Located near the rivers Dordogne and Céou, overlooking the valley, a tower had to be at the origin of the building that was later turned into a mansion where  "Bessou" knights and trusted men lords of Castelnaud, took possession of the site. In the 18th century, thanks to the prosperity of this old family, it changes of pace and gradually takes the appearance of the current castle, especially under the influence of Joseph Geoffroy de Bessou who had a pronounced taste for architecture, parks and gardens, while maintaining its regional character.
The "Bessou" emigrants, the castle became a national asset and was bought by Guillaume Sarlat, a local politician. In the 19th century, Mr. Bastard acquires the castle. From a very established in the Southwest family in Toulouse and allied to old families of Périgord as Maleville, it was attracted by the highs and the surrounding valleys. It provides the last modifications building the south wing and family chapel.
https://www.chateau-de-lacoste.fr

Château de Lacoste (Chapelle)

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The Château de Castelnaud is a medieval fortress in the commune of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, overlooking the Dordogne River in Périgord, southern France. It was erected to face its rival, the Château de Beynac.
History
The oldest documents mentioning it date to the 13th century, when it figured in the Albigensian Crusade; its Cathar castellan was Bernard de Casnac. Simon de Montfort took the castle and installed a garrison; when it was retaken by Bernard, he hanged them all. During the Hundred Years' War, the castellans of Castelnaud owed their allegiance to the Plantagenets, the sieurs de Beynac across the river, to the king of France. In later times it was abandoned bit by bit, until by the French Revolution it was a ruin.
The château today
Today the picturesquely restored castle, a private property open to the public, houses a much-visited museum of medieval warfare, featuring reconstructions of siege engines, mangonneaux, and trebuchets. The castle is listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Castelnaud

The Château de Marqueyssac is a 17th-century château and gardens located at Vézac, in the Dordogne Department of France. The château was built at the end of the 17th century by Bertrand Vernet de Marqueyssac, Counselor to Louis XIV, on cliffs overlooking the Dordogne Valley. The original garden à la française was attributed to a pupil of André Le Nôtre, and featured terraces, alleys, and a kitchen garden surrounding the chateau.
History
Between 1830 and 1840, Julien Bessières constructed a chapel and a grand alley one hundred meters long for horseback rides.
In the 1860s, the new owner, Julien de Cervel, began to plant thousands of boxwood trees - today there are over 150,000 - and had them carved in fantastic shapes, many in groups of rounded shapes like flocks of sheep. He also added linden trees, cypress trees, and stone pine from Italy, and introduced the cyclamen from Naples. Following the romantic style, he built rustic structures, redesigned the parterres, and laid out five kilometers of walks.
In the second half 20th century the house was rarely occupied and the gardens were not well maintained. Beginning in 1996, a new owner, Kleber Rossillon, restored the gardens to their old character and added some new features including an alley of santolina and rosemary and, in the romantic spirit of the 19th century, a course of water descending from the belvedere and ending in a cascade. The gardens were opened to the public in 1996.
Since 1997, the gardens have been classified amongst the Notable Gardens of France by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Marqueyssac

Château de Fayrac is a French home of the fifteenth, sixteenth and nineteenth centuries built at the edge of the Dordogne, in the municipality of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in the Dordogne. Fayrac name appears in an inventory of church property in the thirteenth century. It is then a modest stronghold that left the actual castle that vaulted cellars and a round tower. The name is then written Afayrac or Affeyrac. The castle was then owned by the composer Fernand FOUANT of Tombelle, a founder of the Schola Cantorum, which was heavily restored. André Malraux lies a few weeks at the castle when he joined the Resistance after the arrest of his brothers after March 1944. Just like its illustrious neighbors, Beynac, Castelnaud, Milandes and Marqueyssac, it is part of the tourist complex called the "valley of the six castles." The castle is the subject of a registration as a historic monument since March 31, 1928. Private property, it is not open to the public.
http://www.frenchchateau.net/chateaux-of-aquitaine/chateau-de-fayrac.html

Château de Fayrac

The Château des Milandes is a manor house in the commune of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in the Dordogne département of France. Built by Francois de Caumont around 1489, it was, until 1535, the main house of the lords of Caumont, who preferred to live in this manor house instead of the large, uncomfortable medieval castle of Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.
In 1940, the entertainer Josephine Baker rented the château and then bought it in 1947.
It has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1986.

