Located in the southern part of the Dordogne department, Chateau de Lanquais is reached by visitors heading from the north by way of one of the bridges across the Dordogne river - usually those at St-Capraise-de-Lalinde or Couze-et-Saint-Front.
The castle is surrounded by woodlands rather than French style gardens, with glimpses through the trees down to the river and Lanquais plan d'eau (leisure area) below.
This castle is less part of the tourist circuit than some along the popular Dordogne river, but is a castle with an interesting history and mix of architectural styles that should ensure it is on your schedule.
The part of the building that was the original, defensive and fortified, castle dates from the 14th century, and mostly comprises the round tower and the adjoining hexagonal stair tower. The building was then much expanded in the latter part of the 16th century, to add parts that offered more comfortable living accommodation using the renaissance style - and in particular copying many features from the Louvre.
The two parts are quite different in appearance and can be clearly distinguished. (You can see this better in the photo below, with the clear transition between the medieval style on the left and the renaissance style on the right.)
Inside, the chateau is impressively furnished with magnificent grand chimney places, period furniture and so on.
It is possible to walk around the circumference of the Chateau de Lanquais by following a small track, then afterwards spare a few minutes to visit the village of Lanquais itself, which has a sprinkling of interesting medieval buildings. (Note particularly the stone building with the very large roof between the castle and the village - an ancient barn now used for occasional concerts).
https://www.castles.francethisway.com/chateau-lanquais.php

Château de Lanquais

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Château de Lalinde is a château, developed from a 13th-century castle, in the commune of Lalinde in the Dordogne département of France. It is known locally as le château de la Bastide.
History
Built in the 13th century overlooking the Dordogne River, the castle was known as Castrum de la Lynde.
During the 18th century, its keep was used as a prison.
Rebuilt during the 19th century, it was transformed into a hotel-restaurant. It is now a private residence.
Architecture
Built on foundations bordered by the river, this modest château has preserved two medieval corner turrets, joining what remains of the old keep.

Château de Lalinde

Château de Bannes is a castle located in the municipality of Beaumont-du-Périgord, in the French department of Dordogne. The castle was built in the fourteenth century. After the Hundred Years War, it was destroyed and rebuilt from the sixteenth century. It is a historical monument since 2002. The castle is built on top of a rocky outcrop. This is a non visitable private property.
http://www.frenchchateau.net/chateaux-of-aquitaine/chateau-de-bannes.html

