Château des Chasses Royales: A 19th-Century Hunting Lodge in Anjou’s Golden Light

Beneath the soft, honeyed skies of Haut-Anjou—where the Loire’s gentle whispers still linger in the air—stands a chateau born of royal passion and the wild heartbeat of the forest. **Château des Chasses Royales**, carved from the golden tuffeau stone of 1853, rises like a dream from its 10-hectare domain, a sanctuary where history breathes through every sculpted cornice and sun-warmed brick.

Commissioned by the Wolfcatcher Royal, a figure as legendary as the game-rich lands he cherished, this chateau was never meant to be merely a home—it was a tribute to the hunt, to the thrill of the chase, to the untamed beauty of Anjou. Its eclectic 19th-century silhouette, a dance of asymmetrical gables and slate-roofed elegance, still bears the marks of its noble purpose: the brick chimneys standing sentinel against winter’s chill, the dormer windows watching over meadows that stretch like an emerald sea, and the delicate bell tower that once summoned hunters home at dusk.

Approach through the southern entrance, where wide slate steps—worn smooth by generations of boots and silk slippers—lead to a front door framed by the scent of wild lavender and the distant murmur of aviaries. Here, the past is not a memory but a living presence. The outbuildings, tucked to the east like loyal retainers, whisper of grand feasts prepared in their kitchens, of fresh herbs plucked from the walled vegetable garden, of falcons once perched in the shade of their eaves. A second entrance, discreet yet welcoming, offers passage to these private realms, where the land unfolds in sun-dappled clearings and shadowed groves.

The chateau’s façade is a masterpiece of contrast—ashlar tuffeau, soft as candlelight, kissed by bold strokes of red brick, a marriage of strength and grace. The multi-pitched roof, a tapestry of slate and stone, catches the morning light and scatters it across the meadows below, where deer still pause at the tree line, as if sensing the echo of royal horns.

This is more than an estate; it is a legacy etched into the very soil of Ombrée d’Anjou, a place where the wild and the refined have always existed in perfect harmony. To walk its grounds is to step into a story—one of crackling hearths in the hunting season, of summer evenings on the terrace as swallows dip over the gardens, of a life lived in rhythm with the land’s timeless pulse.

For those who seek not just a home, but a chapter in history—where every stone holds a secret and every dawn paints the walls in gold—**Château des Chasses Royales** awaits. Here, the past is not gone. It is simply yours to claim.