Château des Milandes

The Château de Beynac is a castle situated in the commune of Beynac-et-Cazenac, in the Dordogne département of France. The castle is one of the best-preserved and best known in the region.
This Middle Ages construction, with its austere appearance, is perched on top of a limestone cliff, dominating the town and the north bank of the Dordogne River.
History
The castle was built in the 12th century by the barons of Beynac (one of the four baronies of Périgord) to close the valley. The sheer cliff face being sufficient to discourage any assault from that side, the defences were built up on the plateau: double crenellated walls, double moats, one of which was a deepened natural ravine, double barbican.
The oldest part of the castle is a large, square-shaped, Romanesque keep with vertical sides and few openings, held together with attached watch towers and equipped with a narrow spiral staircase terminating on a crenellated terrace. To one side, a residence of the same period is attached; it was remodelled and enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries. On the other side is a partly 14th century residence side-by-side with a courtyard and a square plan staircase serving the 17th century apartments. The apartments have kept their woodwork and a painted ceiling from the 17th century. The Salle des États (States' Hall) has a Renaissance sculptured fireplace and leads into a small oratory entirely covered with 15th century frescoes, included a Pietà, a Saint Christopher, and a Last Supper in which Saint Martial (first bishop of Limoges) is the maître d'hôtel.
At the time of the Hundred Years' War, the fortress at Beynac was in French hands. The Dordogne was the border between France and England. Not far away, on the opposite bank of the river, the Château de Castelnaud was held by the English. The Dordogne region was the theatre of numerous struggles for influence, rivalries and occasionally battles between the English and French supporters. However, the castles fell more often through ruse and intrigue rather than by direct assault, because the armies needed to take these castles were extremely costly: only the richest nobles and kings could build and maintain them.
The castle was bought in 1962 by Lucien Grosso who has restored it.
Visitors to the castle can see sumptuous tapestries showing hunting and other scenes from the lives of the lords of the period.
The Château de Beynac has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1944.
Film location
The castle has been a location for several films:
Le Capitan, known as Captain Blood in English (directed by André Hunebelle, 1960)
Gaston Phébus (TV mini-series, 1978)
Elle voit des nains partout ! (directed by Jean-Claude Sussfeld, 1982)
Les Visiteurs (directed by Jean-Marie Poiré, 1993)
La Fille de d'Artagnan, known as Revenge of the Musketeers in English (directed by Bertrand Tavernier, 1994). The kitchen table in the picture below was used by Sophie Marceau, as Éloïse d'Artagnan, against her attackers.
Les Couloirs du temps : Les Visiteurs 2, known as The Visitors II: The Corridors of Time in English (directed by Jean-Marie Poiré, filmed around March 1997
Ever After (directed by Andy Tennant, 1998)
Jeanne d'Arc, known as The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc in English (directed by Luc Besson, 1999)
Chocolat (directed by Lasse Hallström, 2000) filmed in the village of Beynac
Fanfan la Tulipe (directed by Gérard Krawczyk, 2003)

Château de Beynac

Le château de Monrecour, ou de Monrecours, est une demeure néo-Renaissance française du département de la Dordogne, en région Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
Localisation
Le château de Monrecour (ou de Monrecours) est situé en Périgord noir, dans le quart sud-est du département de la Dordogne, sur la commune de Saint-Vincent-de-Cosse, dans la plaine alluviale de la Dordogne, une centaine de mètres au nord de la route départementale 703.
Il fait partie de l'ensemble dit de la « vallée des six châteaux », entre Vézac et Saint-Cyprien, avec les châteaux de Marqueyssac, Castelnaud, Fayrac, les Milandes et Beynac.
Histoire et architecture
Le château a été la propriété successive des familles Secrestat, David et Escande.
De style néo-Renaissance, il recèle un remarquable mobilier dont des boiseries du xviie siècle provenant de la chartreuse de Vauclaire.
Il se compose d'un logis orienté est-ouest encadré à l'est par deux tours carrées, le tout éclairé par des fenêtres à meneaux.
Il a été aménagé en hôtellerie, restaurant et gites.

Château de Monrecours

The Château de Montfort is a castle in the French commune of Vitrac in the Dordogne département, part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
The castle clings to a promontory overlooking the Cingle de Montfort (Montfort Meander) on the Dordogne River. Its grandiose setting "aroused the envy of those who wished to rule Périgord" so that its history is a long series of battles and sieges. It was taken and razed to the ground by Simon de Montfort in 1214. The castle was later rebuilt, but again destroyed another three times: during the Hundred Years' War, under Louis XI of France and on the instructions of Henri IV of France.
Renovation work was carried out in the 19th century and gives the castle a "whimsical look of a stage setting for light opera."

