Château Belgrave

I located the gateway to Château Belgrave, which sits just off the D101 which runs west out of St Julien, without any great difficulty. Having parked my hire car near the entrance, marked by six diminutive stone posts strung together with chain on the south side of the road, I wandered down the driveway of grey-white gravel in order to take a look at the vineyard and château. The driveway is not a short one, being perhaps 400 metres long, the château (pictured below) at the end positioned slightly off to one side, and completely obscured from view by the many trees that grace this corner of the estate. Running alongside the driveway, a few metres to one side, is a stream which separates the Belgrave estate from that of Château Lagrange, which sits directly to the east, on the other side of a small copse of trees. The stream runs south and eventually empties into the Jalle du Nord and then in turn into the Chenal du Milieu, one of the Médoc’s most significant drainage ditches. The chenal drains directly into the Gironde, its course marking the boundary that separates the vineyards of St Julien to the north – the aforementioned Lagrange as well as Gruaud-Larose and Beychevelle – from those of the Haut-Médoc to the south.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of movement in the grass. There in the distance, surely spooked by my approach, quickly scurrying towards the stream, were a group of large, otter-like creatures. Except they weren’t otters; the bodies were the wrong shape, and the tail completely wrong, thin and strap-like rather than the strong, muscular tail of an otter. Curious, I tried to catch up to investigate, but the creatures slid from view into the stream. As I reached the watercourse I peered over the edge; there was, of course, no sign of them.

Had I imagined it, I wondered?

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