House & Hotel Magazine features this nice chateau which lies immediately beside the historic little village of St Martin d’Oydes in the beautiful and unspoilt department of the Ariège.
The village is most unusual in that it is a complete ‘bastide’. For defensive purposes the houses form a circle clustered round the church which, until just over a hundred years ago, could only be reached through one of the houses. Though it is very sleepy, the village does have a Post Office and cafe/shop (with daily bread delivery). It also has a public hard tennis court.
St Martin d’Oydes is in the ‘basse Ariège’ surrounded by farmland – rolling hills which are the foothills of the Pyrenees and at this level reach heights of about 1500ft. It is almost due south of Toulouse (about 45 minutes drive) and lies about a third of the way along the Pyrenees coming from the Mediterranean. Driving south from the chateau the hills quickly become higher and grander and within an hour you are among the glorious mountain peaks of the High Pyrenees – the least polluted major mountain range in Western Europe. The cities of Toulouse, Albi, Carcassonne, Foix and Lourdes are all within reach as are other places of interest – magnificent castles, neolithic cave paintings, underground rivers and many more.
The park of about five acres is one of the great delights of the chateau. There are many magnificent mature trees including cedars, limes, oaks and a sequoia which were probably planted towards the end of the eighteenth century, but which had been rather neglected for some years when we came to the house in 1990. There are now about 200 roses and many other flowering plants including magnolias, camellias, viburnum, hydrangeas, wisteria, honeysuckle and clematis. Some are quite unusual and will be of interest to keen gardeners.
At the rear of the house is a terrace which gets early morning sun but has some shade by lunch-time. It is a lovely place to sit on a balmy evening to watch the setting sun play on the hillside opposite. There are wooden tables, chairs and benches on the terrace and by the pool but there are also several plastic tables and chairs which can easily be moved around so that you can eat or sit anywhere else in the park that takes your fancy.
The swimming pool is in the park, separated from the house and terrace by a rose-covered pergola.
The park is a haven for wild life. In particular, there are red squirrels and masses of butterflies. Amongst the birds we have identified are tawny and barn owls, buzzards, sparrowhawks, kingfishers, greenfinches, woodpeckers (green and great spotted), nuthatches, black caps, nightingales, hoopoes, golden orioles, pied wagtails and a heron. A pine marten and deer have also been spotted.
A small river borders the park on two sides but this is sufficiently remote and protected by vegetation. At one end of the house there exists the remains of a moat with fish, dragonflies, frogs and the occasional duck. There is also a pretty pigeonnier.
Its worth it and a different experience.
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