An unloved château revived with exuberant colour, pattern and texture
Not every idea conjured up over a boozy lunch turns out to be a winner. But it does happen, such as when the antiques dealer James Jackson and his husband Andrew Bottrill decided to buy a house in France 20 years ago. If this was a case of divine inspiration, it was Bacchanalian by nature.
The couple had been visiting the holiday home of James’s parents in the Dordogne when the idea took hold. ‘We had absolutely no need or desire for a house in France,’ Jim (as James is known) recalls. ‘We could use my parents’ one whenever we wanted.’
It was 2001 and the couple were living in west London. Jim had just bought a building on Lillie Road, SW6, where his antiques business James Jackson is still based. Andrew’s father had died earlier that year and, as is often the case, an inheritance came with a heightened sense of mortality. ‘I was working in banking and not very happy. I thought there must be more to life,’ he says. Jim continues, ‘We found ourselves at a juncture where we had some money, enough energy and the right amount of naivety. It’s a combination you need for a project like this.’ While they had renovated houses in the past, they were not completely prepared for the amount of work facing them when they bought a seen- better-days chateau on the edge of a small village in the Périgord.
Not a huge amount is known about the history of the house, which was built in 1873 and could be described as Renaissance Revival in style. The Germans occupied it during the Second World War and some of the elderly villagers have memories of tanks on the lawn. Nothing of the original interiors survived, although it seems the soldiers had not acquired a taste for the local eau de vie, as there remained a few pre-war bottles in the cellar. After the war, the French state took charge and quickly sold the estate to the family from whom Jim and Andrew would eventually buy it.
As you enter the village, it comes into view on the left, set back from the road behind railings and an ornamental lake. Its three floors (plus cellar) are arranged symmetrically around the main entrance, which is accessed by an elegant, two-sided perron (external staircase). Conical turrets on either side of the front elevation give it the feel of a fairy tale. According to Andrew, however, it is a case of ‘fur coat, no knickers’ – while the chateau is imposing from the front, it is just two rooms deep. The bourgeoisie of the 19th century knew a thing or two about putting on a façade.
MAY WE SUGGEST: A manor house with a sense of history, rooted in the southern French countryside
And what of the interiors? ‘It was perfectly clean and habitable,’ Jim says diplomatically. Yet three years of hard graft ensued, turning a 12-bedroom dwelling with one functioning loo into a house with four bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms on the first floor and a further four bedrooms on the second floor, which share two bathrooms. Work they could not do themselves was done by local tradesmen, some of whom had worked on earlier renovations for the previous owners. ‘It was enormously challenging, with neither of us having even GCSE French,’ Andrew explains, although Jim says he picked up ‘builder’s French’ quite quickly. Friends and family were also enlisted to help. Jim’s mother made loose covers for furniture, while his uncle was highly skilled at hanging fabric on walls.
Key to the process was Christopher Moore, so revered as a toile de Jouy specialist that his business is called The Toileman. You could say it was he who supplied the ‘knickers’, which the house now wears so invitingly. Christopher was brought in early on in the process, working closely with Jim to devise a thrilling interior scheme involving acres of damask and toile de Jouy, chintz, indienne and chinoiserie, all based on antique fragments. ‘A whole riot of colour and texture and pattern isn’t for everyone,’ Jim says. ‘But we felt that these rooms could stand it.’
In the ground floor reception rooms, patterns are used in combination. The dining room walls are covered in Christopher Moore’s ‘Indigo Rosette’ in burgundy and the curtains are his ‘George III’ toile de Jouy in sage. Upstairs, however, each bedroom is decorated with a single pattern, which graces walls, curtains, pelmets and beds. What fun it must be for guests to discover which scene will envelop them as they drift off to sleep.
Rooms that are decorated with such exuberance often benefit from being furnished with a touch more restraint. That seems to be a view shared by Jim and Andrew, who have filled the chateau with pieces that can hold their own without trying to steal the show. The sofas and armchairs in the salon, for example, are a mixture of long-owned George Smith designs and Howard & Sons or Howard-esque pieces that have been re-covered. Around the dining table is a harlequin set of English Regency and Georgian chairs. It is all very unpretentious – a word which aptly describes the pieces that Jim has dealt in for the past 20 years.
The local brocantes and antique fairs have not only come in handy when furnishing the chateau , but are also a major source for Jim’s business. He can drive from London and use the house as his base on buying trips. It is a home for entertaining as well, with no shortage of friends happy to enjoy long lunches in the garden. I suspect some of these might be classified as boozy, like the one that inspired this part of their lives, and I wonder how many of their guests have looked around, admiring Jim and Andrew’s work and felt a little bit of inspiration themselves.
James Jackson: jamesjackson.shop | @jimandhim
Boz Gagovski1/11An elegant ornamental lake, restored by James and Andrew, lies in front of the house, which is set in four acres of walled gardens
Boz Gagovski2/11The linen ‘Chatelet’ wallcovering from Christopher Moore tones with the rich velvet upholstery of a 19th-century country house armchair and the Chinese silk carpet. The bust of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (left) was found through Bordeaux dealer Laetitia Fleuris, while the bust of Laocoon is from Sunbury Antiques Market. The blue Qianlong porcelain jar is from Justin Garrard on Portobello Road, W11
Boz Gagovski3/11Two armchairs bought at Christie’s – one an Edwardian era Howard & Sons design (in ticking) and the other (in chenille and floral) by George Smith – frame a view of the hall
Boz Gagovski4/11The plaster bust of Michelangelo’s David is a 19th-century Grand Tour cast and was bought at a Gentleman’s Library Sale at Bonhams
Boz Gagovski5/11The 17th-century-style walnut refectory table, which dates from the mid 20th century, is from Laetitia Fleuris. It is paired with a harlequin set of English 18th- and 19th-century chairs; the Regency sabre-leg example with the red seat is from Jonathan Lee on Lillie Road, SW6
Boz Gagovski6/11Doors in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Cane’ set off the ‘Indigo Rosette’ wallcovering from Christopher Moore.
Boz Gagovski7/11The walls, bedcover and bed canopy are in Christopher Moore’s ‘Fragonard’ in heather. At the foot of the bed is a mahogany William IV-style caned stool from John Wiseman
Boz Gagovski8/11Christopher Moore’s ‘Pompadour’ was used for the walls, curtains and bed canopy, which is lined with his blue ‘Ikat’ fabric. The swing arm brass wall lights are from Norfolk Decorative Antiques
Boz Gagovski9/11Walls, quilted cotton bedcovers and bolsters in ‘Cholet’ cotton from Christopher Moore create a cocooning space for guests
Boz Gagovski10/11Christopher Moore’s ‘Polonaise’ wallcovering tones with the rosso tumbled paver tiles on the left-hand wall. The basin is original Art Deco by Jacob Delafon
Boz Gagovski11/11Sunny ‘Toile de Vichy’ from Christopher Moore is the backdrop for a life-sized Grand Tour copy of a Roman sculpture of a torso from Lillie Road dealer John Wiseman. The linen-covered armchair is from George Smith
