Jul 17, 2024

Our French restoration project is finally finished!

Some of you may know that I have a house out in the countryside in the North of France called La Bruyere, and that I let out on air B&B. When I go there myself it so far has mostly involved us doing a lot of DIY, and when that is done, there's always keeping up with garden maintenance! But I also have my own holidays there too when it's not booked up. :-) It seems to have become Hannah Turner world over there and it holds a really special place in my heart.

I'm writing this after just coming back from a wonderful time there with friends and family (10 of us managed to make it over!) and I thought I'd reflect on how having this space has had a hugely positive impact on my life and my work. Here's a picture of us all having fun playing boules on the driveway.

What makes La Bruyere great is that in this part of the country, brocantes and vide greniers (antique shops and car boot sales) are plentiful and I try to visit one every time I'm in France. I get there early to snap up the bargains, and I use what I find there to create a space in the house that reflects my individual taste. This is maybe a bit niche and not for everyone, I love a bit of granny chic or granny core as it's now called! Animal inspired art is my favourite and if I see anything like that at a car boot sale or brocante I often buy it if its cheap. I have a multitude of lamp bases that take the shapes of red squirrels and wild boars, alongside woodpecker door knockers and deer and owl ornaments all dotted about the place. I've got a penchant for french 60s tapestries which I've been collecting around the house and they're plentiful in these brocantes. See one featured below, hanging above the bed in the gîte attic bedroom. A beautiful tree full of birds, perfectly reflecting what is happening outside!

All of these feed into my work and inspire designs or new animals to create, but they also reflect the animals that we get in the garden and so I like to think that the house comes across as my interpretation of the whole surrounding area. The garden is now so full of flowers that I can make bouquets for every bedroom! Bringing the outside in is something that I hope I promote well through my work. The flying ducks were inspired by the mallards on our lake, and so far I've made red squirrels, wild boars, hedgehogs and now badgers- all things that I've seen scampering or running about the land.

We are doing what we can to increase the biodiversity in the garden and surrounding orchard and wilder land that we are lucky enough to own. Thank goodness rewilding is in, as we would never be able to keep it all manicured, nor would we want to. The areas closer to the house are all well-tended, and planted in a cottage garden style, with hardy perrenials. Then it gradually loosens as you move away, giving a nice blend into the French countryside, with all of the wildflowers and wildlife that it nurtures. We are also proud to be part of the LPO, a french bird conservation project, and have made a commitment to encourage biodiversity and do no harm.

Everything is organic, and the potager was established using no dig, (inspired by Charles Dowding of course!), using an assortment of old carpets and used cardboard boxes from our business to suppress the weeds. This week I was really excited to see the caterpillars of the swallowtail butterfly taking up residence in my Florence fennel, I don't mind losing a few fronds to these beauties, they are stunning!

As for wildlife, so far we have spotted or heard Turtle Doves, Golden Orioles, Green and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, Tawny Owls, and other better known more common birds. We have Stone Martens in one of the barns, Roe deer in the woods, evidence of wild boar, hares and red squirrels around the driveway, badgers in the woods, grass snakes around the potager, foxes in the orchard and maybe our most controversial and devisive of guests, midwife toads. They bleep at night and not everyone is so keen on them, but they are very small and cute!

Next to honour in clay will be a set of 3 flying woodpeckers for the wall. There's at least one that pecks at the eaves of the house and the birch trees opposite the kitchen window and i can only get a few glimpses of it here and there. I'm determined to immortalise them.

I get very torn when I have to leave La Bruyere as it is a very magical place that really makes my heart sing! The garden makes it enchanting and the sense of space in the main house is great for larger gatherings. Playing boules on the drive has given us hours of fun. I get very lost /engrossed in the gardening, having created a potager, and we now we benefit from fresh new potatoes, onions, Chard and herbs galore (who knew battered and fried sage leaves could taste so good?) so feeding a large number of people is pretty easy! The satisfaction of walking a short distance into the garden to pull up red onions for a meal is unsurpassed.

It goes without saying that Betty is in her element when here, with so much going on, and us being outdoors a lot of the time, she steals my lounger at every given opportunity!

So today I am back at my desk in Westwood, looking at my photos to do some social media (neglected) and reflecting on our holiday. The weather was 50% crap but we still had fun, and I'm already looking at ferry crossings back as we still have a few tasks to complete in the gite (the annexe on the property) to get it ready for bookings...

If you would ever like to stay at La Bruyere, you can find the main house here and the gite here. We've worked really hard to make it as magical a stay as possible and have received some absolutely lovely feedback from guests.

Our French restoration project is finally finished!

Leave a comment

You may also like

Currency