Château de Bannes

THE NAME
The name of the castle, of Latin origin, and that is found in a few other monuments or cities of the South-West of France, is arguably meaning: “fortified mount” (mons adstructum), or also “mount under the stars”…
The valley of the little river “Caudeau”, at the foot of Montastruc, keeps numerous traces of human habitat from prehistory to the period of the Roman Empire.
VTH CENTURY
Through the 5th century, the invasion by the Germans in 407, followed by the Visigoths’ and finally, by the annexation of Aquitaine to the kingdom of the Francs by Clovis (507), bring Montastruc into the High Middle-Age. These troubled times lead its inhabitants into the caves and galleries of its emerging rock, later fortified and isolated by deep moats.
RISE AND FALL OF THE D'ABZAC
La Monzia (La Moinerie) is mentioned into documents of the 13th century, under the protection of Montastruc, fief of the Castrum of Montclar. In 1309, Hugues 1st d’Abzac, lord of Clerans and knight for Montclar, is benefiting from a donation of assets in La Monzia, including the “domus” of Montastruc. In 1329, his son Hugues 2nd d’Abzac fortifies Montastruc over its antique existing bases. Rudel 4th de Mouleydier, lord and baron of Montclar, allows the works to be done and gets a solemn homage as suzerain, in the chapel of Lamonzie. Montastruc and the d’Abzac become from that moment a permanent threat for Montclar and its barons.
In 1437, the “Reppayrium de Monte Astruco” is mentioned as fief of Bertrand d’Abzac. On the 14th of February 1439, Amaury d’Estissac, heir of the châtellenie of Montclar, donates to Bertrand d’Abzac all the rights of high, mid and low justice that he could have over Montastruc, under the condition of a symbolic homage of a pair of white gloves. But Bertrand d’Abzac, is made prisoner after his invasion of the city of Domme, is beheaded in Limoges on the 1st of March 1439 by order of Charles 7th and the demolition Montastruc, to the height of the infamy (“à hauteur de l’infamie”) is undertaken following the criminal trial started in 1438 – however the destruction will be only partial.
In 1449, Jean of Bretagne returns to Jeanne de Beynac, widow of Bertrand d’Abzac, the estate of Montastruc against submission to the Royal authority. The castle is rebuilt from 1480, supported by royal decree (“Lettres patentes”) from Louis 11th dated September 1475.
XVITH - XVIITH CENTURY
In 1568, on the day of Christmas, Blaise de Monluc, trusted by Catherine de Médicis to maintain order in Guyenne, starts the siege of Montastruc. Two cannons oblige the Huguenot troop to surrender. New siege by the seneschal of Périgord in 1569, who takes it from the Protestants, and returns it again to the d’Abzac.
In 1637, the second rebellion of the “croquants” (peasants), is led in the forests not far from Montastruc by La Mothe La Foret, Charles d’Abzac’s brother in law, and Grellety, farmer of Charles’ lands…
XVIITH - XXTH
On the 26th of May 1650, the fortress walls of Montastruc see at their foot the defeat of the troop of Monsieur de La Valette, by the dukes of Bouillon and of La Rochefoucauld, while these were accompanying Madame the Princess of Condé and her son, the duke of Enghien to Bordeaux, during the last “grande fronde” (revolt of the nobles against the king).
Interestingly, the revolution period does not affect Montastruc. More recently, in May 1940, HRH the grand duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg and her family exiled themselves in the chateau de Montastruc, ex-filtrated from Luxembourg in extremis by France before the arrival of the German troops. They remained there for a few months under the protection of a section of Senegalese riflemen, before gaining Portugal… On June 16th 1940, they were joined in Montastruc by the last empress-queen of Austria-Hungary Zita, sister of Felix of Bourbon- Parma, husband of Charlotte of Luxembourg. On her way to exile towards Spain via Bordeaux, Zita transited through Montastruc with her 8 children of which her elder son Otto of Habsburg, archduke of Austria.
TODAY
Fief of the d’Abzac since the 13th century, Montastruc changes hands through alliances and goes to the Ferrand de Mauvezin, the Peruse des Cars, the du Garrich d’Uzech, and then in 1849, goes to the marquis de Lostanges de Saint-Alvere followed by the Loeff in 1936. After the last war, it is owned by the Ordonneaux, and then changes hands briefly before coming in 1998 to Philippe Raynaud de Fitte and his wife Ségolène de Marcellus. This is the beginning of an extensive and meticulous restoration work…
Ségolène de Marcellus is of direct descent from Marie-Louis Andre Charles (alias Lodoïs) de Martin du Tyrac, 4th count of Marcellus (1795-1861), who after difficult and animated negotiations, purchased the statue known today as Venus de Milo, and brought it back to France where it was offered on March 1st 1821 to the king Louis XVIII who donated the statue to the Louvre. A casting of the Venus, life size with patina identical to the original was executed in November 2015 by the workshops of moldings of the Louvre Museum and is exposed today in Montastruc.