Château de Montfort

The Château de Puymartin is a castle in the commune of Marquay, in the Dordogne département of France, located between Sarlat (8 km) and Les Eyzies (11 km).
History
The castle was built during the 13th century. It was taken by the English in 1357. The consuls of Sarlat bought the domaine back from the English but then abandoned the castle.
Radulphe de Saint-Clar re-purchased it in 1450 and enlarged it.
During the 16th century, Raymond de Saint-Clar defeated the Protestants during the French Wars of Religion. Under the name of Capitaine de Puymartin, he expelled the Huguenots from Sarlat.
During the 18th century, Jean de Saint-Clar contended with his sister Suzanne for possession of the castle. Suzanne won and kept Puymartin. The castle was finally abandoned during the 18th century.
During the 19th century, the marquis of Carbonnier de Marzac restored the castle in a neo-gothic style.
Château de Puymartin is listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Puymartin

Le château du Monteil est situé sur la commune du Monteil-au-Vicomte, dans le département de la Creuse.
Historique
Pierre d'Aubusson, grand maître de l'ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem, y est né en 1423.
Au xviie siècle, il appartenait à Gaspard de Fieubet. Il passa en 1714 à Denis Michel de Montboissier Beaufort-Canillac, qui le vendit à Jacques-André Dupille en 1719 qui le céda lui-même à Louis François du Pouget de Nadaillac.
Le monument fait l’objet d’une inscription au titre des monuments historiques depuis le 19 février 1964.

Château du Monteil

This is a beautiful castle on a rocky promontory, surrounded by a triple wall and terraces, situated above the village of Saint Mondane between Sarlat and Souillac.
Fenelon castle dates originally from the 13th century, but the castle we see today is more from the 16th century refurbishments by the owner, an important local gentleman who wanted to live in luxury. One of his children, Fénelon, was the author of a very celebrated story of Telemachus, much published and read in France during the 18th century.
Fenelon castle was a Cathare stronghold during the 12 and 13th centuries and it went on to play a strategic role duing the Hundred Years War.
The renovations and refurbishments which took place in the 15th century are in Gothic style and following this more fortifications were added for the Wars of Religion - this was a turbulent time in French history! The final key alterations were the addition of a vaulted gallery supporting a large terrace overlooking the Dordogne valley.
During a visit to the castle of Fenelon you can see the double line of fortifications in front of the castle and another behind it. One defensive wall was built in the 14-15th century and the other during the 16th centruy. Various towers exist both in the defensive walls and as part of the castle itself.
The first gatehouse that you see was built in the 16th century and is heavily fortified as it is the first line of defense for the castle. On the first floor there is a guards room. This gatehouse would have been permanently manned by a guard along with a guard in the little watchtower inside the castle walls.
The space in between the castle walls was used by the soldiers for training. There is also a pool of water which was used for riders to wash the horses legs when they returned from hunting and riding.
The castle has a different appearance on each side. The prettiest is the side with the terrace which also offers some magnificent views over the Dordogne.
On entering the chateau buildings there is an inner courtyard with a well at one end. This goes down to a subterranean river and has kept the castle in water since the 15th century.
The rooms in the castle are all decorated and give an excellent view of life in the Middle Ages. As well as being beautiful on the outside this castle is very attractive inside - the kind of castle you can imagine wanting to live in unlike some of the big, draughty castles around.
Inside the castle is a large reception room with furniture and tapestries from the Renaissance, and a collection of arms from the 15th to 18th century.
Best of all though are the bedrooms which show how decorating style evolved over time. There is 'La chambre de Fenelon' decorated in the style of Louis XIII's reign, 'La chambre Louis XVI' showing 18th century style with lots of soft furnishings, and then there is 'La chambre 1er Empire' displaying the Egyptian influence on art and furniture.
In one of the towers is a chapel and there is also an arms room and a curiosities room. The curiosities room is filled with unusual items brought back from foreign travels by sailors and adventurers.
Collecting these was a craze amongst the wealthy in the 16th and 17th century. There is another excellent collection at the Manoir de Gisson in nearby Sarlat.
The pretty turrets of the roof are covered with lauze stones - a traditional roofing material but increasingly rare because of the high costs involved nowadays in maintaining such roofs.
Recent history: the 1998 file 'Ever After' with Drew Barrymore was filmed in the Dordogne including the  Chateau Hautefort and Chateau de Fenelon (see other Dordogne films).
https://www.northofthedordogne.com