Château de Hautefort, Renaissance palace in Périgord Noir, France

Château de Hautefort is a castle in Hautefort, Dordogne, whose pale stone walls and dark slate roofs stand on a rocky spur above the village. Two round towers with domed lantern tops flank a long facade with rows of rectangular windows, dormers and tall chimneys, and a lower wing with a balustraded terrace extends to the right. The building was constructed from the 16th to the 17th century on the foundations of an older fortress, and its architecture recalls the châteaux of the Loire.

A fortress of the viscounts of Limoges stood here by the 9th century; Guy de Lastours took it around 1030. From 1160 the Born family held it, including the troubadour Bertran de Born, who disputed it with his brother Constantin. The Gontaut-Hautefort family owned it from 1398 to 1887 and built the present château from the 16th century under architects Nicolas Rambourg then Jacques Maigret. In 1968 fire destroyed the central block, rebuilt from photographs by baroness de Bastard.

The castle interior reflects how French nobility lived and decorated their homes through the centuries. Furniture, tapestries, and artworks throughout the rooms show the tastes and daily habits of the families who called it home.

The château stands on a rocky spur above the village of Hautefort, in the Dordogne. The French gardens lie in terraces around the building, while the 30-hectare English park covers the hill to the west, with winding shaded paths in the Italian garden. Allow time for the slopes between the two.

The park holds a Magnolia grandiflora and a Cedar of Lebanon, trees singled out in the garden records. In 1853 the Count of Choulot laid out the grounds, adding topiary clipped to imitate the domes of the château and a long tunnel of greenery. The gardens are listed among the Notable Gardens of France.