If you are unsure if château life is for you, why not stay in one a few nights and see if it’s to your liking? Château de Sibra in Lagarde, Occitanie, France is an absolute delight. Purchased by an architect in 2017, it was restored and opened in the summer of 2021 for short term stays via Welcome Beyond.
While the ground floor was lived in (with a very 1950s French style), the second floor hadn’t been used in a long time and was largely untouched (except for a new roof). Because it was in its original state, we had the old wallpapers and flooring to work with. We were able to reprint many of the wallpapers using the original paper and pigments and we had a team in Morocco who redid some of the tiles. In the places where we couldn’t recreate the original features, we interpreted them as closely as possible using the same colours. In terms of the interior design, I wanted to put pieces of furniture in the rooms that stood in the space. But if you removed them, it wouldn’t destroy the existing room. I love contemporary furniture and have been collecting it all my life, so designing the interiors of the chateau was a good opportunity to declutter my home in Switzerland.

If that wasn’t fabulous enough, on the northern side is a medieval-looking building that was originally a horse stable while on the southern side is a building constructed from concrete and steel. The stables have now been transformed into apartments while the storage area under the roof (where herbs and sausages were once kept) is now the studio. Where the castle caretaker and gardener once lived with their families is now the Maison de Métayer, a symmetrically designed building with five rooms and one suite. There is a large communal kitchen and a salon, as well as a private garden. Also available as rentals via Welcome Beyond.