In Macbeth's kingdom

If you have always had Abbotsford envy, here's where you can retire to write your own Waverley novels, or perhaps commentaries on Shakespeare's tragedies. Blackcraig Castle is a romantic Scots Baronial mansion on the River Ardle between Pitlochry and Blairgowrie in Perthshire, that big county right in the center of Scotland.

The exterior is too theatrically perfect to be authentic, and the interior looks suspiciously Victorian, but the original castle was a 16th century tower house and was the seat of the Barony of Balmachreuchie. The tower was extended and renovated in about 1856 by Patrick Allan-Fraser, who also added a gatehouse. At least the woodwork hasn't all been painted white, as is too often the case nowadays. (It will look so much brighter! says the decorator from London. It will look so much colder! says I.)

Some of the property will require refurbishment; doesn't it always? You'll have three reception rooms, ten bedrooms, two bathrooms and a shower room - an imbalance you'll probably want to correct unless, as I would do, you turn most of the bedrooms into library extensions. There's an observatory room with parapet, which sounds like the perfect place to crank out your historical fiction; two courtyards, walled garden with turreted garden house, and a folly. (Your mother always wanted a folly.) Your grounds are fields and woodlands amounting to about 30.5 acres, with trout fishing on the Ardle or perhaps a tributary.

If the house is too young to be haunted you can always borrow local ghosts, or perhaps witches: Perthshire is the location of Birnam Wood and high Dunsinane, where Macbeth met his gory end; though locally it's pronounced DunSIN'n, which cocks up Shakespeare's scansion...

Guide Price £600,000
http://www.ckdgalbraith.co.uk/property/PER130006/Ballintuim

In the Department of the Dordogne...

...in the Périgord Noir, on the heights above a village with all services, one of the loveliest small fortified manors you're likely to find here or anywhere in France. About 230 m2 living space inside; courtyard, stable, barn, garaging for two cars, in grounds of just over one hectare.
Click on the link for a brief slideshow. This really is the right size, and aesthetic, for a retired couple or single person with a few too many books, wall hangings, and swords, and a fair command of colloquial French.


565,000 €
http://www.demeures-et-chateaux.com/detail.asp?IdRef=3843CG0213XZ

Host to Good Queen Bess...

...during her 1575 progress, according to local legend.

Built in 1545 for Cardinal Wolsey, Crawley Grange is an impressive Grade II Listed Tudor Mansion, set in approximately 65 acres of formal gardens, parkland and paddocks. It's another example of how the poor Cardinal couldn't keep hold of any damned house he built - remember Hampton Court? The four wings of this house are now separate properties, so it's a condo of sorts, but it's the nicest one, and who are we to be greedy?

I would guess that this magnificent room is actually the great hall with a ceiling inserted, but it's still high enough to dance LaVolta. And who knows what timberwork lurks upstairs, above the five bedrooms (unfortunately painted white, but what're ya gonna do...)?

You have formal gardens and grounds, 2.5 acres of paddocks and woodlands, and access to the communal tennis court (not real tennis, unfortunately) and swimming pool. To the rear of the property is garaging for four vehicles, along with the former brick bake house which could provide a useful store/workshop, or (dare I say it) a bake house. It's close to the attractive little village of North Crawley in Buckinghamshire, and therefore convenient to London, useful for those trips to Shakespeare's Globe, or to the Tower to visit poor Lord Robert.

£895,000

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30750475.html

Fortress for hoarding truffles

Castle in the Perigord, ground zero for the French truffle industry. Built in the 13th century with additions in the 15th and 16th, all prime periods for French castle architecture. The 125 surrounding hectares include wooded areas, no doubt home to tons of you-know-whats, and meadows for your horses.

Towers, mullioned windows, huge reception rooms with monumental fireplaces, floors in local stone and terra cotta make up about 1500 m² of living space. The dovecote (go figure) and the chapel are listed as Monuments Historiques. The moats appear to need a good scrubbing; the French, who are proud of their lovely rivers, seem to use their ponds and such mainly for leech and scum cultivation. A resident flock of ducks should help clean that up, and provide plenty of magret de canard to cook with, um, truffles.

This is one of those estate sites that use little cartoon castles, one to four, to indicate price. This lovely property is listed at only one castle, so how expensive can it be?

Ref : 135192
http://www.proprietesdefrance.com/annonces/chateau-dordogne-aquitaine-france/135192/

The hills are alive...

...with the sounds of the happy peasants harvesting your grapes and dancing those Styrian folk dances where they slap themselves silly. Seriously, when you could make a name for your family label of Austrian whites, and coincidentally help Austrian wines dig out from under the (still crippling) 1985 Antifreeze Scandal, don't the attractions of Napa seem a little vieux jeu?

 Dating from the 17th century, this castle has its own vineyard, forest and pasture land and is located in a beautiful setting, in an area of Austria likened to Tuscany, but not, I suspect, by Tuscans. In addition to the main castle, there are two houses which are part of the estate and are in need of renovation. The castle itself is lived in at present but would benefit from some sympathetic refurbishment and updating. There is no Baroque like Teutonic Vernacular Baronial Baroque.

 Styria is home to more than 150 cleantech companies, of which one dozen are world technology leaders in their field; this is one of the highest concentrations of leading clean technology companies in Europe. So you could moonlight in some very worthwhile businesses while you age the wines from your (at a guess) Blauer Wildbacher grapes.

Ref A1736
€ 2 900 000
http://www.liveaustria.com/Luxury+Property/Southern+Styria/property16.html#photo

For hopeless romantics only

You're among friends - you can admit that you've always wanted to own a ruined castle so you could dress in your fur-lined houppelande, light your candlestick, and wander through the ruined corridors of your (pretend) ancestral fortress while the moonlight glimmers through the empty mullions and the owls hoot softly in the wintry wind.

