Château d’Aubiry
Constructed in locally mined marble, the late 19th century Neo-Baroque Château d’Aubiry sits majestically on your right, half way between Le Boulou and Céret.
The château boasts 15 bedrooms, a chapel, a billiard room and a swimming pool. Its walls are adorned by frescos painted by Parisian artist, Henry Perrault. Its greenhouse was designed by non other than Gustav Eiffel himself!
Built by Danish architect, Viggo Dorph-Petersen, the château has been owned by the De Pra family since 1973. The last rumoured tenant was a former world ski champion, who surely paid a bras and a jambe, one would imagine!
Surrounded by a 7-hectare park with English gardens, greenhouses, ponds and various outhouses, the castle has a 750 m² cellar, above which sits 2500m² of living space, including a home cinema room!
Talking of cinema, Château d’Aubiry was the set location for Jacques Doniol-Valcroze’s 1959 film, l’Eau à la Bouche! Find out more here.
With such a prestigious history, you would perhaps be surprised to note that since the ski champ, the château has stood empty.
The De Pra family has tried to find a buyer, but perhaps the whopping €21 million price tag (reduced at some point to just 12 mill) put off more than a few, particularly considering the amount of work, renovation and upkeep necessary!
New life
Although the asking price was slashed to a mere 12 mil, the château still would not sell.
Alors, Olivier De Pra and his daughter, Mélany, in an rare interview with l’Indépendent, pledged to “wake the Sleeping Beauty up”.
Enter: Les Déferlantes!
This iconic summer event began its adventure in another P-O castle, Château Valmy, but after 10 years, the festival changed locations and for its first and only year, the music festival was held at Château d’Aubiry. Les Déferlantes quickly moved on but the chateau organisers have big plans to kick start the venue’s new life!
Fancy a visit?
Following extensive works, the grounds (but not the actual chateau itself) are now open to visitors on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 6pm. But if you want to visit, you need to get in there before they close again on the 31st May!
For more info
Contact the Office de Tourisme de Vallespir
Tel: 04 68 87 00 53
Email: accueiltourisme@vallespir.com
Website: www.vallespir-tourisme.fr
Address: 5 rue Saint Ferréol 66400 Céret
Given it’s location (now overlooking an industrial estate) and the vast sum needed for restoration/renovation, I can see why there are no buyers.
Yes, it’s a chateau; but there are many more attractive ones out there.
I also suspect the “music” festival is the last throw of a decaying dice. I spent thirty years living on the Isle of Wight; I know the characters who organize and exploit the “festival” punters. In reality, it’s all quite shamelessly expensive, tacky, and squalid.
Personally, I adore this region and want to see it prosper. However, this latest evolution in the life of Chateau d’Aubiry is, I suspect, just another folly.
Just called the TO in Céret: You can’t visit the “château”, only the park is open and this as it is said in the article Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm
Hi Claudia
Thanks for this. The article does say “the grounds” but we’ve now added that this does not include the castle, to avoid any further confusion. Apologies and thanks again for helping up stay at our best 🙂 If you do visit the park, please send us your comments and photos!
I often passed this place but felt compelled to stop as it is quite a fascinating building fit for Royalty. I always felt a bit sad to see that it was slowly rotting away which is such a shame, it’s like a national treasure and should be preserved.