Seasonal Rentals Château de Vénéjan : A Stay in the Heart of a Landscape

There are times when remarkably little is required to alter the character of time itself: an avenue of pines, an old stone wall warmed by the sun, an open window looking towards the hills. At Château de Vénéjan, a stay begins in something approaching silence. The château is reached by a long avenue lined with pines; from there, the gardens lead gently towards the Italianate courtyard and the terrace, which opens upon the valley.

Here, a seasonal rental is not merely an arrangement for sleeping somewhere other than home. It is an opportunity to inhabit, for a few days, a rather different notion of time. One puts down one's luggage. One opens the shutters. Provence enters with the morning light and, almost imperceptibly, the day acquires its own agreeable rhythm.

A House in Which to Linger

The gîte offers the independence of a private holiday home, together with the particular charm of staying within a historic estate. There is something pleasingly civilised about a house in which one may pass without ceremony from a morning stroll to an unhurried lunch, from reading quietly to a conversation which, having begun after dinner, sees no compelling reason to end

The kitchen allows guests to prepare the produce gathered at the local market. The sitting room becomes, according to the hour, either a retreat from the Provençal heat or a comfortable place in which to prolong the evening. Outside, the grounds invite one to do what modern life so rarely permits: sit down, look about, and observe the light changing upon the landscape.

Facilities and ServicesLes équipements et services

Depending on the gîte selected, facilities and services may include a fully equipped kitchen, Wi-Fi, outdoor areas, garden furniture, private parking and the comforts required for an independent stay. The precise facilities should, naturally, be confirmed when making the reservation.

The château also offers a large panoramic terrace, an Italian-inspired courtyard and gardens which extend the living spaces into the open air.

At the Gîte – Château de Vénéjan Seasonal Rentals, Provence at One's Door

Vénéjan possesses that particular grace of villages which appear not so much to have been built upon a landscape as to have grown out of it. Roads and paths lead towards vineyards, the Rhône, ancient villages and the landscapes of Provence and the Gard. There are innumerable opportunities for walks, excursions, architectural discoveries and gastronomic distractions — some of them sufficiently persuasive to make one forget the hour.

And then comes evening.

One returns to the château with a little dust upon one's shoes and considerably more light in one's eyes. The sun slips behind the hills. The old stone assumes a softer colour. One no longer feels any obligation to fill the day with activity.

One simply allows the day to exist.

And perhaps this is the true luxury of a stay at Château de Vénéjan: to recover, for a few precious days, something which modern civilisation has rendered almost suspiciously rare — the agreeable sensation of having time. le sentiment d’avoir le temps.

7-room château for holiday rental in Vénéjan - 30200

Between the Gard and the Ardèche, a Fourteenth-Century Château with a Magnificent View — Pets Welcome (1)

At the agreeable meeting-point of the Drôme, the Ardèche and the Vaucluse, and overlooking the venerable village of Vénéjan, this château offers precisely the sort of holiday in which time, having been dismissed from service, is allowed to behave as it pleases. It is, moreover, the château of an artist — a place of character, imagination and considerable charm.
Thirty-two kilometres to the north lies Barjac, the Renaissance town whose International Antiques Fair arrives, with admirable regularity, at Easter and on 15 August. To the south is Uzès, perpetually animated by café terraces and restaurants. And in summer, a halt at the beach of Pont Cassé at Saint-Just-d’Ardèche, twelve kilometres away, remains one of those pleasures which require neither explanation nor improvement.

The Interior
The entrance hall, sheltered beneath its roof but otherwise open to the air, leads on the left into a large room with imposing stone walls. It may serve as a meeting room, or, should circumstances become more convivial, as an additional bedroom, with a 140 cm bed or two futons.
Beyond it, flooded with sunlight, is the immense sitting room. Equipped with television, library and board games, and furnished with comfortable sofas, it offers a splendid view of the twelfth-century Chapel of Saint John the Baptist. One suspects that even the most determined reader may occasionally look up from his book.
The sitting room leads into a fully equipped kitchen, which in turn gives access to a vaulted bedroom occupying the thirteenth-century tower. It contains two single beds, convertible into a 180 cm double bed, together with an integrated shower room and private WC.

From the old gun loop, one may observe the world without being observed oneself — an arrangement of which both medieval defenders and modern romantics might approve.
From the kitchen, a staircase rises within the tower to a bedroom with a large double bed and an adjoining full bathroom with WC. This room may also be reached by the staircase leading from the entrance hall on the right.
The kitchen can likewise be accessed from this side, where four steps lead to a separate shower room with WC. On the first floor, a traditional miller's ladder leads to another bedroom beneath the roof, with a roof window and two single beds, convertible into a 180 cm double bed.

The Grounds
Arrival is suitably theatrical: a broad avenue of pine trees leads into the enclosed park, where the car may be parked behind a manually operated gate.
To the right lies the swimming-pool area. The pool is above ground, but quite large enough for the essential Provençal business of cooling oneself after a warm afternoon.
The entrance to the château courtyard occupies the site of the former drawbridge. This secluded space is charmingly planted and possesses that agreeable intimacy which old fortified places seem to have acquired almost accidentally.
Above the former moat, and on the same level as the kitchen, the immense terrace provides a breathtaking panorama. To the right are the centuries-old ruins; to the left, one has the singular privilege of actually living in a château — a proposition which, when properly considered, is difficult to improve upon.

A Remarkable Region
The ancient city of Orange, only 25 kilometres away, offers its museum of history and art, its Thursday morning market and, naturally, the celebrated Chorégies d’Orange.

Avignon, Uzès, Nîmes and Vaison-la-Romaine are approximately forty minutes away. The Luberon, the Alpilles and the Ardèche, including the remarkable Chauvet Cave, can be reached in about an hour.

And then there are the villages scattered around Vénéjan, particularly those along the Cèze. They appear at intervals among vineyards, hills and old stone, each possessing its own modest claim to eternity.
For those in search of a conventional holiday, this château may perhaps seem unnecessarily picturesque.
For those wishing, instead, to spend a few days slightly outside ordinary time, it is rather difficult to imagine a more persuasive address.