Château de Courances, Renaissance château in Courances, France

Château de Courances is a Louis XIII-style castle on a quadrangular platform surrounded by moats in Courances. Its lower two storeys are pale stone with tall rectangular windows, while the upper storey and steep roofs are red brick with stone quoins. Two dark grey roofs with brick chimneys sit at the ends of a long central range, and blue slate turrets, dormers and tall chimneys rise along the roofline. A curved stone staircase with a balustrade stands before the central facade.

The castle was built around 1630 by Claude Gallard and underwent major restoration work between 1873 and 1884 under architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur. This renovation shaped much of how the building looks today.

The name Courances is recorded in the 18th century as coming from the many springs and small streams (eaux courantes) on the estate. Berthe de Ganay, granddaughter of Baron de Haber, laid out an Anglo-Japanese garden in 1930 and, with landscape architect Achille Duchêne, restored a French design, creating the horseshoe basin and the Arethusa fountain. The park has been labelled Jardin remarquable since 2004.

The 86-hectare park is labelled a Jardin remarquable and lies 47 km southeast of Paris in the Gâtinais français, reached from the Essonne village of Courances. The visit covers the château and the water features laid out along its axis, including the 225-metre mirror pond behind the building and the long canal begun in the 16th century. Allow time to walk the length of the main perspective.

The château's name is said to come from the many springs and small streams (eaux courantes) on its grounds, as recorded in an 18th-century written note. The park's Grand Canal, dug southwest of the building under Côme Clausse, was only the second garden canal ever built in France; an older one existed at neighbouring Fleury.