Château de la Grandière, 16th-century fortified castle in Grez-Neuville, France

Château de la Grandière stands at the end of a plane-tree avenue in Grez-Neuville. Its 16th-century gatehouse, with two domed turrets and a steep pyramidal roof, opens onto a courtyard and an 18th-century main house with a curved central projection. Water-filled moats are bordered by a boxwood walk, and a walled one-hectare kitchen garden is fed by a 19th-century water tower.

The La Grandière line is first mentioned in 1150 at a feudal mound in the Bois Grandière, then settled at a closerie, today the farm of La Grandière. The family took possession of the present castle site from the 16th century; the entrance gatehouse dates from that century and the main dwelling from the 18th. The castle was listed as a monument historique in 1973.

The name comes from the La Grandière family, lords of Grez since Hamelin married Élisabeth de La Jaille in the 13th century; their eldest branch has lived here ever since. In the walled one-hectare vegetable garden the owner sows annuals in the greenhouse herself, replacing the former beds with a flower walk fed by 19th-century basins.

The castle is private and not open to visitors; the entrance gatehouse and moats are seen from the outside only. Access is from the chemin Roger de La Grandière, off the Sceaux-d'Anjou road about 1.7 km from Grez-Neuville centre, where the castle is signposted. The gate of the plane-tree avenue lies 1 km further on, to the left.

Jacques de La Grandière, the present owner, is the 34th generation of a line first recorded in 1150 on a feudal mound in the Grandière woods. The elder branch has held the seigneurie of Grez since Hamelin married Élisabeth de La Jaille in the 13th century.