The news broke in France at the beginning of May that the British businessman behind the Halcyon Golf and Spa Retreat in Creuse, central France, had been arrested in Spain on suspicion of fraud and money laundering. His business partner in the holiday venture, based at Château de la Cazine in the village of Noth, is still being sought. The French fraud squad, assisted by Europol, estimates that €16 million of funds from investors has been funnelled into offshore bank accounts. Much of the investment
came not from large firms but from private individuals, many of them British, who had lump sums to invest and wanted to get involved in the ambitious project – which involved renovating the 18th-century château and building a golf course, spa and private cabins in the grounds. Mikael Bellec, 48, is a French national who spent most of his career working in the UK, but is now back in France and living near Caen. He told The Local: “I had invested €59,000 in the château
with a supposed return of eight percent and the option for a buy-back – and that money was supposed to finance my cooking business. “I feel I have been left with nothing – all my hopes and dreams shattered and everything turned to shit. “I have no pension in France, because I worked abroad almost all my life, so I have not paid into the French pension system, and although I had a pension pot in the UK that was administered by a private firm,
which lost around €40,000, so now I have nothing. “The plan was to set up the cooking business to give me some income now and also provide me with a retirement. I’m absolutely gutted, this is a huge sum of money for me – I’m not someone who is made of money.” He is just one of hundreds of investors who are left looking for answers – and their money back. Although French investigators are still trying to piece together exactly what happened, investors have
described being sold either part-shares or timeshares in either the château itself or the yet-to-be-built private holiday cabins from 2016 onwards. Glossy brochures produced by the firm show a large resort with small dwellings dotted through the woods around the château, which had previously been operating as a hotel with a fine-dining restaurant. They were promised a combination of investment income, rental income or the opportunity to own outright part of the resort – all sweetened by free stays at the château while building work
was ongoing. Many described being treated to free stays at the château and dinner in the restaurant as part of the sales pitch. But by 2021, most people were no longer receiving money and couldn’t get in contact with the company, with the exception of sporadic emails or newsletters. The local newspaper La Montagne reports that from 2023, the château was closed, with virtually no building work ever done on the supposed golf course, spa or holiday cabins. In 2025, the estate was seized by
the French property recovery agency over unpaid salaries to workers and unpaid taxes and social contributions – although the company was still advertising for investors. In 2026, the French fraud squad and Europol began to investigate and travelled to London and Marbella in Spain before the arrest warrants were issued at the start of May. The British businessman, named in French media as Robin Barrasford, is now in custody in Spain awaiting extradition back to France. Rich and Kate Ealing were among the investors who
lost out. The couple, who have lived in Normandy for almost 20 years and run a business helping second-home owners look after their French properties, put €45,000 into the project, including a divorce settlement from Mrs Ealing. Mr Ealing said: “My wife had this bit of money, and we wanted to invest it in something that would give a better return than bank interest – but also something a bit interesting that would allow us to explore a different area of France, so this seemed
perfect as they were offering use of the property as part of the deal. “We went down to Creuse in 2017 and we visited the château, which at that time was up and running as a hotel with a restaurant, we stayed in the rooms, were treated to dinner in what was then the Michelin-starred restaurant, so we could see it was a real business. “We initially invested €30,000 for a room in the château, it wasn’t a timeshare, it was part ownership – we
could use it for a few weeks of the year and the rest of the time we would get rental income, and the thing that really attracted us was a guaranteed buy-back so that we could sell it back to them if we wanted to. “When we were there, they told us about the development of the golf resort and the building of the extra chalets, and we invested a further €15,000 in those – and that was on an investment basis. “We did get
an investment return for the first year but then it stopped – so we decided to exercise our buy-back option, and that’s when the problems started. “First they told us that we had to give one year’s notice, and after a lot of back and forth, we did that, but then after that, Brexit happened and then Covid happened, it was just a lot of excuses for why they wouldn’t buy it back, but at first, they seemed quite plausible.” Like other investors, the couple
soon found that the company had stopped responding to queries, and they were unable to sell back their room. He added: “Sometimes we’d get a little bit of investment income, say €200, and a few times Alan Bird, one of the directors, contacted us to tell us not to post anything on social media – we were in a dilemma because we wanted to protect the company and our income.” Like the other investors, the next thing they heard was news reports of the arrest.
“We understand that it was an investment that involved taking a chance, but we were mis-sold and given false information, especially about the buy-back option, which we believed we had. “We’re not professional investors, so that amount of money is not something that we can afford to lose, and it’s especially upsetting for my wife because most of it was her money.” Liz Lemon, 59, lives in Eastbourne in the UK and had hoped that the château project would provide a combination of an investment
and place to visit, especially during her retirement. She said: “We first saw adverts online for the scheme in 2021 and we contacted them and received a lot of information about the plans for the golf resort and the spa, and it all seemed lovely. “But because that was during Covid we couldn’t go and visit, so we put the plans on hold and then they came back to us in February 2022 and we visited – the place was lovely and we stayed in
the château, we were well looked after and there were other potential investors there plus a sales lady who talked us through their plans and answered all our questions and it all looked great. “We invested €82,000 and that was enough for a half share of one of the new properties they were building in the château grounds – the idea was that rental income would eventually be used to purchase the other half so that within 10 years we would own it outright, but
in the meantime, we had four weeks a year free use. “We went in the summer of 2022 and we stayed there, it was great, we explored the surrounding area, visited the villages, hired bikes, it was a very beautiful place – we are golfers, so we were keen for the golf course to be built and the spa. “The idea was that this would be a place for us to visit regularly, especially once we retired, we know France a bit so we felt
comfortable there and it’s easy to get to. It was an investment but really it was for us to have a place to go and visit and spend time, and eventually an asset to pass down to our son. “Then we tried to book again for the summer of 2023 and were met with excuses about why we couldn’t, they said the château was closed for refurbishment and then they just went dark and stopped responding to us, so that’s when I knew that something
was wrong.” Like the other investors, the couple soon found that the company had gone dark and was no longer responding to their enquiries, although they did receive an occasional email or newsletter for investors – until the arrest. She said: “We’ve instructed a solicitor but I don’t know whether we will get any money back – we felt we had asked all the right questions and we got so much information. We had visited the site in person so we knew it was real
and the investment return they were offering wasn’t ridiculous, it was about eight percent, so there was nothing to raise our suspicions. “But we’ve been scammed and our plans for our retirement are all gone.”
Halcyon Golf and Spa Retreat, Château de la Cazine, Noth, Creuse, fraud, money laundering, Europol, French fraud squad, Robin Barrasford, investors, timeshares, part-shares, buy-back option