Gaspard de Saulx (1509–1575) was featured in a 1966 series of Dr. Who!
During the French Revolution, the façade of the castle was defaced, later it was used as a school for local children and then in the 1950s the family who owned it but didn’t really rate it that much sold it to an insurance company who left it to rot as they just wanted the land that came with it. By the time the state stepped in, the chateau was in a terrible state.
It has these days found love from local volunteers and that’s essential because the funds are just not there to restore it. One of them, Georgette, remembers visiting the chapel there in the 1950s but says that the key has been lost, the stairs have rotted and no one has been in there for at least 50 years. I tried to persuade them to fetch me a ladder but they wouldn’t!
Inside, the castle sometimes resembles a mysterious medieval building site. Slowly the volunteers are bringing it back to life but it's a huge job. One of the rooms is complete - and completely stunning. Popping on plastic sliperettes to protect the ancient wooden floor (and polish it at the same time) you enter a vast room with ornately painted ceiling and carved fire places and a life-sized portrait of a rather stern looking Gaspard staring at you.
The gardens are being restored and are lovely to wander in and this chateau is embracing its resurrection with lots of events in the summer.
Website: Chateau de Pailly