In 1978, two years after they married, Alan and Laurence Geddes saw an advert in Le Figaro — three lines of text, no picture — for the Chateau de Mayragues, near Toulouse. When the couple visited from their home in London, the agent showed them a dozen properties. “It was by far the worst condition, the most intriguing and the furthest beyond our means,” says Alan Geddes.

Two years later they returned. The chateau was now even more dilapidated and, as a result, just within their budget. Alan, an accountant from Edinburgh, and Laurence, a French art curator, fancied the challenge. “We said: ‘why don’t we have a go at converting it.’?” Now, some 37 years later, the job is finally complete.

Alongside a London townhouse, a Manhattan loft and a chalet in the Alps, a French chateau has long merited a spot in the dream property portfolio. Owning one is not for the faint-hearted, as the Geddes’ four decades of labour testifies. But, with an array of such properties for sale for less than €1.5m, the French chateau may be the only option on the list that mere mortals can afford.