At home with an ebullient gallerist-turned-chatelaine and entrepreneur in the Loire Valley

After a long career as a gallerist in the decorative arts, Flore de Brantes changed direction to become a rural entrepreneur: ‘I look after my farms, forests, and gardens, which boast over a thousand dahlias that are my pride and joy. I love making bouquets!’ Some of the outbuildings are rented out to Parisians looking for a weekend getaway 45 minutes from the capital, others are available on Airbnb for short stays, while the château itself is available to businesses as a venue for team-building sessions with a difference for their employees or clients.

Ambroise Tézenas

In order to do this, Flore de Brantes has been busily restoring this 18th-century manor house. The slate roof has been refurbished, and bathrooms and central heating have been installed: ‘I show my spanking new radiators off to my visitors with great pride; they leave my visitors cold, but they warm my heart. And in the winter it’s not just my heart!’ The Savonnerie carpets have been also cleaned and mended to go with the new curtains and wall coverings. Here and there a few pieces of a more recent vintage have sprung up, such as the 1950s metal palm trees. ‘The main thing is that nothing should look new: on no account must anyone think an interior designer had been anywhere near the place!’

Le Floreless cocktail

Invented by Colin Field at the Bar Hemingway, Ritz Paris, serves one

Ambroise Tézenas

• 2 ¾ tsp (40 ml) Pêche du Verger peach juice
• 4 tsp (20 ml) vodka
• Scant ½ cup (100 ml) champagne or Triple Zero from the Domaine de la Taille aux Loups
• Garden roses

1. Pour the peach juice and vodka into a cocktail shaker and add ice. Shake. Strain into a champagne flute.
2. Add the champagne or Triple Zero, pouring slowly to keep the fizz. Stir very gently.
3. Using a pin, attach a rose to the glass.
4. Drink while still very chilled.

Rhubarb and strawberry meringue pie

Serves four

Ambroise Tézenas

• ⅔ cup (2 ½ oz./75 g) flour
• ⅓ stick (1 ⅓ oz./35 g) butter
• 1 ½ tbsp water
• Pinch salt

• 1 cup (250 ml) light cream
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ tbsp sugar
• Heaped tbsp flour

• 1 lb. 2 oz. (500 g) rhubarb
• 7 oz. (200 g) strawberries

• 2 egg whites
• ⅓ cup (2 ½ oz./75 g) superfine sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400oF (180oC/Gas Mark 6). Peel the rhubarb and slice into small pieces.
2. To make the pastry, mix the flour and salt and rub in the butter, cut into small pieces, then use the heel of your hand to work the mixture. Add the water, knead lightly, and shape into a ball.
3. Roll out the pastry dough with a rolling pin. Line a tart pan with the pastry and prick the base with a fork.
4. To make the filling, whisk together the cream, egg, sugar, and flour in a bowl. Arrange the rhubarb pieces on the pastry and pour the mixture over.
5. Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool.
6. To make the meringue, beat the egg whites, gently folding in the sugar until they form stiff peaks.
7. Place the meringue mixture in a pastry bag and pipe rosettes on top of the tart.
8. Use a blowtorch to gently toast the meringue.
9. Hull the strawberries and arrange between the meringue rosettes.

This is an extract from ‘How They Entertain: At Home with the Tastemakers’ by Pierre Sauvage, published by Flammarion. Photographs © Ambroise Tézenas