Location

2 kilometres west of Azay-le-Rideau, we enter Islette through a gate dating from 1638 positioned between two square turrets.

The Château is positioned on the left bank of the river Indre, a bridge crosses to the principal part, revealing an ancient mill by the water. In the past people came to the mill to grind their wheat in exchange for a tax paid to the lord.


The name « Islette » (small island) of course evoques the presence of water, an element you can’t dissociate from the beauty of the place, that’s also reflected in the stones, the foliage and the sky.

The Chateau

The main building is a long rectangle block with three floors and two impressive towers at each end. The architecture of the castle and its water location are reminiscent of Château d’Azay-Le–Rideau.

The same workers who built the Château d’Azay worked on Château de l'Islette.

The construction of the Château was finished in 1530.

The two Château have similar facades, two rows of friezes between each level, mullioned windows decorated by a volute in the center of the lintel, with identical proportions as the Château Azay-le-Rideau, they also share the same walkway around the battlements above the machicolations (murder holes).

The similarities were even stronger before the beginning of the 19th century, when, probably for financial reasons, the moat was blocked up, the gables above the windows removed and the towers shortened.

The main door, used to be a drawbridge, and still has the groove marks, and above is a relief finely sculpted, representing the coat of arms of the Barjot de Roncée family held by two Renaissance angels.

On the ground floor of the East Tower, in the chapel with the ogee arches, some paintings with scattered stars can be found.

After passing through the Guard’s room, we reach a wide stoned circular staircase which leads to the first level, « Prestigious Floor», then on up to the higher floors and more particularly the attic with its roof shaped like the up side down hull of a ship.

The current owners of the castle live here, and have set it up it as a living space.

The Main Living Room

On the first floor is the Main Living Room (14 m long by 8 m wide) which has  some amazing pictorial decorations from the beginning of the 17th century.

The decorations cover the ceiling, one of the beams is decorated with elegant flower arrangements and country scenes as well as the huge fireplace.

On the top of the wall is a frieze which represents the union between the Carman and the Maillé families, there is also an inscription near the fireplace with the words :
« Here you find the engagement rings of the Carman lords from the period of François Léon, the youngest son of the Count of Léon, who married Béatrix, heiress of the Carman family. As a result he took the name of the Carmen family and their coat of arms, and shared the title of Lord with his brother. They both went on to became Counts . »