Darricau estate

An ideal location

Situated on the shores of Lake Aureilhan, the Darricau estate extends over 50 hectares of forest and meadow.

9 km from the ocean, 3 km from Mimizan with its hypermarket and shops, Darricau is 1h20 from Bordeaux, the same from Biarritz or Hossegor, 1h from the Dune du Pilat and 35 minutes from Biscarosse.

An exceptional forest park

In addition to dozens of species of trees, some of which are several hundred years old, you’ll come across Bordeaux boletus and porcini mushrooms, roe deer, foxes, badgers, weasels, hedgehogs, squirrels, wild boar, hares, rabbits, pheasants, owls, cuckoos, finches, chickadees, sparrows, etc., as the seasons change.

The Darricau estate forest in autumn — Allée de Darricau in autumn

Darricau forest in winter — Allée de Darricau in winter

Allee de Darricau, towards Lac d'Aureilhan, in summer — Allée de Darricau in summer

An amazing story

In love with the area, the Duke of Westminster offered to lease Darricau to Roger Sargos, who declined. The Duke then decided to build Woolsack. Thereafter, the two men regularly visited each other in their respective homes.

When he came to Mimizan to stay with his friend the Duke of Westminster, Winston Churchill liked to set up his amateur painter’s easel in front of the dovecote or the cork oaks at Darricau, or simply to take a stroll.

Painting by Winston Churchill: The cork oaks of Darricau.
Oil on canvas — *Les vieux Chênes-lièges au lieu-dit Lavigne sur l’allée Darricau à Aureilhan*,
Winston Churchill, oil on canvas, 1930

Portrait of General Augustin Darricau — General Augustin Darricau – Oil on canvas, Sargos collection.

In 1823, Pierre Sargos l’aîné (1795-1862), great-grandfather of Roger Sargos, bought the Darricau estate from the widow of General Augustin Darricau. The estate included the former Darricau manor house, near which Pierre Sargos built the current château and its outbuildings, including the resin workshop.

Since then, the family of silviculturists has handed down the property and the large plots of maritime pine that once covered most of the village of Aureilhan.

Source : Wikipedia