Tea at Trianon: Buying a Château

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Buying a Château

A young couple purchases a crumbing château. To quote:

Since work began, everything started to get a little bit more interesting. Karina regularly updates the château’s official blog and social networking pages with snapshots of the progress, thanks to a building team of six, who are working around the clock to bring this sleeping beauty back to life.

While her husband Craig has returned to Australia to look after the children and continue working (they’re going to need plenty more of those Aussie dollars), Karina has been left in charge. Her fears and triumphs as an ex-pat in a rural French village trying to manage this monumental project are all delightfully unfolding on the blog too.

Château de Gudanes’ hidden treasures are constantly being discovered during the renovation process, with original details and century-old paintwork being uncovered at every turn. Karina constantly finds herself going through the discarded piles of rubble being accumulated on the front lawn, looking for anything to recycle as the house undergoes repairs and reinforcements. (Read more.)