Forget traditional home renovation shows: the restoration of this French château will be your next obsession! Since digital television first entered our homes, and with it an ever-expanding choice of channels, renovation shows have become part of our daily routine. From Grand Designs to Homes Under the Hammer, many of us have shaped our evenings around the comforting rhythm of programmes in which homeowners’ problems are neatly resolved and our brains can happily switch off.
Years later, with a mobile phone now permanently within reach, free-to-air television has lost its central place in our living rooms. Instead, we consume renovation stories on streaming platforms, on YouTube, and increasingly through social media. And it is to this last category that this particular story belongs.
Château de Puron, our new favorite Instagram account.
There are three protagonists to this particular story: Felicity Selkirk, her partner Tim Holding, and an 18th-century house in the French countryside that was on the brink of falling into complete ruin: the Château de Puron.
Since 2020, when the château changed owners, the Australian couple have dedicated their social media accounts to documenting the meticulous restoration process they are undertaking, not only to stabilise the building structurally, but also to return it to how it would have appeared in its heyday. To achieve this, they rely on the skills of numerous expert craftsmen, who carry out work such as recreating the château’s wooden frames to replace damaged sections, reproducing historic wallpapers and, in short, making the building habitable once again. Progress comes in small, deliberate stages, underscoring the fact that meaningful restoration is not achieved overnight, but through patience and carefully directed craft.
Instagram content
The history of the Château de Puron
Near Verrue, a village of just 400 inhabitants in the Loire Valley, and reached after a three-kilometre walk through woodland, the Château de Puron suddenly reveals itself to the visitor’s astonished eye.
The building was erected between 1772 and 1791 by order of Antoine-Charles Archard, Marquis de la Hague, following the classical French style. It was later flanked by two adjacent side buildings made of limestone and ochre-colored plaster. The entire structure has a timber-framed interior in the style of Philibert de l'Orme. In 1893, it was purchased by the Marquis de Rochequairie and remained in the family for several generations, before being abandoned for almost a century, until its current owners acquired it in 2020.
The château, together with the two surrounding buildings, its dry moat, terraces and north gate, was classified as a Historic Monument in 1995. The orchard, pavilion, Moulin Bigeard, the Éolienne Bollée and the pond were also listed in 1992.
How to renovate a château that has been abandoned for a century
When renovation work first began, the most urgent task was the roof. Its poor state of repair had allowed water to penetrate the interior of the building. Most of the shutters had fallen from their hinges, and the structures across the estate were overgrown with vegetation, if not reduced to near-ruin.
The two main buildings showed severe structural damage caused by water leaks. So much so that the west building is still standing today only thanks to a framework holding it in place. The terraces and cellars are in ruins and remain at serious risk of collapse.
In 2022, two years after the purchase, emergency restoration work began. The first step was to restore the roof, the bridge, the timber roof structure, the shutters and the facade, so that, once the outer shell was secured, work could move inside to the first and second floors. Next, work began on the recovery of the "structures in a non-ruinous state" of the outer buildings. The latest stages, although much of the work continues in parallel, have focused on removing elements and structures that, due to their precarious condition, pose a safety risk.
Instagram content
How to visit the Château de Purnon
The restoration has generated such interest that the owners have been encouraged to open the château’s doors and share this piece of architectural heritage with those who wish to discover it. However, this only happens on an occasional basis. In 2026, the château will be open to visitors during the European Heritage Days, taking place on 19 and 20 September.
Admission will be free, but it hardly needs saying that work of this depth and scale comes at considerable cost. For those who would like to support the Australian owners, their website offers a book documenting the restoration, historic photographs and even wallpapers inspired by the designs they have rescued from the Château de Puron, allowing admirers to bring a small piece of French architectural history into their own homes.
Continue reading...
- The Instagram renovation accounts our editors are glued to
- Is chateaucore the next big thing? (And how to get the look)
- What I'd do differently: stylish people on what they'd do if they could redecorate their houses again
- Things I wish I'd known before I started a house renovation
- A once-derelict medieval chateau in the foothills of the Pyrenees recreated as a stylish holiday home
- The castles you need to see in the UK and Ireland, from royal residences to ruined strongholds
- Glorious Scottish castles to rent for holidays
- Why you should accept that your house will probably never be finished
- What does it really mean to have a listed house?
-production_digital.jpg)
