The Cayx Palace is a residence of the Danish Royal Family located in the wine district of Cahors in southern France.
In medieval times the castle formed part of the defences of the town of Luzech due to its dominance of the Lot River.
In the 15th century the chateau belonged to the Couderc family, who were notaries in Luzech, and in the 16th century the Courtois family held the lordship. With his marriage to Hélène de Courtois in 1640, Gerard Lefranc became lord of the domain. He was the first hereditary president of the Cours des Aides in nearby Cahors. His grandson, Jacques Lefrance, was president when the court was moved to Montauban in 1709, when he bought a property at Pompignan. Jacques' eldest son, the noted French poet Jean-Jacques Lefranc, Marquis de Pompignan spent the first half of his life at Cayx and received some of the inspiration for his garden at the Chateau de Pompignan from the siting and views (though not the architecture, by then outmoded) of Cayx. Jacques' second son, Jean-Georges, bishop of Vienne and also an Enlightenment figure was raised there as well. The sale of Cayx may have funded some of the building works at Pompignan, which itself was sold by Jean-Jacques' grandson in 1833.
The château was first fortified during the fourteenth century. Since then it has been rebuilt and renovated several times. The Lefrancs built the extensive wine cellars under the château.
The phylloxera infestation devastated the vineyards during the late nineteenth century, and the owners emigrated to Indo-China. They did not return to Europe until 1955. In 1965 the family's heir, Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat, married Princess Margrethe, then heiress presumptive to the Danish throne, becoming Prince Consort of Denmark after she succeeded to Denmark's throne.
The royal couple purchased the château and the estate in 1974. Since then they have renovated it extensively. According to the official website of the Danish monarchy, the residence has become a "relaxed setting for reunions of the entire Danish Royal Family and their French relatives". It has been the setting for holiday photocalls for the Danish Royal Family, including for Prince Henrik's 80th birthday.
The residence is not open to the public. A guided tour of the gardens is available during the summer. The château still produces wine.

Château de Caïx

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Château de Mercuès dates from the 13th century, but there was already a chapel here under Saint Didier, the first Bishop of Cahors, in the 7th century. It served as the residence of the Bishops of Cahors until the separation of church and state in 1905.
After World War II it became a château-hotel, but had fallen into disuse by the time it was bought by Georges Vigouroux in 1983.
Georges Vigouroux renovated the château to restore it to its former glory and to qualify it for the Relais & Château network. After the first harvest in 1987, Château de Mercuès became one of few ‘Cru hotels’ where guests can take part fully in the harvest and vinification process.
https://chateaudemercues.com

Château de Mercuès

Le château de Cousserans est un château situé à Bélaye, dans le département du Lot.
Localisation
Le château est situé dans la partie sud de la commune de Bélaye, dans le hameau de Cousserans.
Historique
Le lieu de « Cossaran » apparaît dans un acte de 1284, mais sans indication s'il y avait un repaire. Il faisait alors partie du domaine de la châtellenie épiscopale de Bélaye. Les chevaliers devant assurer la garde de Bélaye, les milites castri, possédaient une maison au siège de la châtellenie et des maisons-fortes ou repaires sur des terres qui leur étaient attribuées.
Pour Jean Lartigaut, il est probable que les Grézels, chevaliers de Bélaye, auxquels la terre appartenait y aient construit une maison forte à la fin du xiiie siècle.
Une fille de la famille de Grézels se marie vers 1389 avec Raymond-Arnaud del Castanhié, seigneur de Hautcastel.
Après la fin de la guerre de Cent Ans, en 1472, pour des problèmes financiers, le seigneur de Hautcastel vend à Pons Del Bosc, issu d'une riche famille de marchands de Montcuq, chanoine de la cathédrale de Cahors, « une tour ruinée dite de Cousserans » avec des dépendances. En 1479, la vente devient définitive. Le nouveau propriétaire a mis à bas l'ancien repaire et entrepris de construire le château entre ces deux dates.
La construction du nouveau château est achevée avant 1504, quand Antoine Delbosc, seigneur de Cousserans, dénombre au roi et qu'il y habite.
Par la suite le château va appartenir à différentes familles : les Del Sorbié, les Durfort, vers 1635, puis, en 1695 les du Mas de Paysac par mariage, et les Gard de Cahors qui achètent Cousserans en 1732. Le nouveau propriétaire est conseiller du roi, son avocat et procureur au Sénéchal et Présidial de Cahors.
Au xixe siècle, le château devient la propriété de la famille Lacoste de Fontenilles par mariage. Puis rapidement le château a appartenu aux Roussy. Le dernier descendant est baron de Roussy. Le château a fait l'objet d'importants travaux de restauration en 1878 pour augmenter le confort intérieur.
En 1955, le château est acheté par M. et Mme Déjean, puis en 1980, par Francesca et Georges Mougin.
Le château de Cousserans est inscrit au titre des monuments historiques le 16 mai 1974.
Description
Le château reprend le plan des châteaux d'Auvergne. Un corps principal de cinq niveaux, rectangulaire de 20 m par 10 m, arrondi aux angles, avec un couronnement de mâchicoulis. Il est flanqué au centre de la façade nord, d'une tour escalier, et, au sud, d'une aile courte de trois niveaux.
Sur deux étages du corps principal, de grandes salles avec des plafonds à la française. Sur l'aile sud, la salle voûtée d'ogives est parfois assimilée à une chapelle ou un cabinet.

