Its builder, Jean-Jacques Lefranc de Pompignan is renowned as an Enlightenment figure, and he created on the hillside rising up behind the chateau an extensive landscape garden with follies, which has remained largely untouched since the early 19th century.

Today the chateau, in private hands, houses a very large collection of keyboard instruments, and serves as a venue for concerts and musical events.

As of January 2011, a decision to route the proposed new TGV line from Bordeaux to Toulouse[4][5] at the edge of the village and through the grounds of the chateau is being publicly debated.

This would leave the existing line near St Jory, about 10 km (6.2 mi) south of the point it is now due to make the eastward turn and 100 m (330 ft) climb from the valley floor to the plateau above, and rejoin the proposed route just after Pompignan, but above it and out of sight.

However, the proposals advocated by USV, essentially running the tracks close to the existing A62 motorway (which mounts the scarp at a shallower angle some 10 km (6.2 mi) south of Pompignan), merit study in more depth before a decision can be made.