In the Occitanie region of southwestern France, sits is an 18th-century neoclassical château in the commune of Château-Verdun that is not unlike a magical castle from a Charles Perrault fairy tale. Cinderella could have definitely escaped to Chateau de Gudanes with her beloved prince to live happily ever after.   Chateau de Gudanes is built on the site of a 13th-century fortress, and a castle that was destroyed in 1580. A chateau was built by Parisian architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel between 1741-1750 for the Marquis Louis-Gaspard de Sales, during the reign of King Louis XV. He would hold lavish parties and invited all the notables of the day. Ange-Jacques himself designed the L’Opéra at the Château de Versailles, main theatre and opera house of the Palace of Versailles, and the École Militaire (military school). He had the support of Madame de Pompadour, official chief mistress of Louis XV. He also designed the royal residence of The Château de Compiègne for Louis XV as well as extended and transformed the Château de Choisy, also doing other major projects for the king. In the late 1990’s, after an English consortium failed to restore and convert Gudanes into a luxury hotel containing 17 apartments, it fell to ruin. Being classified as a “monument historique,” the developers were denied the required building permissions. It wasn’t until 2013 that two brave Western Australian souls, Craig Waters, a surgeon, & Karina his wife, a former corporate and tax accountant, managed to acquire the chateau after two years of bureaucratic negotiations. Documenting nearly 5 years of renovations on social media, Craig and Karina first discovered the chateau on a French property blog and immediately fell in love. They purchased the 43,000 square feet property for £280,000 after viewing the Chateau only once. “Despite all the damage we could already see that there was so much beauty there,” says Karina. They started the arduous journey of renovating in the November of 2013, which they say will likely be a “lifelong commitment”. Unlike the previous buyers, Craig and Karina only wish to restore Gudanes to its former glory: “As the restoration journey progresses it becomes clearer to us each day that we need to learn to slowly adapt ourselves to the château, rather than forcibly demand her to adapt to us.” When they first started, the roof had caved in several places and the walls were crumbling, blocking access areas in most of the chateau. All the other areas were inaccessible because of water damage. “All we could do was peek around the corners to…