Mirande, Midi-Pyrénées 32300

Romantic Chteau in search of loving owner to restore to former glory.Dear House Hunter, I am a beautiful and sizeable stone property. Some call me a chteau, but I resemble many things, from an elegant chartreuse, or manor house. My foundations are embedded in the 15th century, but over the years I have grown to resemble what you will most easily recognize as a sumptuous 18th century home, with high ceilings, tall window frames and many period features, from parquet and terra-cotta stone floors to my grand salon, which begs to host a ball should you so wish.Netherfield Park, or the Chteau de Courcelles have nothing on me!Currently slumbering in woodland, with English-style gardens planted to the front some thirty years ago, the first thing you will see on arrival, beyond my stoned and walled entrance, is a romantic summer garden, bursting with life. To the rear there are both raised lawns with walled gardens, and below a riot of woodland, a haven for birds and bees.On arrival and from the outside, I look somewhat more modest in size than I am.People say I resemble the kind of house publishers choose to put on the front cover of novels stories in which there is usually a love affair and a mystery to unravel but which could not have happened without the beautiful property itself. The house is always a central character an elegant backdrop to life itself, where history can be made and new memories carved.To move here is to take on not just a project, but a lifestyle. A piece of history.As a chteau, I am proud of my brilliant Basque red front door, which strikes a colourful and elegant note on my impressive faade. With symmetrical windows, I am imposing. I have inspired many artists and photographers, being, if I do say so myself, rather an attractive building.I may have faded over the years, but it is easy to imagine that not so long ago my hallways bustled with ten full-time members of staff, who wore black uniforms with little white aprons, buffing and polishing my wooden floors and shining my lovely terra-cotta tiles on the ground floor.The kitchens were filled with bubbling pans cooks bustling around to create sumptuous Gascon meals with all the fine local produce. The rear kitchen is the perfect place to prep vegetables or wash the pots.Throughout, my tall windows, which still retain their original glass, were brilliantly polished, sunlight flooding into the house from every angle.This is a property for a large family, a lover of history, or someone with a project, perhaps to create a small bijou guest house, or private hotel.Slumbering is all well and good, but like the proverbial phoenix, Im reaching out across the mysterious and magical channels of the internet, to find the perfect owner who will undertake this restoration project.Although it is unseemly in my generation to talk of anything so mundane as ones purse, I will say, that unless you are prepared to live somewhat rustically, just for the pleasure of spending time with me, I estimate a budget of 500 000 euros and upwards, perhaps a million, with which to restore my beautiful old bones. The sky is the limit but so is my potential.At a certain age, no-one likes to talk of their inner rumblings, creaks and all the little things that need to be fixed, but I must confess, my plasterwork has cracked and bobbled on the ground floor, some of my floor tiles are a little wobbly underfoot my bathrooms meagre and more becoming of an earlier age. It would be lovely if my walls could be smoothed out again, and my creases ironed away. I feel I would do very well with some lovely chalk paint and colours. My insulation and heating need a little attention in order to provide some modern comforts for these old but rather lovely bones. For overnight guests, it would be nice to find a lavatory or two in addition to the two which are currently housed at the end of the ground floor and first floor hallways.I have a grand salon, where you could host a ball, as I mentioned. I also have a