Château de Cousserans

The Château de La Coste is a ruined castle in the commune of Grézels in the Lot département of France.
The castle exhibits military architecture of the 14th and 15th centuries. It was restored at the end of the 16th century after it was ruined in 1580 during its capture by Protestant troops. Originally a simple watch tower, the square plan castle is flanked by two massive square towers in the west and two round towers in the east. It comprises a rectangular corps de logis extended by two wings and a curtain wall in the south which encloses the courtyard. The north wing (former stables), having been used as a source of stones to build the house of a former owner, was equipped with an open gallery to ensure weatherproofing. The structure was served by a right handed staircase. The two square towers still have the latrines in the corner made with the corps de logis. The castle was sold as state property in 1793.
The castle is privately owned and closed to the public. It has been listed since 1961 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de La Coste

Constructed between the 11th and 15th centuries, Roussillon had 8 towers, 3 main buildings, a chapel and a cloister. This was a fortress doubling as a charming castle.
It seems that it was built on much older vestiges of a strong hold of the Duke of Waiffre, a duke of Aquitaine, during the war against Pepin the Short (King of the Franks) in the 8th century.             
In the 13th century the castle belonged to the Roussillon family (sometimes written as Roussilhon), a modest family of horsemen, from whom the castle probably takes its name
It then became the property of the Cahors in bankers until the 14th century.  
During the 100 year war between the French and the English, Raymond d’Antéjac, the lord of Roussillon, recognised the King of England’s rights to the French Crown and opened the castle to the English in 1355.
The consuls of Cahors paid the english to depart.
The castle then passed through marriage to de Jean, Vayrols, Auriole and Gontaud-Cabrerets families who looked after the castle until the 18th century.
In 1632, Jean III of Gontaud-d’Oriolle received King Louis XIII on his way back from Toulouse for a lunch stop at Roussillon.
In 1728, Antoine-François of Gontaud-Cabrerets owned Roussillon as well as the castle of Cabrerets where he preferred to reside. The Lady’s Chamber of Roussillon (now the main reception room) was divided into 3 rooms by partitions which served to house the farmers. Abandoned by the lords, Roussillon lost its splendour.
If the castle itself was poorly maintained, the grounds still consist of great riches. The hill that dominates the old fortress is covered with vines. A document from 1766 tells that here one cultivates a table wine and a black wine which then added to other wines permetted their transportation and that one should pay attention to the Roussillon wine as it is of a much better quality than those of Cabrerets.
During the Revolution, Roussillon only represented a symbol of power. Thus it was not a victim of the people’s vindictiveness. But its ruin worsened in the 19th century when the heirs of the Maréchal de Gontaud-Biron sold the castel to the Roussillon farmer two transformed it into a quarry and systematically dismantled it to sell the stones to build houses in the nearby villages.
In 1958 Pierre and Marcelle Mailhol, school teachers in Cahors, fell in love with the ruins of the castle. Impassioned by the old stones, they bought Roussillon and learnt how to restore it. At this time the castle was buried in earth and rubble up to the first floor and in some places even the second floor. It was hard to determine the architecture of the castle.                                                                 
Huge amounts of work were carried out to renovate the three towers, two of the main rooms and the Lady’s Chamber to recover its former splendour.
Jean-François Mailhol, the current owner continues with passion the work undertaken by his parents.
http://www.chateau-de-roussillon.com

