Urban Exploration - The Snail Castle

We received photos from a traveler and compiled them into a historical summary.

Coming from southern Ardèche, this place felt completely out of the way for me. Good grief, it is isolated—and so far... I spent a very welcoming night at the village's small campsite, enjoying a remarkably pleasant stay under the stars. The local municipality offers showers and electricity for an incredibly modest price; honestly, my thanks to them.

When I arrive on-site, I know I am in the middle of nowhere. I am there very, very early in the morning. A farmer is constantly going back and forth with hay bales, if I remember correctly; it’s safe to say he immediately understood every detail of what I was doing there. Peuchère, that is not good news.

Is it a castle, or a manor? The building is very wide, flanked by towers at each end, yet it is ridiculously narrow. Consequently, it isn't actually that large. The facade is truly beautiful, totally engulfed by lush vegetation.

Inside, the low morning light causes me massive difficulties. It makes things nearly unmanageable, and I’m kicking myself a little for it; no matter, I'm committed now and have to make do.

The interior of the castle is relatively mundane and shows no ceremonial rooms crowned with great splendor. On the contrary, it is rather modest. Furniture is scattered about, but consistent reports suggest these were merely staged by urbexers. The abandonment reportedly dates back to 2010, and the Spanish owner has supposedly not set foot there since.

As you can imagine, without heating and with some windows left open, the manor is suffering from a truly devouring humidity. Some bedrooms are in a state of outright distress. As for the chapel located at one end, despite efforts that could be described as "doing my best," the backlighting got the better of my photos.

The name of this castle comes from the fact that, once upon a time, two wooden snails were fixed onto a mantelpiece—as if they were bookends, though they were purely decorative. They have since been stolen.

In the kitchen, food items with Spanish names and ingredients remain. Is the owner, Joaquin P., the famous rugby player? Or just a namesake? Honestly, I can't say more on that today. Regardless, the most plausible hypothesis is discouragement or a lack of funds in the face of such extensive repairs. Now it stagnates in abandonment, and there is a lingering feeling that this will last for a long time to come.