The Château de la Roche-Courbon is a 15th century castle located in the commune of Saint-Porchaire

Saint-Porchaire

Saint-Porchaire is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...

 in the Charente-Maritime

Charente-Maritime

Charente-Maritime is a department on the west coast of France named after the Charente River.- History :Previously a part of Saintonge, Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

 Département of France. The castle is privately owned, and classified as an historic monument. The garden is listed by the French Ministry of Culture as one of the Notable Gardens of France

Notable gardens of France

The Remarkable Gardens of France is intended to be a list and description, by region, of the over two hundred gardens classified as "Jardins remarquables" by the French Ministry of Culture and the Comité des Parcs et Jardins de France...

.

Description

The interior of the castle contains decor from the 17th century, in particular a bathroom covered with painted wood panels and sculptures from 1662,

The chateau has a Garden à la française

Garden à la française

The French formal garden, also called jardin à la française, is a style of garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature. It reached its apogee in the 17th century with the creation of the Gardens of Versailles, designed for Louis XIV by the landscape architect André Le...

, redone in 1936-1939, featuring a terrace with an Italian gallery, a monumental stairway, a parterre with four compartments and a fountain

Fountain

A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....

; topiary

Topiary

Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...

, and statues.

History

The castle was built around 1475 by Jehan de Latour, on site which had been inhabited since prehistoric times. In the 17th century, the Courbon family, which had occupied the castle for two centuries, transformed the castle into a more comfortable residence. More alterations were made in the 18th century, but the castle was eventually sold in 1817 and then abandoned. It was purchased in 1920 by Paul Chénereau, who restored the castle and its gardens. The castle is still owned and inhabited by his descendants.

External links

• Official Site of the Chateau
• Site of the French Committee of Parks and Gardens