The castle of Château Arnoux, not far from Digne-les-Bains, was built in 1510-1515 by Pierre di Glandeves.
The park of Château Arnoux Castle, in the Moyenne-Durance, owes its attractiveness to the woods rising above the pleasant tranquility of the town and the castle itself. The studied botanical population introduces black pines and other appropriate species into the spontaneous vegetation of the oak groves.
Three lifetime annuities dated 1610, 1660 and 1662 detail the inventory of the property, composed of the castle (with chapel and prison), mill for oil and grain, farmstead (Font-Robert), stable, courtyard, dovecote, bread oven, fields, cultivable lands, vineyards, fruit orchards, vegetable garden and woods. The land registry of 1810 shows that the property extended over various areas of the town. The surroundings of the castle had a wooded uncultivated slope, a vineyard, a field, cultivations, a mill, a game preserve and the Font-Robert farmstead with its vegetable garden.
The care that was put into the construction of the castle leads us to believe that Pierre de Glandeves and his wife, from a large and wealthy family, appreciated the Renaissance style.
The park extends north of the castle on 6.5 hectares and includes a wooded slope bordered by a path overlooking a large terrace. At the northern end there is spring in a clearing, while to the south a courtyard provides a passageway between the castle and the park.
The site is at once a highly regarded place for taking walks and a popular pedestrian passageway between neighbourhoods. In both cases, the wooded path is the one that is used most.
The stroll as far as Font Robert, in the refreshing shade, carries one back to the days when time had an incredibly different value than it has today. So why not pause at the bowling club one evening to recall the relaxing provincial atmospheres of the past?