subject: Country House Terms In The Uk [print this page] . Although, along with castillo in Spain, the words are usually used as translations for each other, and are derived from the same Latin root, they refer to different types of property altogether.
An English Castles are very specific types of building built as a fortified residence for a feudal lord. These castles are large in size and is usually instantly recognisable by its crenellated towers. A French chateau is not simply a castle in France. Although French chateau is the literal translation for English castle, the term is in fact applied far more widely, and can in practice mean any old or grand country house. In the French language the term chateau fort is used for what we would think of as a medieval castle. The term chateau is used specifically for a grand country residence.
As far as someone looking for a Country House Holidays is concerned, the significant difference is less likely to be social, historical or architectural, interesting though those aspects are, but one of price. A bona fide castle for rent in England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland is likely to cost upwards of twenty thousand pounds for a weeks exclusive use, whereas you can hire a chateau in France for as little as 3,000 euros per week, although it is likely to be what would be called in England a country house or even a farmhouse.
Understanding that medieval castles were a fortified stronghold of a local Lord, they also reflect the authority and power of that Lord. They vary in size dramatically from small fortified farm buildings to vast structures demonstrating power and authority. Just as these lords were evenly distributed all over the British Isles and France, so too were the seats and symbols of their power. Yet very few of these genuinely medieval buildings survive, and the vast majority of castles, chateaux and country houses for renting date from the 17th and 18th centuries, and occasionally even later.
