Château du Fraisse, Castle in Nouic, France

Château du Fraisse is a castle in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region with a Renaissance core featuring an L-shaped floor plan and interior stair towers. The structure displays decorated doors with polychrome marble elements and represents a blend of construction phases spanning several centuries.

The castle was destroyed during the Hundred Years War and rebuilt around 1450 by James des Monstiers. The removal of its second floor in the 17th century reflects a long process of adapting the structure to changing needs.

The same family, first "des Monstiers" then "des Monstiers Mérinville", has lived here since the early 13th century and still occupies the château in 2020. The name Fraisse persists with them across more than eight centuries. Around 1890 Jean des Monstiers Mérinville and his second wife Mary Gwendoline Byrd Caldwell, heiress of a Louisville industrial family, restored the building.

The castle opens for visits during the summer season; the rest of the year it remains a private, inhabited monument. The building sits behind a grassy bank and a moat, with the taller wing projecting on the right and scaffolding visible at the far right edge. The estate also runs an organic-certified farm growing vegetables and field crops.

The same family, first "des Monstiers" then "des Monstiers Mérinville", has lived in the castle since the early 13th century and still did in 2020. The family tradition holds that the original residence was burned in September 1356 by the Black Prince's troops on the eve of the Battle of Poitiers.