Château de Roussillon (Saint-Pierre-Lafeuille)

The history of Chambert is associated with over 2000 years of Cahors malbec. Sifting through the archives, one can retrace a part of her history back to the 10th century! Chambert fame culminated during the 19th century (in 1854 the vineyard was covering 392 Ha) and declined after General Bataille death in 1914 as her sister (a nun) inherited from the estate and let the vineyard turn wild. Hopefully the full vineyard was replanted in 1974 and organically grown. 
10th Century: The oldest texts describe the grandeur of the vineyards that occupy the expansive hills of Floressas. 
13th to 16th Century: The vineyards of Chambert cover 300ha and are administered in a fortified farm, called “den” with round towers and moats which is situated at the current-day location of the château. The domain is the property of the lords of Floressas; DE BEYNAC in 1318, Viscount LAGORSE-LIMOGES in 1550 and finally the Marquis BRACHET PEYRUSSE in 1630. 
17th Century: Chambert becomes a nobled bourgeois property and is farmed by royals: Madamoiselle LALVALETTE in 1690, a descendant of John BAYLET, Lord of VALETTE, and then later by the family LATHEZE in 1780. Cahors is well known for its red wine and due to the improvements in the navigation of the river Lot, the grapes from Chambert produce wine that is sent all around France, England Russia and America. In 1852, 75% of Cahors wine is exported. 
19th Century: In 1850, an epidemic of odium, a fungus causing mildew on grapes, was raging all throughout the vineyards of France, but due to the arid conditions of the high hills of the Lot Valley, Chambert was initially spared. Unfortunately by 1854, the powdery mildew did finally arrive and destroyed 75% of the Chambert harvest ( reduced to 160L/ha instead of the usual 1000L/ha). In 1855, the Chambert vineyards are replanted as it was thought at the time that this was the only solution to the powdery mildew infestation. 
In 1857, Mélanie LATHEZE married Louis BATAILLE, notaire à Frayssinet le Gélat. Their son, Marie Désiré Pierre Amédée BATAILLE, was born in the château in 1862 and went on to become the youngest French General. Around this time the domaine was producing 400 barrels of Malbec that were exported all throughout Europe and the USA. Before shipping, each Chambert barrel was branded with the Château de Chambert coat of arms. 
In 1873, the “small” Chambert château - a fortification of the 16th century, was renovated and gave way to an imposing and grand castle (see image below) that was protected by a defensive garden of moats and high walls. In 1886, a fire destroyed three quarters of this château and the central portion of the original château was rebuilt and 100 years later two round towers in the style of a 16th century castle were added.
The proliferation of Phylloxera in the late 1800’s gradually killed the vines and the death of General BATAILLE on the Vosges front in 1914 led to the abandonment of the 300 Ha of Chambert vineyards. 
From 1914 to 1973, the vineyard area became fallow land for sheep grazing and, paradoxically, this unfortunate abandonment was a blessing in disguise since the land escaped the intensive chemical agriculture phase of the inter-war and post-war periods. The Chambert site was untouched by chemical treatments, the land was saved, untreated, and ready to start over at the first opportunity. 
In 1973, Marc DELGOULET, a vigneron from the Correze is captivated by the charm and historical grandeur of Château de Chambert and purchases the château and the surrounding hillside. His goal is to return Château de Chambert to it’s former glory and produce the wines that were once again appreciated around the world . In 1974, he selects the best parcels of land with the best exposition, slope and soil type and replants the hillside around the château with Malbec. The vineyards are managed organically: worked by hand, treated with minimal sulfur and fertilized only with a natural compost. Marc’s first vintage in 1978 produces a wine that goes on the win gold at the national competitions of Mâcon, Blaye and Bourg and he is well on his way to reviving the legend of Château de Chambert. Respectful of the vines and a lover of the land, in 1989 Marc contacts Jacques Mell of “Terres en Devenir”, a consulting business for biodynamic farming. It is too expensive for Marc to venture into biodynamics so he continues along an organic path; however, little did Marc know that 25 years later biodynamics would become the destiny of Chambert. With the help of his son Joel, the two continue to improve the reputation of the domaine and the wines of Chambert are still appreciated for their elegance, finesse and reflection of exceptional terroir. 
Today the vineyard property, owned by Philippe Lejeune, covers about 65ha. It is the largest certified organic estate in Cahors (ECOCERT certification) and largest South-West biodynamic estate (DEMETER certification)
http://www.chambert.com

