A family story

The Du Lau Family

We are at the beginning of the reign of Charles VII, it is the Hundred Years War and its repercussions on the population of the Perigord countryside result in a significant demographic recession. It was in this context that Arnal de Laudibus, originally from Béarn, arrived in La Côte in 1423. He founded the castle there, or rather a fortified house surrounded by ramparts. In 1498 an act attests to the castle chapel.

The Du Lau family (we have to wait until the first half of the 16th century to see surnames Frenchified), provides distinguished men in letters, in the army and in the church who have honored the old house. One of the most illustrious was the son of "high and powerful sir Armand Du LAU, knight lord count Du LAU and Dame Françoise De SALLETON": Jean-Marie Du LAU the future Archbishop of Arles.

Born at the Château de La Côte on October 30, 1738, he completed his studies in Paris at the Royal College of Navarre under the eyes of his uncle Father Jean Du LAU, parish priest of Saint-Sulpice. In 1770 the ecclesiastical province of Vienna appointed him to be general agent of the clergy. In this difficult position, where he was called upon to discuss the interests of the Church in the King's Council, he displayed a rare capacity and talents, which earned him the confidence of the first order of the State. Also Louis XVI did not hesitate to appoint him in 1775, to the archdiocese of Arles. At the news of this appointment, the municipality of Périgueux hastened to send this illustrious compatriot a letter of congratulations. In 1789 he was commissioned by his diocesan to defend the cause of God and the Church at the Estates General of Versailles. So many virtues and talents could not preserve him from revolutionary fury: he fell, like a soldier, in the Carmelite church in Paris, under the pikes of the septembriseurs on Sunday September 2, 1792 among the 115 other victims. He will be beatified by Pope PIE XI in 1926.

Pierre MAZIERE

The Dethan Family

In 1847, for lack of direct heirs, the Château de la Côte was almost ruined, the land managed from Paris was no longer profitable. The Marquis du Lau decides to sell. It was done in 1867 by the honorable Dethan family, who, having made their fortune in the cotton and wheat trade across the Atlantic, decided to invest in Périgord. Jean Edouard Dethan undertook considerable works and improvements to make the château more comfortable.

“Since the end of the 19th century there can no longer be any question of ramparts. Large windows open onto nature and the interior streams of light. What strikes the visitor is the sovereign order that reigns over the architecture, punctuated by towers varying their slate cutouts against the sky. The vast building was richly restored from 1868 to 1870, under the skilful direction of Mr Dubet, an architect in Périgueux: the quadrangle with an interior courtyard was replaced by two square main buildings flanked by two corbelled turrets, three round towers, and also , at the interior hinge of a fourth, opening on the main door into a well sheltered and sunny arrival courtyard. »

When his father died in 1867, Charles Georges Dethan was only nine years old. In 1887 he moved to La Côte with his wife and took over the management of the estate. "While taking up certain ideas of his father, particularly with regard to the vineyard, Georges will place himself in a new line, starting by abandoning traditional polyculture. His methods of exploitation will be both more modern and more scientific, as the spirit of the time demands: he will present them at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900." He will receive the Knight's Cross of the Legion of honor. (Cécile Vigier- Glangeaud- Agricultural and social progress in Périgord- 1987). Georges Dethan died in 1942, leaving behind him an estate without a buyer. The Château de la Côte is once again in turmoil.

The Guillaume family

Michel and Régine Guillaume acquired the castle and its grounds in 1956. “I discovered it during my honeymoon. Originally from Champagne, I was looking for a property between Périgord, Auvergne or Arles. The Château de la Côte immediately seduced me. »
ITPA engineer, farmer for many years, Michel Guillaume will give back to the lands of the estate their vocation of breeding and polyculture. Agriculture is dying. In 1989, he decided to transform the castle into a hotel restaurant while preserving the well-ordered architecture and the nobility of the buildings of this place steeped in history.
Today, Messrs. Michel and Olivier Guillaume perpetuate the tradition and values of old French residences, reconciling traditional art of living, service and modern comfort.

Catherine Laurent