From a Tanner's Fortune to a Family Home: The Story of Château Lasfargues
Image courtesy of Sasa Adamovic
Château Lasfargues was built in 1861–1863 for Auguste Barsalou, a merchant in Agen, on the site of an older house that dated back to at least 1796. Since 2006, it's been the private family home of the Critchlows, who restored it and opened it to guests for vacation rentals, retreats, and intimate celebrations. Here's the fuller story.
A Hamlet Called Lasfargues
The 1796 embossed drainpipe, southern façade — close-up detail
Long before the château existed, Lasfargues was a small hamlet — now extinct, with only a handful of houses ever recorded on the site. Cadastral records from the turn of the 19th century show the estate belonged to Louis Barsalou, a master tanner working in nearby Agen.
The only physical trace of that earlier house survives today on a cast drainpipe on the southern façade, embossed with the date 1796 — presumably installed during Louis Barsalou's ownership. It's easy to miss unless you know to look for it, but it's the oldest dated feature on the entire property.
Auguste Barsalou's Château
The house standing today isn't the one from 1796. It was rebuilt from 1861 to 1863 for Auguste Barsalou, a merchant in Agen — likely a descendant or relative of Louis, though the exact family connection isn't recorded. The completion date is carved into the tympanum above the grand entrance, and the wrought iron gates at the front of the property still bear his monogram: two interlocked letters, "AB”.
The château was formally listed on France's Cultural Heritage inventory in 1998, recognising it as a building of architectural and historical significance — a Maison de Maître in the classic 19th-century style, built to project the success of a prosperous local merchant family.
Restoration and a New Chapter
A game of croquet on the front lawn in summer.
By the early 2000s, the château had passed through enough decades that it needed real restoration work — a project undertaken to bring the building back to a livable, elegant standard without stripping away its original character.
In 2006, the Critchlow family acquired Château Lasfargues, and it has been their family home ever since. Rather than keep it entirely private, they've opened it up: the château now hosts exclusive vacation rentals for families and groups, intimate celebrations of up to 35 guests, wellness and creative retreats, and select commercial photoshoots — all while remaining, at its core, a family home rather than a commercial hotel.
What the Château Is Today
Eight individually styled bedrooms are spread across three levels, blending the building's original 19th-century character with fresh, modern interiors. The grounds have grown alongside the restoration: a private lake, hazelnut orchards, a heated pool, and L'Orangerie and La Fontaine — two structures contemporary with the main house, now used as additional gathering spaces for guests.
More than 160 years after Auguste Barsalou first opened its doors, the château is still doing what it was arguably always built for — bringing people together under one roof in the Lot-et-Garonne.
Visit Château Lasfargues
See the full room-by-room details on Rooms & Amenities, read more about the property's history on our History page, or check current dates on Availability.
