Chateau d’Aubiry, Céret & Les Splendeurs de Chine

This winter, 2024, Chateau d’Aubiry will host ‘Les Splendeurs de Chine’, a theme park dedicated to Chinese culture, with 2,600 lanterns.

From Friday November 15, 2024 to Sunday February 16, 2025, expect an enchanted and luminous kingdom, a family experience to delight old and young alike….and bring in the New Year in style.

Thousands of lanterns, a 30-metre-long illuminated dragon, dream creatures, parades across the park, the delights of Asian cuisine, folk dances and music…. a magic visit to the “Splendeurs de Chine” will be an unforgettable experience.

And Céret will receive a fee of 90,000 euros for allowing the company, Soleil France to set up the theme park in Aubiry every winter for the next 3 years.

Admission will range from 14 to 16 euros for adults, and 11 to 13 euros for children aged 10 to 17. (Free for children under 10.)

FIND OUT MORE

About 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 after the ski champ, the château  stood empty.

The De Pra family 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! It lasted a year, then various problems and disputes caused the festival to move on to Le Barcarès

Fancy a visit?

Following extensive works, the grounds (but not the actual chateau itself) were open to visitors on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Visit their FACEBOOK PAGE to check when and if they will be opening again this year or contact the local tourist office.

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