Château de Montastruc

Le château de Bouniagues est situé en Périgord pourpre, sur la commune française de Bouniagues dans le département de la Dordogne, en région Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
L'édifice est protégé au titre des monuments historiques pour la porte Renaissance du presbytère, située sur la tour extérieure.
Architecture
La bâtisse dite « La Baume » ou « Labaulme », est datée du xve siècle (1489). De plan rectangulaire, elle comprend des fenêtres Renaissance, avec des croisées à meneaux. La tour polygonal. attenante au château sur la façade sud rappelle la vocation défensive de l'édifice.
Cette tour abrite un escalier à vis en pierres, auquel on accède par la porte d'origine, inscrite au titre des monuments historiques par arrêté du 27 janvier 1948; au-dessus de cette porte est sculpté un blason représentant deux corps de lions aux têtes de créatures difficilement identifiables. Le château ayant appartenu à la famille de Saint Ours, il a été émis l'hypothèse qu'il s'agirait de deux têtes d'ours.
Ce blason fait écho aux armes reproduites sur le linteau de la porte intérieure, menant à la salle du quatrième niveau. Sur les façades sud et nord, l'édifice est percé de fenêtres de style Renaissance, surmontées d'arcatures. Les cheminées présentes à l'intérieur datent du xive siècle.
Le château possédait à l'origine un niveau supérieur, avant d'être abaissé d'un étage. Il reste encore quelques marques de ce niveau aujourd'hui disparu. Aux angles se trouvent les vestiges des deux tours en encorbellement découronnées. C'est sur cette même partie ouest que le château a abrité un presbytère à partir du xixe siècle.
La partie centrale comprend la tour d'escalier polygonale avec un porche en arc brisé rappelant, par sa forme très particulière, le porche de Lanquais. Hormis ces deux sites, il n'existe pas d'autre porche semblable dans le Périgord. Il s'agirait de l’œuvre du même artiste.
Histoire
Au fil des siècles, le château de Bouniagues dévoile certains faits marquants de son histoire.
De la fin du xve siècle et jusqu'après le xviie siècle, les seigneurs du château (Charles, Pierre, Isaac, Louis puis Jean de Solminihac) étaient une branche de la maison de Solminihac (dont le plus ancien de la lignée connu aux Archives nationales fut Mathieu de Solminihac (1165-1195).
Au début du xviiie siècle, à la suite du mariage le 17 août 1701 d'une demoiselle de Solminihac (Marie-Charlotte, fille de Jean de Solminihac) avec Pierre de Saint Ours, seigneur de Clermont, écuyer, capitaine de dragons au régiment de Saint-Sarlin, le château passa aux mains de la famille de Saint Ours5. Cette union donna naissance à trois enfants, dont Henri de Saint Ours en 1703. En 1732, Henri (seigneur de Morin) épousa Marie de Cosson de La Suderie, née en 1716 ; ils eurent un fils en 1738, prénommé Pierre.
En 1793, ce même Pierre de Saint Ours, chevalier de Saint-Louis, seigneur de Bouniagues, la Baume, la Jaubertie..., capitaine au régiment de Beauce, est trahi par un de ses domestiques. Il est bâillonné et garrotté durant son sommeil. Après le pillage du château, les sbires du tribunal révolutionnaire de Bergerac le mettent avant le jour sur une charrette avec Anne de Sirvain, sa femme, et leurs huit enfants. Ils étaient déjà près de Bergerac quand accoururent les paysans de Bouniagues, armés de fusils, de piques et de faux qui les délivrèrent à l'approche du bourg de la Madeleine. Après avoir mis en fuite les agents de la Révolution, ils ramenèrent au château de Bouniagues toute la famille de Saint Ours qu'on n'osa plus inquiéter. Pierre de Saint-Ours décéda en 1806 à l'âge de soixante-huit ans.
En 1875, le maire de Bouniagues, Martial Delpit de Castang, acheta le château et en rétrocéda une moitié (la partie ouest), à la commune de Bouniagues, qui y installa le presbytère.

