Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes1/14Fall settles in at the Château.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes2/14For the past two months we have been cleaning the terraces, which surround the Château on all sides. Three hundred years of sand, dust, and rubble have been removed, allowing the original walls to be exposed.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes3/14The walls needed rebuilding in many places, and reclaimed stones have been used. This wall has been restored to its original height.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes4/14This postcard is dated 1896. I found it at the local village vide-grenier (yard sale). The same stallholder also had 30 postcards of the Château photographed in the ’20s. Naturally, I bought all 30.
I often come across postcards of the Château in antique shops or brocantes that had been sent to someone years ago. It is always a beautiful moment reading the message on the back, such as “Before we reached Les Cabannes, the scenery is very pretty—or rather, I should say, very fine. We passed a handsome château, on a height to our right: It was built about 200 years ago.”
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes5/14Olive, a regular Château guest, claims her spot.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes6/14These two pieces were gifted to the Château by a family from a nearby village. The bowl on the left is a French Faience barber’s bowl. The tureen on the right is also 18th-century Faience pottery, with a few chips and scratches in keeping with its age.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes7/14This 18th-century bed was found at a local brocante, as were the tapestry chairs. We were deciding on where to set up beds for the Romanian stonemasons living on-site for the next few weeks. In the end they decided to pitch a tent in one of the bedrooms, preferring something smaller and warmer!
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes8/14A look at one of the upstairs bedrooms with a “new”—circa 1800s—chair.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes9/14Indigenous, stout, sure-footed Cheval de Mérens have returned after spending summer high in the mountains and boldly resume their regal position.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes10/14Brahman’s Home asked if it could photograph its newly launched furniture pieces at the Château. They arrived in an oversize semitrailer that wouldn’t fit through the gates . . . we had to call upon a local farmer and his green John Deere tractor to carry all of the furniture from the gate to the Château front door. It was a couple of crazy days, with everyone running around with walkie-talkies and headsets, getting lost inside the Château and queuing up for the one toilet.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes11/14Modern pieces of furniture from Brahman’s Home were draped and dressed in our timeworn salons.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes12/14Recently, I showed a Renaissance history professor around, and she showed me so many details, like painted angels and tulips on painted beams. She also explained that the green wallpaper was probably one of the last examples of this type of hand-painted paper still existing on the walls today. The emerald green color was often achieved using arsenic.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes13/14Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with an artisanal wallpaper house in Paris—Antoinette Poisson. It specialize in 18th-century wallpaper reconstruction and conservation.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes14/14Some of the wallpaper from Antoinette Poisson. At this point, restoring the Château wallpapers is but a future dream.
