How chasing dreams led a Vancouver couple to a castle in France
If you could choose between spending $750,000 on a condo in Vancouver or the same amount for a castle in France, which would you choose?
That decision was a no-brainer for a couple who did just that.
The Vancouver couple chased their dreams, bought an abandoned castle, and will soon move to France to begin entirely new lives together in their new forever home. The big move is in less than three weeks, and as the pair told Daily Hive Urbanized, there is a lot of work to be done.
We had the opportunity to speak with Damien Verhaegen and Thomas Garneau about their upcoming adventure, the reasons behind purchasing a castle in France, and their plans for it.
Verhaegen and Garneau, both 34, are married and have lived in Vancouver for seven years. Before that, the couple had been living in Montreal. Verhaegen was born in Paris, and his parents relocated to Canada when he was five. Most of Garneau’s family resides in Montreal or Quebec City, and the pair moved to Vancouver for Garneau’s work.
“It’s been a little dream of ours and not something we thought could be achievable,” Verhaegen said of their upcoming move.
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There isn’t a lot known about the abandoned castle. It was built in the early 1860s as a hunting holiday home and features a Neo-Renaissance style with stunning stained-glass windows and a grand staircase. The castle was built by the famous French architect Alfred Dauvergne, who also built the Arc de Triomphe, a very famous monument in Paris.
Darbians Photography
Darbians Photography
For the past 11 years, Verhaegen has been working in business development in the vintage luxury sector, specializing in accessories. He works for a company based in the States that has a head office in Paris, which will help with the big transition.
Meanwhile, Garneau is a director, working in insurance for a Crown corporation and managing a team of approximately 300 people. Moving to a castle in the middle of nowhere, relatively speaking, will be a significant shift for both partners.
From Paris, the castle is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive away or two hours by train, but there are other cities around. Verhaegen pointed out that France has villages everywhere.
How and why did this happen?
Darbians Photography
Verhaegen and Garneau have been together for 15 years. Verhaegen said he found pictures of the couple from 10 years ago, posing in front of castles in France.
“We were just visiting the Loire Valley castles because my grandparents lived in that area. We were dreaming about a different kind of life, a unique life, and never thinking it would ever be possible one day,” he added.
“During the pandemic, we saw a few people who bought some abandoned castles in France and documented their journey on social media.”
Verhaegen said people were buying these castles at reasonable prices.
“Yes, there’s a lot of work, effort and renovation costs that need to be put into it, but it was still affordable and something we could make work.”
They still had a budget and were hoping to find something under 800,000 Euros or around C$1.2 million, including the purchase price and renovation costs. Early on in the search, the couple wasn’t finding anything that fit the bill.
“At any given time in France, there are around 1,000 castles for sale,” Verhaegen said, adding that there are around 45,000 castles in France and around 36,000 towns. That makes it more than one castle per town!
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In terms of pricing, the cost for the most decrepit castles ranges from around 300,000 Euros, while some of the larger, more luxurious ones in good condition, located towards the south of France, can exceed 20 or 30 million Euros.
“We were closer to the bottom and trying to make that work.”
They eventually found one that was 700,000 Euros, or around C$1,000,000. The couple flew to France and almost bought it.
“But it was the first castle we saw.”
They wanted something a bit closer to a train station and a place that was a bit grander.
“If I’m in the countryside, I want to be able to host people, have a large living room and enough rooms to welcome people over,” Verhaegen reflected.
Verhaegen began searching for abandoned castles on Pinterest. The couple also had a real estate contact in France to whom Verhaegen was sending pictures. There was one he really liked and asked if the contact could try and find the owners.
They found one known online as Chateau Poseidon, which had been abandoned since 1985 and was not for sale. The owners, who live in Germany, had purchased it intending to build a luxury hotel and golf course. However, the project never came to fruition, and they ultimately retained the castle for hunting purposes, without ever setting foot in it for the past 40 years.
“I think one thing that is appealing to us is the life and uniqueness of this,” Garneau said.
“We always had this kind of as a dream, like ‘Oh my God, it would be crazy.'”
Garneau said they needed to make a decision, “because we can just push that deadline until forever.”
“Damien lost his mom a couple of years ago, and that was a big wake-up call. She was young, and we realized if this is a retirement project, retirement may never come,” Garneau added. Verhaegen’s mother is buried in France, so this castle represents a return to his roots and a reconnection with her side of the family.
“Which I know she’d be really happy about. Reconnecting with my cousins, whom I only saw a few times in my life. My uncles and my aunts.”
So, they bought it. Here’s the kicker. It was 500,000 Euros or C$750,000! If you compare that to home prices in Vancouver, well, you know how it goes.
Verhaegen’s Paris roots also make purchasing property in France a fair bit easier as a dual citizen. It also makes Garneau’s Visa process easier.
What the future holds for the dreamers
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While the castle is in relatively good shape considering its age and the fact that no one has lived in it since 1985, there is still a lot of work to be done. That includes plumbing, electrical, bathrooms, kitchen, paint, and decoration. Not to mention the stone work on the facade and gardens.
However, based on our conversation, it seems that the renovation process and the opportunity to put their own stamp on the castle are part of the allure and charm of the entire experience.
“We’re going to make it a lot brighter, a lot more fun and not so dark and gloomy.”
In total, they have over 8,000 sq. ft. to work with. They want to be able to host events like weddings, as well as offer Airbnb-style accommodations on a small scale, not large enough to be considered a hotel.
In our conversation, we looked at pictures together and asked how it felt to see pictures of the castle that would soon be their forever home.
“It’s so bizarre. It’s still kind of unreal to think that in less than a month we’re going to be there cleaning it up, kicking the birds and bats out and restoring it, it’s just very weird,” Verhaegen responded.
They also hope to build a sense of community once they’re out there, with people their age who are doing the same thing.
Garneau said, “We’ve been projecting ourselves there since Nov. 1. So, I think we’re also feeling like, ‘Alright, let’s do this now.’ We’ve been visualizing a lot of things, Damien has been modelling a few designs of rooms, and I feel like we’ve done everything we could so far, now we’re just ready to go home.”
We also asked if they think they’d miss the city life that Vancouver or Montreal offered.
The main things they’ll miss are close friends and, of course, the beaches and mountains that Vancouver has to offer.
Garneau has built a small community in Vancouver, which he is sad to be leaving behind. He was the vice president of The Cutting Edges, an LGBTQ+ Hockey Association based in Vancouver. Thankfully, Garneau also admits he’s a bit of an introvert and likes his quiet time, so he’s looking forward to having more.
Verhaegen joked, “Tom is upset we don’t have a moat and a drawbridge.” Verhaegen said he’s never lived in the countryside.
“I’ve always lived in the city, and I learned how to drive last year. So it gives you a good idea of how much of a city boy I am. But at the same time, I think I’m at the age where, like Tom said, if I don’t do this now, this is the kind of dream that at 50 you’re kind of tired and you’re not going to want to start this kind of project. So, I think it’s kind of a now or never.”
You can follow the pair’s renovation journey on Instagram.
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