Château de Bouniagues

Monbazillac is located a short distance to the south of Bergerac.
The castle itself is a listed historical monument, and dates from the 16th century. It is in an early Renaissance style, and is in an attractive wooded setting with far-reaching views across the region. The castle contains some finely decorated rooms and apartments.
But it is for the wine that the Monbazillac region is best known. 3500 hectares of vines produce one of the most widely known (and most highly reputed) dessert (sweet) white wines in the world.
Looking for other excuses to enjoy a glass of the wine - it forms an excellent accompaniment to the local foie gras, and a perfect aperitif if chilled.
Exploring the Chateau de Monbazillac
When you have parked your car in the lovely wooded parking area and set off for the castle the first view of the castle is superb. At the end of a long straight driveway it sits high above the surrounding countryside and its large round turrets and mass of pointy roofs and leaded windows give it something of a fairy tale appearance.
MonbazillacThe chateau was built in 1550 and miraculously has come unscathed through the various wars and revolutions that have followed this period of history.
On visiting the Chateau de Monbazillac there are three floors to explore. Whilst the chateau was built as a defensive chateau with towers, a moat, arrow slits and battlements, it incorporates the early Renaissance styles of architecture with large windows. The rooms, therefore are lovely light and airy rooms.
On the ground floor are the reception rooms with their beautifully polished wooden floors and 17th century furniture.
The main room on the first floor is the Mounet-Sully hall which contains some huge dark pieces of Italien-baroque style furniture which once belonged to Mounet Sully, a famous French actor who was born in Bergerac. Next to this room, in the tower, is a lovely collection of white porcelain from Limoges which also belonged to Sully.
On this floor is also the Viscountess' bedroom, again with 17th century furniture and in the tower next to this are some wooden engravings with scenes of the Apocalypse.
My favourite room on this floor is the SEM hall which is filled with original cartoons drawn by SEM, a famous caricaturist who was born in Perigueux. These are great cartoons of French gentlemen and ladies during the end of the 19th century. For those of you interested in SEM (real name Georges Goursat) there is a little museum of his at La Casssange near Saint Genies. SEM was responsible for the drawing on the menu of Paris' famous Maxims restaurant.
As well as the room of SEM cartoons the 'Rodolph Germain Hall' contains changing displays of modern art by way of temporary exhibitions.
The basement of the chateau gives you a chance to see row upon row of 'liquid gold' - Monbazillac's famous sweet white wine. There is a small museum of wine related tools and you can also see the chateau kitchens and some wonderful huge pottery storage containers.
Not surprisingly after your visit there is a cave where you can sample the wines, and plenty of opportunities to purchase some.
Wandering round the castle from the outside offers some great views over the surrounding countryside.
https://www.northofthedordogne.com/monbazillac.php

Château de Monbazillac

The chateau dates back to the 12th century and has an attractive facade with stone walls, deep perigordine roofs, turrets and extensive grounds. Many of the rooms have been renovated and furnished allowing you to step back in history.
The kitchen is a large room with a domed roof and a huge open fireplace once used to cook the meals for the chateau's inhabitants. Now it is often used to make crepes and biscuits that you can buy. Hung on the walls and ceilings are an assortment of copper pans and various other kitchen utensils are on display.
The elegant dining room lined with gleaming wood panneling has its large table set as if ready to entertain at any moment and a large and elegant salon also has lovely wood panneled walls.  Other rooms include a games room, an armour room with a full knight and horse's armour and a bedroom.
Down in the stables is a large games room and outside both in the courtyard and outside the castle there are loads of games to play. These are all traditional games and make the castle a great place to come with children.
Games include giant chess, archery and many games of skill, strength or dexterity.
In July and August there is a restaurant in the courtyard of the chateau with a simple but tasty menu of quiches, sandwiches, salads and cakes, crumble or ice-cream.
A little history
The Chateau de Bridoire dates back to the 12th century and has had 10 diffferent families living here. It was once visited by Henri de Navarre before he became King Henri IV of France.
Fighting has taken place here between the French and the English and between Catholics and Protestants.
In recent years the castle was vandalised and plundered for 22 years before it was eventually protected by the state and bought by the Guyot family who renovated the castle and are the current owners.
https://www.northofthedordogne.com/chateau-de-bridoire.php