Dream home: Sass and Bide's Heidi Middleton has listed her stunning French chateau

Ever dreamed of owning your own French Chateau? How about one lovingly reinvented by a member of Australia’s fashion royalty?

You’re in luck – former Sass and Bide designer Heidi Middleton has listed her property in the village of Saint Christoly de Medoc and it’s an absolute stunner.

Featured in many magazine spreads, the two-storey manse is priced at €900,000 – or $1.42 million –  which isn’t too bad by Sydney standards.

The home dates back to 1836 when it was originally built for a doctor, before being held by a family of winemakers for many generations.

With four bedrooms, 3.5-metre ceilings, a modern kitchen with walk-in pantry, salon and sitting room, 13-metre heated swimming pool and pebbled courtyard, you’ve got plenty of room to swan about and make your friends very, very jealous. As well as host them when they definitely decide to visit.

Aside from the literal castle, the lucky buyer will also get three hectares of land with a fruit orchard and a small vineyard.  It’s just over an hour’s drive to the city of Bordeaux, surrounded by famous wineries, and about 15 minutes to the nearest beach.

Middleton started label Sass & Bide with friend Sarah-Jane Clarke back in 1999, selling custom jeans at Portobello Road Markets in the late 1990s. They then returned to Sydney and debuted their first collection at Australian Fashion week in 2001.

The pair moved on from the company in 2014, with Myer having taken full ownership of the brand in 2013.

Having already relocated to Paris, Middleton snapped up the property in 2016 and set about renovating and reimagining it, working with local tradesmen while living in the home with her two daughters.

She told Harpers Bazaar in August 2017 she had first seen the property after having lunch with her family at the home of a nearby friend – blogger Mimi Thorisson – and despite the dreary weather, the chateau “captured their hearts”. 

She has now returned to Australia and embarked on a new creative project – ARTCLUB – based in Sydney’s south. The design and retail platform acts as a creative space, and she describes it as “a new model on my own terms”. It features paintings and original and vintage fashion pieces, with the only point of sale being online.

Her former Sass & Bide partner Clarke listed her Vaucluse home in 2015, and launched her own Sydney-based travel-focused fashion label in 2018.