Reawakening Château de Purnon | Corston Architectural Detail

Château de Purnon lies in the Vienne, just south of the Loire Valley and north of Poitiers in western France.

Completed in the late 18th century, just before its owner fled the revolution, it lay neglected and in a state of serious disrepair, before Australian couple Felicity Selkirk and Tim Holding bought the estate in 2020.

They’ve since dedicated their lives to bringing the chateau and its outbuildings back from the brink. And it’s not a quick fix.

Felicity explains: ‘When we first arrived, our architect said that we were reawakening an old lady who had been asleep for a long time, so we needed to reawaken her slowly.’

‘We knew the chateau was on the verge of being lost forever,’ Tim adds, ‘and it was our dream to see if we could save this magnificent estate.’