This ancient property in Picardy is not necessarily move-in ready, nor might it ever be; mostly from the 11th century, it retains a few features from as early as the 7th. It was reworked in the 13th, 14th, 16th, and 17th centuries, was abandoned during the Revolution, and damaged during World War I (Picardy was the site of many of the battles that have names you remember).

Depending on your tolerance for roughing it, you might be able to live in the 17th century gate house while you decide on the camera angles for the historical epic you're going to film at your new property. If you seriously plan to acquire this ancient place, you're someone I want to meet.

Ref 444771
280 000 €
http://www.patrice-besse.com/ismh/picardie/ruines-a-vendre-chateau/

Where the carpets come from...

Near Aubusson in the Limousin, here's a lovely feudal manor from the 13th century, surrounded by a wooded park of two hectares, close to a little town. The central building has thick stone walls, flanked by a round tower. Eleven rooms on three levels, including six bedrooms with bathrooms for all the guests on those murder mystery weekends. 

The interior has been, they say, "perfectly" restored, which leaves period elements, such as the stone spiral staircase, the wine cellar, and the panoramic view of the Limousin countryside. As you can see, some of the redecorating has been quite up-to-date for some tastes, but we can all use a few creature comforts.

You'll have a new slate roof, recent rewiring, and central heating, and there's a little house on the property that needs restoring, so you'll have plenty to keep you busy when you're not hawking or practicing your archery.

595 000 €

Ref : ag162726
http://www.proprietesdefrance.com/annonces/chateau-creuse-limousin-france/ag162726/?offset=204  

If you're not a Medici you can still live like one

Near Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna is this 70-room handyman's special, but look what you get to work with. Constructed around 1400 to control roads from the Po River Valley to the Appenine passes, you can tell from the ceilings that by the 16th century it was being turned into a luxury palace.

At nearly 34,000 square feet, this property is not for the faint of heart nor, presumably, the shallow of pocket (price to be negotiated). But you would end up with a magnificent property  in one of Italy's richest cultural  areas, home of Cremona (violins), Ferrara (swords, and Mantegna), Modena (balsamic vinegar), and Parma (prosciutto and the real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and the Teatro Reggio, home of the most discerning, or perhaps just the noisiest, opera audience on earth).

The property has electricity, water, gas, and telephone in place, so you can plug in all your new Falcetta power tools and get right to work.
Of course the DIY theme here is just a mild joke: you will need a trustworthy contractor, an army of craftspeople, and a sheaf of government permission forms. But a person of boundless energy and imagination could have a hotel, a corporate retreat, a culinary college, a performing arts center, or all of those in one. Living here may not guarantee you will marry a duke or a contessa, but it couldn't hurt.

Price to be determined
Ref. 698
http://romolini.co.uk/en/348_2_castle_for_sale_piacenza/property_details.php?id=348

Overlooking the gentle slopes of Burgundy

In a dominant position at the edge of a village, a little 15th century castle of 350 m2 with magnificent 180° views.  Ground floor: entrance hall with staircase, fitted kitchen, sitting/dining room with massive fireplace, billiard room, powder room, office with fireplace in the tower. Second floor: three bedrooms, shower room in the tower, further small bedroom with bathroom. Improved attic with room to add two bedrooms and a bathroom. Cellars with wine cellar and oil furnace.

This family-size castle is in the Nièvre, a department that's part of the ancient province of Burgundy. It's well known for its Pouilly-Fumé, which you can store away in this cellar along with all the other brilliant Burgundian vintages you'll be collecting because you live in, well, Burgundy.

We sincerely believe that this quaint and authentic garderobe is not the only convenience facility on the property.

395 000 €

Réf. : 100727.
http://www.groupe-mercure.com/en/buy/selling-chateau-nievre-10515-100727vm.html

In Brittany, where Merlin still sleeps

In the Côtes d'Armor region, in peaceful countryside away from the summer hordes but near the sea. On the outskirts of a village that is situated ten or so kilometres from a small town with all amenities. Three hours from Paris.

At the bottom of a small valley with a stream, a wooded driveway with entrance gate leads directly to the castle’s main courtyard. The property spans approximately 16 hectares, divided  into woods and rolling meadows, with two lakes.

The southwest facade of the castle overlooks the main courtyard. A round 15th century tower adjoins the west wing. It has a wall-walk and machicolation, topped with a polygonal turret with a steep sided roof. To the north is another rectangular wing.
This traditional construction of dressed local stone still has numerous architectural features: terracotta tiles, monumental fireplaces, exposed beams, a granite spiral stairway, cornices, roof dormers, chimney pots carved with the Knights Templar cross and scallop shells.

The ancient Celtic land of Brittany is home to Arthurian legends, faery forests, mysterious stone alignments, cider, crepes, and seafood.

995 000 €
Ref. 363858
http://www.patrice-besse.co.uk/chateaux-for-sale-france/brittany/property-listed-mh/

Many towers, many fireplaces, many rooms

Exceptional fortress of the 13th and 15th centuries, Monument Historique, looming on a rocky escarpment, with numerous outbuildings. This historic castle is one of the treasures of central France.  Beautiful 15th century fireplaces, remarkable roof timbering, paneling, wooden hoardings. Four hectares of grounds with medieval gardens and river.

Bourges is the nearest city, with a population of just under 100,000. It was the capital of the ancient province of Berry, whose duke commissioned the famous Très Riches Heures, a prayerbook with the most famous illuminations from the French High Gothic. The inhabitants of this area are called Berrichons.

1 990 000 €

Réf. : 100746.
http://www.groupe-mercure.com/en/buy/selling-chateau-cher-10515-100746vm.html