A dream come true...
Sheryl admits that she had already fallen in love with Chateau le Mung from the photos. When she and Gerald drove towards the grand gates of the sweeping drive way and saw the 800 year old castle looming in the mist she was overwhelmed by its beauty.
“It was elegant, ancient, romantic… it took my breath away”
The couple pulled up in their hire car at the huge and imposing doors of the Chateau, so dazzled by its age and splendour that they hardly noticed the broken windows and acres of overgrown land. It was March 2014, the spring air was clear and sweet and full of anticipation and promise.
They opened the door and entered… and then says Sheryl with a wry laugh “we woke up”.
This sleeping beauty of a palace had been empty and unloved for several decades. No one except bats and birds and wild animals had entered its rooms for years.
“It was” confesses Sheryl “like a slap in the face. Filthy beyond belief, wrecked by years of neglect, damaged beyond anything we had ever imagined. My heart dropped and I just wanted to walk out, drive to the airport and go back to Australia right there and then”.
The couple walked from room to room, into the age-old towers of the castle, around its thick stone walls and looked at the 20 acres of overgrown, impenetrable parkland.