Château de Chambert

Le château de Lantis est situé en France dans le département du Lot sur la commune de Dégagnac au lieu dit Château de Lantis.
Histoire
Pendant la guerre de Cent Ans, des mercenaires français à la solde des Anglais firent irruption dans le village de Lantis et massacrent les quelques habitants qui s'y trouvaient, laissant le village désert, jusqu'à son repeuplement par des colons auvergnats.
Le fief de Lantis est accensé en 1451 par le prieur de Catus. Les archives du Lot y signalent dès 1453 une maison fortifiée "en la Trémolada".
Au xve siècle, messire Annet de Rampoux cède la motte de Lantis à Jacques de Durfort, seigneur et baron de Boissières.
La tour de Lantis appartenait à la fin du XVIe siècle aux Toucheboeuf - Clermont, chefs ligueurs.
La tour fut prise le 16 juillet 1591 par le maréchal de Matignon qui fit pendre les 24 défenseurs et raser l'ouvrage.
Famille de Gatignol
A la fin du XVIe siècle, Jean de Gatignol, d'une famille de notable de Régagnac, servit dans l’armée catholique du roi de France Henri IV et, par sa bravoure, revint en 1657 gratifié de l’ordre de chevalier.
Il épousa Gaudin Hébrard de Saint Sulpice et devint seigneur de Lantis et de Fonnadal.
Il fit construire une élégante demeure au lieu-dit Trémoulède, connue sous le nom de chateau de Lantis
Le château servit de refuge aux catholiques en lutte contre les huguenots. Quelques soldats veilleront d'ailleurs à la sécurité du village.
Un de ses descendants, Jean de Gatignol (-29/09/1752), épousa Marie Escalier (fille de Françoise de Boysson).
Leur fils, François-Joseph, décéda en 1786 sans postérité.
A partir du XIXe siècle
En 1797, Antoinette Marie de Gripière Moncroc (née à Nérac en 1730), qui avait épousé François Joseph de Gatignol, seigneur de Lantis le 10 janvier 1763, légua en 1797 les biens qu'elle tenait de son mari (tout en en conservant l'usufruit) à Bernard de Boysson, cousin de ce dernier
Elle décéda le 2 février 1807, léguant sa part disponible à Amédée de Boysson, fils ainé du précédent.
Le chateau fut vendu en 1810 puis tomba lentement en ruine.
C'est en 1993 qu'il fût racheté et superbement restauré dans les règles de l'art par ses propriétaires actuels, pour redevenir le monument le plus appréciable du village et retrouver son apparence de maison forte.
Architecture et restauration
1453 : construction du castrum dominant le village de Dégagnac
1625 : le château prend son plan actuel sous la famille de Gatignol
xviie siècle : remaniements architecturales (portes fenêtres).
1993 : début de la restauration
2003 : incendie de la grande tour frappée par la foudre.
2004 : prix de Sauvegarde des Vieilles Maisons Françaises et obtention du Label Patrimoine.

