AMIENS, Picardie, Address available on request

A neoclassical chateau with an 18th-century chapel in 23 hectares of grounds near the city of Amiens. There is a long driveway set back from a small secondary road. It is lined with age-old linden trees and it leads to a main court that lies in front of the chateau. A central lawn surrounded by a circular driveway extends at the foot of the facade. To the right, there are outhouses - tokens of a farm complex fallen into disuse. Behind the majestic edifice, the grounds extend well beyond the grassy expanse that surrounds the chateau and the chapel. There are woods on both sides of this vast grassy area. The chateau was built in 1836. A prominent architect designed it in a neoclassical style. Construction of the edifice was ordered by a family of Nobles of the Robe - French aristocrats whose rank came from holding certain judicial or administrative posts. This family was well rooted in the local region as they already owned the previous chateau here and a town house in Amiens. The estate enjoyed a dazzling existence throughout the 19th century, but then underwent the trials and tribulations of the 20th century. Indeed, the chateau housed Allied officers during the First World War. And in August 1918, King George V of the United Kingdom and Us General John J. Pershing visited the chateau. During the Second World War, the chateau was occupied again, but this time by German soldiers, who accidently set fire to it in the winter of 1940. When France was liberated at the end of the war, the chateau's owners were able to get back their estate. Yet they had to order restoration of the facade and in 1950 they made the chateau look exactly as it did before - with the notable exception of the large triangular pediment that it used to have and that was never rebuilt. A hipped slate roof crowns the chateau. This roof slopes down to gutters that are hidden behind a cornice. The edifice is rectangular. Its facade, made entirely of dressed stone, displays perfect symmetry with evenly spaced windows fitted with louvred shutters that are painted white.