Chateauvieux Village (8)Village of Châteauvieux
Perched on a rocky spur, the château — featuring a Renaissance main building reshaped in the 19th century — stands on medieval foundations (exterior viewing only).
Right next door, the early 13th-century church and its 15th-century seigneurial chapel sit alongside the old cemetry, final resting place of Royer-Collard, a 19th-century philosopher and statesman.
Also worth to visit
The vineyard and wine conservatory
In 1996, to showcase the region’s local specialties, a group of local winemarkers planted 52 grape varieties native to the region, surrounding a traditional vineyard hut near the town hall — once the presbytery garden. Each year, the children of the village school take part in the grape harvest and learn winemaking traditions, from picking the grapes to pressing them.
More than 50 different grape varieties and a reconstructed vineyard hut can be discovered, freely accessible to the public at any time of year.
Châteauvieux’s hydraulic rocker arm
Located on the site of the former “Moulin Fôret” tannin mill, this unique hydraulic rocker arm system – the only fully preserved one of its kind in France – was installed in 1852. It was used to bring water up to the château without any motor, powered solely by the stream’s flow.
Visits of the hydraulic rocker arm available year-around by reservation.
Also in Châteauvieux…
23 educational panels guide visitors through the local environment and its biodiversity.
Their purpose? To introduce visitors to the species unique to the site, from viperine snakes and amphibious voles to a variety of nesting or migratory birds, insects, micromammals, and even wild orchids.
