My Chateau Is Your Chateau

After a decade spent restoring their late 18th century chateau in France’s Loire Valley, the Count and Countess de Genevraye have a problem: how to afford to keep the 12-bedroom manse in the family for another 200 years.

Patrick and Gianne de Genevraye could have solved it by opening the art- and antique-filled chateau in Anjou province to tourists. Instead they decided to host vacationers three times a year at their home, its gardens and 450 acres of forest for weeklong programs on French art and culture and an intimate experience of chateau life.

The fine arts program, May 7 to 14, features morning drawing and painting classes and afternoon visits to nearby chateaux, abbeys and museums. From July 30 to Aug. 6, the De Genevrayes will concentrate on music and wine, taking guests to concerts and Loire Valley wineries. During the Thanksgiving hunting program, Nov. 19 to 26, participants will enjoy the panoply and excitement of the hunt--la chasse a courre--practiced for centuries by French aristocrats, with strict protocols, horn music, costumed riders and specially bred tricolor hounds.

Guests will stay in chambers with canopy beds, fireplaces, heirloom prints and paintings, sumptuous fabrics and tapestries, not unlike the style at the vaunted Relais & Chateaux hotel chain. But this is a home, not a hostelry: There are two romping golden retrievers, a passageway stocked with rubber boots (in various sizes) for walking expeditions and a country kitchen where breakfast is a self-serve affair. The idea, says the countess, is for guests to live as she and her husband do when visiting from Paris for the weekend.

Patrick, a retired French oil company executive, will serve wine from his 2,200-bottle cave. Gianne, an artist originally from the L.A. area who is writing a book about the art of entertaining, will cook elaborate French dinners, served on fine china in the elegant dining room. Between program sessions, guests will have time for fishing in the river that meanders across the property, bike riding, golf and more Loire Valley touring.

The price for each program is $4,250 per person, double occupancy. Think of it as a seven-night house party, and don’t invite Robespierre.

The Vie de Chateau, 011-33-1-46-37-48-18, www.the-vie-de-chateau.com, or e-mail chateau-events@the-vie-de-chateau.com.