Description: To live in a castle is among the first childhood dreams. For a number of families, that dream has been realized in the glorious chateaux of France. Though visitors and armchair travelers delight in chateau architecture, they seldom see the private side of chateau life: how the French live day-to-day in their marvelous buildings. These stately residences are not dusty uninhabited museums, but real homes. Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery, herself born and brought up in her family's magnificent property at Montfort-le-Rotrou, takes us across France to visit the great homes she knows so well, opening doors that are usually closed to the outside world and allowing an intimate view of the unique way of life that goes on through the seasons.

In the spring we attend a wedding at the Chateau de Groussay, and we see the drawing rooms, bedrooms, greenhouse, and orangery at Le Lude in the company of the Comtesse de Nicolay. In summer we visit the Chateau d'Haroue in Lorraine as guests of the Princesse de Beauvau-Craon. In autumn we follow the hunt with the Marquis and Marquise de Brissac, returning to the Chateau de Brissac for dinner. Baron Eric de Rothschild opens his cellars to us at Chateau Lafite. The onset of winter is celebrated with a boar hunt at the Chateau de Courances and lunch in the forest in the company of the Marquis and Marquise de Ganay.

Jean-Bernard Naudin's atmospheric color photographs capture all the beauty and charm of these chateaux and the private lives of their inhabitants.

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