Châteaux-A-Go-Go: Step Inside Three of France’s Preserved Palaces and Restored Estates

While France is famous for its grand châteaux and royal residences, a luxury barge cruise with Barge Lady Cruises offers access to a more intimate side of these remarkable historic houses.

Indeed, our guests are regularly welcomed into family estates, restored castles, and gorgeous grounds where art, ancestry, and architecture still feel vibrantly alive. Through these curated cultural connections ashore, Barge Lady passengers meet and greet the stewards who passionately shape each property’s ongoing preservation.

These extraordinary excursions capture one of the greatest pleasures of French barge cruising: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to time travel, effortlessly arriving to the whimsical worlds of 17th century European decor, 18th century Napoleonic telegraphs, and 19th century international portraiture.

The Barge Ladies are honored and delighted to spotlight three of our favorite French châteaux…welcome to CHÂTEAUX-A-GO-GO!

CHÂTEAU DE BY: THE ARTIST’S INSPIRATION

In the Upper Loire, aboard the Deluxe class, eight-passenger Renaissance, guests are introduced to the estate of one of the most fascinating women in international 19th-century art: Rosa Bonheur.

Born in 1822, Bonheur became one of the most successful painters of her era, renowned for her astonishing animal portraiture and her fiercely independent spirit. In 1859, at the height of her fame, she purchased the Château de By near Thomery, where she would live, love, work, entertain, keep her beloved animals, and freely create for the next 40 years, until her death in 1899.

Today, this legacy is lovingly carried forward by Katherine Brault and her daughters, the French family who rescued the château, reopened it to visitors, and transformed Bonheur’s vision into a renewed celebration of women, art, and independence.

Guided by a member of the Brault family, guests may view Bonheur’s prolific output, examine the details of her studio, and discover a château spotlighting art rather than aristocracy. In a country famous for showplace palaces and sprawling lodges, this visit offers not just a stop at a museum, but an exceptional invitation to the preserved home of a trailblazing woman whose iconoclastic lifestyle continues to inspire.

CHÂTEAUX-A-GO-GO FUN FACT: Château de By is the recipient of a preservation grant from our longtime not-for-profit partner, the French Heritage Society! 

CHÂTEAU D’ANCY-LE-FRANC: AN ITALIANATE RENAISSANCE ICON

In Northern Burgundy, aboard the Premier class, twelve-passenger La Belle Epoque, guests are introduced to one of the region’s most glorious architectural treasures: Château d’Ancy-le-Franc.

Commissioned in the 1540s by Antoine III de Clermont-Tonnerre and designed by the Italian Renaissance architect Sebastiano Serlio, the château is a masterpiece of French Renaissance design. Construction began in 1542 and was likely completed around 1550, creating a castle of astonishing geometry, aesthetic symmetry, and architectural ambition.

Among its most memorable rooms is the famous Chambre de Diane, created in the 16th century to welcome Diane de Poitiers and decorated with mythological frescoes attributed to the Flemish painter Nicolas de Hoey. 

For guests who love decorative arts, historic interiors, and the grand sweep of French history, this is one of the great “oh my” moments of the cruise: a rare Italianate Renaissance masterpiece in Burgundy, where ceremonial salons, sumptuous design, and perfectly balanced architecture reveal a château as bold, cultured, and wildly beautiful as anything in France.

CHÂTEAUX-A-GO-GO FUN FACT: Château d’Ancy le Franc is Barge Lady Ellen‘s favorite French castle!

CHÂTEAU DE LA MOTTE: A TASTE OF TEA, TELEGRAPHS, AND TIME

Then there is the Charming class, 8-guest Rosa, cruising in Gascony, where the heritage of France’s southwest is on full display at Château de la Motte. Also known as Château de Lamotte-Bardigues, this castle sits on an elegant estate in Tarn-et-Garonne, boasting a rich history reaching back more than 700 years.

Château de la Motte is named from its medieval motte — the raised mound on which an early stronghold was built. In 1315, the fief was acquired by Raymond-Arnaud de Goth, nephew of Pope Clement V, the first Avignon pope; this linked the château to one of southwest France’s most powerful medieval families. Through generational inheritance and personal alliances, that Goth connection endured into the 17th century, when the estate passed by marriage to the d’Esparbès de Lussan family, one of Armagnac’s great military houses.

Today, our guests are welcomed by Countess Caroline de Boisséson, one of the château’s current owners. Over afternoon tea, she shares stories of her family’s ties to the Kings of France, creating an encounter shaped equally by European history and contemporary conversation.

Around the château’s grounds, its footprint still boasts the fascinating relics of a working historic domain. The property’s parklands, mill, and Chappe telegraph tower — France’s pre-electric, Napoleonic-era communications network beginning in the 1790s — all speak to changing times, from aristocratic life to the French Revolution to the Château de la Motte of now. Here, for those who visit, history is enjoyed rather than observed.

CHÂTEAUX-A-GO-GO FUN FACT: With the help of a neighboring apiary, Château de la Motte produces and sells its own estate honey!

To book your own CHÂTEAUX-A-GO-GO French barge cruise of castles, canals, and cultural connections, contact Barge Lady Cruises today.