The pink granite chateau that the Cointreau family built in the Loire Valley is for sale at £3.5 million

In 1857, a pair of brothers named Adolphe and Édouard-Jean Cointreau were wondering what to do with their growing business. It had been running nicely since 1849, and profits were up when they diversified out of confectionery and started making traditional Guignolet — a type of cherry brandy — but they felt they needed something new, and began tinkering with recipes. Strawberry, plum and orange were all tried, and they began to enjoy success, even winning an award, but things were relatively modest.

18 years later in 1875, Édouard-Jean's son, Édouard, took on the family business, and he and his wife Louisa believed they were sitting on a goldmine with the orange liqueur in particular. They spent years refining and perfecting the recipe — full of flavour, yet not cloyingly sweet — and expanding their team, as well as designing the beautiful square bottle that's was as distinctive and recognisable then as it is today. Cointreau was born.

The rest is alcoholic history, a drink that's a true household name and not quite like anything else on the market (the production process has remained a closely-guarded secret for 140 years). With success came money, and with money came the chance to build a lovely great chateau in the Loire Valley, the brainchild of Louis Cointreau, son of Édouard.

That chateau is now on the market via John D. Wood with an asking price of €3.99 million — or around £3.5 million — which seems rather reasonable-sounding for a palatial 10,000sq ft, 12-bedroom country house that was totally refurbished in 2018 by the sixth generation of the Cointreau family.

If you're wondering about the chateau's stonework — which is markedly different from the traditional smooth white stone of most chateaux of a similar size — it's because the place is made from pink granite, supplemented by a mix of Anjou schist (a type of metamorphic rock) and reinforced concrete, which at the time of the building's construction in 1928-32 was still a new material. The net result is a striking house, set in an elevated spot which offers wonderful views across the 500 acres of the Boudré Forest.

The interior is just as grand as the exterior — possibly even more so. A marble entrance hall opens to a grand salon, with a vintage C. Bechstein piano, a stately dining room and a smoking lounge (this is France, after all).

The bedrooms on the floors above are all themed, retaining their period character and style, and on the top floor you'll find an artist’s studio, where works by the poster artist Jean-Adrien Mercier — a relative of the Cointreaus — adorn the walls.

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While it's a family home, the chateau also feels very much like a place to entertain, from the dining table that seats 24 to the.

There is a beautiful orangery that's big enough to throw a party with 120 of your closest friends. And for the special few at the end of the night, you can invite them down into the wine cellar which has been turned into a tasting room.

What better place to concoct your very own new flavour of liqueur with which to take over the world?

The Cointreau family property in Anjou is for sale at €3.99 million — see more details.