Château de Lantis

Château de Bonaguil is a castle in the French commune of Saint-Front-sur-Lémance, but actually owned by the neighbouring commune of Fumel in the Lot-et-Garonne département. It has been classified as a Monument historique (historic monument) since 1862.
The Château de Bonaguil was the last of the fortified castles. It was built in the 13th century, but was entirely restructured at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries by Bérenger de Roquefeuil, who added all of the defensive improvements of the end of the Middle Ages. A marvel of military architecture covering 7500 m², incorporating the latest developments in artillery (both for defence and in adapting the defences for protection against it) it was, however, obsolete when completed. It was never attacked.
First stage
The first castle at Bonaguil was constructed after the middle of the 13th century (between 1259 and 1271 according to Jacques Gardelle), on a rocky spur, probably by Arnaud La Tour de Fumel. The single entrance to the keep, built above a natural cave, was a six metre high door, accessible by ladder.
The first written mention is in 1271, in a charter listing the possessions of the King of France Philippe III le Hardi. At that date, it was a vassal of the fiefdom of Tournon, and was probably just a simple polygonal keep, with a small courtyard surrounded by a wall, with a lower courtyard surrounded by a palisade. The dwelling was not built until the end of the 13th century or even the beginning of the 14th.
The widening of a fracture in the rock allowed a well to be dug to a depth of 47 m (154 ft).
The lords of Bonaguil fought on the side of the King of England in the Hundred Years War. The castle was taken several times, burnt and abandoned, although always the property of the Fumel family.
On 11 November 1380, Jean de Fumel-Pujols, baron of Blanquefort and owner of the castle, married the heiress of Roquefeuil, Jeanne Catherine de Roquefeuil, and dropped his name for the more prestigious name of his wife. Their son Antoine joined together the properties of the two families, and their grandson, Jean de Roquefeuil, moved with his wife Isabeau de Peyre to Bonaguil in 1444.
Developments by Jean de Roquefeuil
Jean de Roquefeuil, who sent his son Antoine to take part in the War of the League of the Public Weal, against the King, made several modifications, as much for defence as comfort:
the walls of the dwelling were raised (E on the plan) and reached the height of the keep (which thus acquired a more massive silhouette)
from 1470 to 1482, the keep was rebuilt, with an overall streamlined shape, in order to better resist artillery
a spiral staircase was installed in a new turret, in the west, increasing the available space
a new dwelling was built to the east of the keep: its length currently stands on the east-south-east against the curtain wall and its openings are orientated to the north-north-east and west-north-west
a ramp was built to provide easier access to the keep.
Of Jean's four sons, out of nine children, it was the third, Bérenger, who survived and inherited the property of his father.
Defensive reinforcement by Bérenger de Roquefeuil
The considerable defence works of the castle have their origin in the lord of Bonaguil's problems with King Charles VII, who condemned him for his violence against serfs and vassals. They were financed thanks to the good fortune of the Roquefeuils, who owned lands in the Gironde and the Golfe du Lion. The works extended over thirty years.
First wall
The main danger at the end of the 15th century came from artillery. For protection, it was necessary to keep the enemy's cannons at a distance. An external wall, 350 m in length, was added to the castle, with lower curtains retaining a mass of earth which cushioned the artillery shots. This curtain wall was reinforced with small towers and equipped with guns. This was the second innovation of this rebuilding: provision for the use of masses of artillery for the defence of the castle, with a total of 104 embrasures for firing.
So the castle used the latest developments in armaments: push back the firing of the assailants by obliging them to set up their cannons further away; make the approach difficult with openings for ground shot; large calibre guns were put on top of the towers (such as the platform on top of the keep) so as to fight at a distance.
The spur on which the castle stands is cut by a large ditch sunk in the rock. A barbican was built beyond the ditch. It was linked by two drawbridges to the body of the castle. It was also defended by several guard towers, allowing a flanking fire from which the arquebuses could cover every angle.
