Mirabel has been a witness to hundreds of years of history and against this backdrop, has its own story to tell. Of Musketeers, Enlightenment thinkers, miraculous legends and lost fortunes.
The power struggles and conquests of Romans, Saracens and Cathars, give way to a more peaceful and prosperous narrative with the emergence of Pastel and the region known as the Pays de Cocagne or the Land of Plenty is born.
Later, Puylaurens became an important Protestant stronghold in the Wars of Religion, and an influential family known as de Gineste no doubt played their part.
Follow the story of Mirabel through the people, places and moments that have shaped the estate over time.
In an almost unbroken line, from the 16th century until 1990, the de Gineste family owned Mirabel and its surrounding landscape. A prominent Protestant family, they built a fort on this site, alongside the two they already owned at Appelle and Lissertel.
In the early 1800s, under the ownership of King’s Musketeer Philippe de Latour De Jean, building commenced on the new Chateau Mirabel in the First Empire style.
His initials are seen today on the courtyard gates. Following in the wake of the French Revolution, perhaps this more modest and simple style of house was politically expedient at the time.
The Mirabel estate was extensive and included many neighbouring villages and hamlets.
Many families lived on the Mirabel estate, farming the land, producing vegetables from the garden, tending the orange trees from which a liquor was made, and ensuring the smooth running of the house for the de Gineste family.
By the twentieth century, the de Gineste family spent part of the year at their house in the 16th arrondissement of Paris and their summer months at Mirabel.
The last of the de Gineste family to live at Mirabel, Mademoiselle Gabrielle, is still remembered fondly today. In 1990, the house was put up for sale and its contents sold.
After periods of ownership by Swedish and German families, we purchased the house in 2024 and the process of renovation and renewal began.
Since moving here, we have been honoured to welcome many visitors to Mirabel, with treasured stories and photos of the past, and have begun to collate this information in the hope of piecing together the lost history of Mirabel.
Across the grounds, traces of Mirabel’s former life remain. Some are being restored, some are still being researched, and others survive through stories passed on by local people.
Accessed by the old Chemin de Fontaine, the ancient fountain was believed to hold miraculous healing qualities and promote fertility. People from Puylaurens and beyond would travel to drink the waters. During the landscaping of the parkland in the 1800s, an ornamental surround was added, but the original fountain is probably Medieval.
The Lavoir is currently under restoration and is situated by the stream. It originally had a roof and all of the washing from the chateau took place here. Some believe that before it was repurposed as a Lavoir, it marked the site of old Roman baths, situated just off the Voie Romaine.
We have been told that the de Gineste family were fascinated by scientific instruments and had an important library of rare scientific books. In the gardens of Mirabel, at the centre of a Buxus maze, there once sat a large polyhedron sundial with six square and eight triangular faces. When the house was sold, the sundial was saved by a local historian and donated to the museum in Lavaur in 2002, where it is still on display.
At the bottom of the hill, next to the Voie Romaine public footpath, water was once pumped up to the main house with the help of a diesel motor. When operating, it was said that the noise could be heard for miles.
The old walled garden, now the swimming pool area, once provided fruit, vegetables and cut flowers for the kitchen throughout the year.
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