Setting: Le Chateau d'Agnacs
Le Chateau d?Agnacs stands on the terraced slopes of a small, concealed valley in the mountainous Ard?che region of France, four miles north of the village of Vieux-Sainte-Genevieve. The village itself is accessible by rail stop on the Garre du Nord line out of Paris.The keep and the village are surrounded on all sides by groves of olive and mulberry trees and primeval forest stands of pine, oak and chestnut.
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/StMontan2.jpg
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/Castle10.jpg
Access to the castle from the village is limited to a country lane that is largely impassable during inclement weather, or by horseback or foot through the wooded hillsides and vineyards that lie between them. Fifteen acres of land comprise the property, much diminished from its original grant. A stream cuts along the southern-most border, spanned by a wood-and-stone bridge and a natural spring sourced somewhere on the grounds feeds a small lake to the west of the house proper.
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/Castle.jpg
The chateau, built sometime during the 12th century of locally-quarried sandstone, is an anachronism, even in Fionna?s terra. Generations of the former owners resisted modernization of the castle?s systems. Wood-burning stoves and fireplaces provide both heat and cooking sources for the manse. Water is still fed into the building by a series of underground aquaducts from the deep spring beneath the estate. No electricity has been installed. Light pours into the interior through numerous wood-shuttered windows; one concession to comfort was made in that glass and leaded glass panes were added to the structure sometime probably in the 17th century.
A small, family cemetery and chapel stand adjacent to the house and gardens.
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/Castle9.jpg
The four-storied building is roughly rectangular in shape. Two towers stand watch over the lands: a rounded one on the southeast corner and a square tower on the northwest. The northwest tower most recently housed a mews, when Fionna?s grandfather still lived.
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/Castle4.jpg
The arched gates at the rear entrance of the edifice open to a cobble-stoned courtyard and kitchen maze garden. To the left, access to the stables, to the main and the right, entrances to the ground floor rooms and an outer stair to the first and second levels. A large, vaulted cellar, storerooms and former servants? quarters comprise the lowest level of the building.
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/Castle3.jpg
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/Castle6.jpg
On the first level lies the kitchen and large gathering room on one side of a formal receiving chamber, and a ballroom and gallery on the opposite. Both the kitchen and the gathering chamber boast stone fireplaces large enough for a tall man to stand upright within. An additional hearth in the kitchen is used as a bread oven. A smaller fireplace stands open to both ballroom and gallery, to warm them in the winter.
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/Castle7.jpg
The second floor, where the family?s personal rooms, library, and guest chambers are housed, can be accessed either by a staircase leading up from the receiving hall or via the outdoor stairs that lead from the courtyard to a small balcony overlooking it.
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/Castle8.jpg
The third floor of the chateau contains smaller guest and servant chambers on the north side, and a series of connected rooms on the south where the family once operated a silkworm nursery and produced cloth.
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/FioHelston/Le%20Retour/Castle5.jpg
There are rumors ? historically unconfirmed ? that a hive of concealed passageways and small chambers run through the keep?s thick walls. What is known, however, is that with its remote location and within the formidable security of its iron gates, Le Chateau d?Agnac guards its secrets closely.