Still with the aim of leaving no point uncovered by fire, caponiers were built in the ditches; these small earthworks were in front of the curtain, allowing the ditch to be swept with fire from the defenders, from one or both sides of the structure.
Finally, boulevards were laid out, partly in the north ditch, to permit rapid movement from one point to another of the fortress, in case of attacks on different parts of the castle; this anticipated the fortresses of the 17th century.
Second system of defence
The earthworks and barbican were only designed to postpone the danger to the heart of the castle, the residential part. This was equally strengthened. Six towers were built – four round towers in the corners, and two towers in the middles of the curtain, a square on in the west and a round tower in the south. The towers allowed greater cover of the curtains: defenders could fire on the sides of assailants who were attacking at the foot of the wall between two towers.
These high towers served, as in the mediaeval castles, to protect the walls thanks to their design. Their height was a guarantee against scaling. The innovation was the treatment of the top, reinforced to provide an artillery platform. The corbels supporting the walkway were replaced with inverted pyramids, much more solid and able to support a much heavier weight – an artillery piece, its carriage and supplies.
Changing fortunes of the castle from the 16th to the 18th century
When Bérenger died in 1530, the castle was not yet adapted for siege warfare, but it remained an imposing fortress.
His son Charles squandered his fortune (on his beautiful wife Blanche de Lettes de Montpezat, it seems) and his sons Honrat and Antoine inherited a reduced fortune. During the Wars of Religion, the two brothers fought in opposite camps, and the castle was taken in 1563. A first restoration took place in 1572. In debt, Antoine had to give the fortress to the lord of Pardhaillan in 1618, before being able to buy it back several years later.
His son Antoine-Alexandre was a marquis, but passed on to his only daughter Marie-Gilberte a castle in a poor state and empty coffers. Married from the death of her father (8 July 1639) to the Marquis of Coligny-Saligny, she devoted herself to the repair and maintenance of the castle. She remarried in 1655 to Claude-Yves de Tourzel, Marquis of Allègre, with whom she had a daughter who married Seignelay, minister of the Colbert family.
François de Roquefeuil, a distant relative with some claim to the castle, took possession of it in 1656, kept and pillaged it for almost a year before abandoning it. Marie-Gilberte lived in Paris for the last years of her life, and abandoned the château de Bonaguil, until her death in 1699. It passed next to François-Gaspard de Montpeyroux, a soldier who almost never lived there, then to his sister, who sold it in 1719 to Jean-Antoine de Pechpeyrou-Beaucaire. His son sold the castle to Marguerite de Fumel, widow of Emmanuel de Giversac, in 1761, who carried out some works to make it more comfortable.
Embellishments of the 18th century
Marguerite de Fumel stayed regularly at the Château de Bonaguil. She converted the castle, notably in the dwelling P in the plan. In this period, the earthworks to the west of the castle were enlarged and laid out as a large terrace and became a pleasant promenade. New apartments were built in the south, outside the inner wall, thus benefitting from a better outlook. The lady of the manor gave feasts. The seven drawbridges became fixed bridges. A part of the ramparts was demolished to give a view over the valley.
The French Revolution and restorations
It was the nephew of Marguerite de Fumel, Joseph-Louis de Fumel, who inherited in 1788. He fled in October 1789, and the castle was declared bien national (national property). The furniture was dispersed, the roofs, floors and wood panelling taken down. Following the Thermidor, the Fumels recovered the castle, but did not live there, and sold it.
It passed from owner to owner until it was purchased in 1860 by the commune of Fumel, who obtained the classification Monument historique(1862) and began some restoration work by B Cavailler in 1868 and by the arrondissement's architect A Gilles in 1876. The architect from the Monument historique restored the keep between 1882 and 1886. Other repairs were made between 1898 and 1900, including covering the watch tower roof with stone tiles in 1900. Further restoration works were carried out in 1948–1950, 1977 and 1985.
The name derives from bonne aiguille (good needle) and refers to the defensive site: a steep, rocky promontory perfectly suited to the siting of a castle.