The Château de la Motte-Husson is a Neo-Renaissance style château. From the 12th to 14th centuries, the site of the château was located within the parish of La Motte and was a fortified stronghold.
The castle was rebuilt in the enclosure of the old square moat in the 17th century. It consisted of a kitchen, cellar, 4 or 5 bedrooms per top, attic above, a chapel, a portal for a drawbridge, a bedroom on the said portal, a dovecote, on the whole, covered with slates, behind a small courtyard, ditches and moats around the courtyards, a kennel near the gate.
The current façade is reflective of the efforts of Countess Louise-Dorothée de Baglion de la Dufferie (1826–1902), who told her husband that she wanted a grand residence built on the site of the fort. The new structure would be flanked by two large towers, known as 'pepper shakers', and with a double-ramped staircase, five floors and 47 rooms with separate private suites for Master and Lady, with servant quarters on the second floor and attic space. The château is surrounded by the old square moat, with a walled garden, stable-block, an orangery, and 4.9 ha of parkland.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.