Château de la Sauzaie, Historical castle in Saint-Xandre, France

Château de la Sauzaie stands at the end of a straight path lined with tall green hedges, entered through a black iron gate set between two square stone pillars with pyramidal caps. The pale stone building has a light-coloured facade, rows of rectangular windows and a dark roof, partly hidden by bare and autumn-coloured trees. It is located in Saint-Xandre, Charente-Maritime.

The castle served as Cardinal Richelieu's headquarters during the 1627 to 1628 siege of La Rochelle, where he coordinated military operations from its rooms. This period marked a turning point in the region's political control and power struggles.

The estate's name appears as La Sauzaie or La Sauzaye in records, and the land was first mentioned in 1363. In 1723 Renée-Françoise de Saint-Légier married Louis-François de Cacqueray de Valmenier in the castle chapel, which brought the property to the Cacqueray-Valmenier family. The château is now owned by the Cognac Godet company.

The château stands in Saint-Xandre, in Charente-Maritime, and is reached by a straight path between tall green hedges, through an open black iron gate set between two square stone pillars with pyramidal caps. The building is partly hidden by trees, so the gate and path are the main approach. The estate now belongs to the Cognac Godet company, and the château is only partly listed as a monument historique, so access to the interior is not guaranteed.

The property changed hands in 1462 through a royal exchange for a townhouse in Bordeaux, showing how valuable such estates were to the nobility. This unusual trade reveals the high regard in which these landholdings were held during medieval times.