FROM THEIR PARIS APARTMENT, former Victorian Labor MP Tim Holding and his fiancée, Felicity Selkirk, loved browsing real estate listings for crumbling mansions. In 2020, they viewed the Château de Purnon, 320 kilometres south-west of Paris. The roof leaked so badly that rain created waterfalls down the grand staircase; one side of the building was held up by a support structure; and entire outbuildings lay in ruins. Nevertheless, as Tim details in his diary, he and Felicity fell in love with the place.
May 19, 2020 The search for our dream château had taken us to 16 extraordinary domains. But it was Château de Purnon on the edge of the Forêt de Scévolles in Haut Poitou that stole our hearts.
Built justa three-kilometre corridor that pierces the woods. It is a stupendous private view that is only discernible from the château. The is longer than the Grand Canal at Versailles, as our heritage architect Monsieur Didier likes to remind us. And he should know – he is, after all, the at Versailles.
