lot of houses classified as Historic Monuments.

Like the House Saint Georges built in the 16th century. Can you imagine living there? I could! I would definitely hang tapestries on the walls and playing the Lord in my house!

This was the common hostel of the lowest rank of priests, the mépartistes. I didn't even know that existed. Apparently, in some regions, it was tradition that families sent one boy to be "under-priest" so that they could get a part of the tithe.

The House of the Sheep, 16th century also, with nice windows and door decorations.

There's only one restaurant in the village (told you, 80 inhabitants), but it's worth it. The setting is nicely traditional, and they serve traditional Burgundian cuisine. That is, as the most typical meals: stewed beef, rabbit in mustard sauce (I recommend!) or of course snails in garlic sauce.

One last peak of the village from the castle (hoho! master transition!)

The castle of Châteauneuf

The castle was first built in 1132, but only a few parts remain of this period. Most of the visible parts now were modified in the 15th century.

It is built on a rocky hill, from where it could control the valley.

It was accessed by a drawbridge, we can still see the openings for the passage of the chains.

The coat of arms, as all other signs of royalty/nobility, was destroyed during the French Revolution.

While the exterior walls mark a defensive character of the castle, once in the yard, it seems more like a comfortable noble house. You can see on the far right the original square keep on the 12th century.

The main door gives access to the Guard Room. The coat of arms on the chimney was destroyed also, only the contours are still visible.

The chapel is dedicated of Mary, and it holds a replica of the grave of Phillip Pot, the most famous owner of the castle, who was advisor to the Duke of Burgundy.

Upstairs, in the main bedroom, there's a little window giving view on the chapel. It is almost at floor level, I actually didn't notice it but my son pointed it out. It was designed as such in order to follow the liturgy directly from the bedroom.
We see better the grave of Phillip Pot, surrounded by height pleurants, each holding one blazon of each of his nobility titles.

So, the bedrooms are upstairs. One was arranged as a 15th century bedroom. Yeah, tapestries rock!

While the other is left arranged as a 18th century appartment, with corridor and bedroom.

A guest house is accessible from the courtyard. The internal walls are missing except the shear-wall, which bears a monumental chimney.

Commarin

Originally a roman villa transformed into a fortified house, it was formally modified as a castle in the 14th century. From a standard medieval castle, square with one tower at each corner, two of the towers were destroyed and the castle opened on one side in the 17th and 18 th century, in a Classical style. So the two round towers are still from the orginial castle, while the rest was rebuilt as we see it today.

The surrounding moat also dates from the original castle. In front of the stables, a ramp gives access to the moat. It was designed so that horses could drink.

Oh yeah, no more horses now, but two friendly piggies. The kids loved them, they can be touched, unless they fled as my younger one goes toward them running and shouting with excitement... No... That's not the good strategy...

As you have seen by now, it's quite the regular/symmetric castle, in pure classical style.

So, we were talking about the stables. They are on the prolongation of the left wing.

While the right wing presents the kitchen, as per its last update as a "modern" 19th century kitchen.

A beautiful little chapel is located next to the stable. That's how I like them. Now, churches are all colorless sad stones. They looked so much better when we were painted!

For the inside of the castle, one wing is opened to visits, while the other is still inhabitated. The entrance to the main rooms is made by a stair with stucco decorations.

And then we have access to the collection. The particularity of this castle is that it has remained in the same family for 700 years, through inheritance and marriage, and was preserved during the French Revolution, so it presents quite a rich collection!

I know it's not the latest fashion tendency, but I do think tapestries on wall is stylish! I'm pretty sure it would decrease the heating invoice too! But my wife won't hear about it, unfortunately... Wouldn't you like it? I invite you around tapestries "Come on, old sport, I have an old Cognac you have to taste!". Nevermind, I will have to wait to get older and richer.

"Old sport, you drank too much. Go rest yourself in the 17th century bedroom"

"Of course I put another tapestry in the 18th century bedroom, these things are timeless!"

"Be careful though with the parquet, old sport, it's pretty slippery. A few kiddos slipped on it"

Both kids actually fell on the ground, it was hilarious.
"Dad, Hugo fell on the ground because he ran and didn't pay attention, right Dad?"
2 minutes later, boom!

And that's it. Châteauneuf is the winner for today in my heart. Nice village, nice castle, nice food. The winning trio!