10 leggettfrance.com
châteaux is that it has its very
own theatre. At one time the
family would entertain here,
but latterly it has become the
backdrop for family wedding
celebrations. Superbly painted,
its stage includes a trompe-l'oeil
centrepiece showing the formal
gardens that once surrounded
Château de Fayolle. As you
leave the theatre, a room allows
access to the side of the stage
itself. This area, which is backstage
and therefore not usually
for general view, is as perfectly
painted as the entire backdrop.
The theatre leads to the library,
complete with thousands
of books, which would be priceless
to replicate. Its marquetry-styled wooden
ceiling was
brought here from another family château. Each doorway on
the ground floor leads from one
enchanting room to another: a
large kitchen, extensive cellars,
and subterranean passages at
basement level. There are also a
number of exquisite bedrooms,
which were used by the family
until recent times.
On the first floor, more
glories await: from the family
museum on the upper gallery,
which opens onto the grand entry hall over
a stone balustrade,
to beautiful and historically
significant bedchambers.
Of these, Mme d'Assigny de
Fayolle's favourite overlooks
the front courtyard. Furniture,
mirrors, porcelain ornaments
and toile fabric abound in a
symphony of blues and whites.
Two demi-curtained beds, the
fabric hand-made and stitched,
fit the room's dimensions
perfectly.
In another bedchamber, the
walls are hung with the most
exquisite Chinoiserie paper,
specifically created for this
chamber in 1800. It is of such
historical importance that it was
detached and sent to New York
for exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art before being