Château de Béthune, Medieval castle in La Chapelle-d'Angillon, France.

Château de Béthune stands at the southern edge of La Chapelle-d'Angillon, on the left bank of the Petite Sauldre where it feeds the castle pond. Its oldest part is a massive keep, one of the oldest in the Cher département, with cross-mullioned windows and a stair turret added around 1470. A long Renaissance wing with a chapel was built on the north side, and a gallery was added to the west wing between 1528 and 1545. The photograph shows a tall wall of rough grey stone and patchy render under a dark slate roof, with red-framed windows, a round tower with a conical slate roof, and a blue and yellow flag on a pole.

The castle was built in the 11th century for Gilon de Sully and underwent major transformations between 1470 and 1607 under Marie d'Albret and Maximilien de Béthune. These changes shaped its present form and added new architectural elements.

The castle's outbuilding holds a small museum recalling Alain-Fournier, the writer born in La Chapelle-d'Angillon in 1886, who drew on his childhood here for his novel Le Grand Meaulnes. The château itself is a private family home, opened to visitors by Claude Coursier, daughter of the diplomat Henri Coursier who restored it from 1961.

Visitors should check accessibility since some interior areas have narrow stairs and uneven floors due to the building's age. Warm clothing is advisable as the thick walls keep the interior cool, especially in the higher levels of the keep.

The castle's donjon is among the oldest in the Cher département, and the site is counted in the wider circle of Loire châteaux. The writer Alain-Fournier was born in La Chapelle-d'Angillon in 1886, and a small museum in an outbuilding recalls him and his novel Le Grand Meaulnes.