Tour of Chateau de Purnon with its Australian Owner, Tim Holding. Restoration in Progress.

welcome to Chateau de Purnon a gem of 18th century  French architectural style The Chateau is in   Haut-Poitou just south of the Loire Valley about  40 minutes drive from the town of Chinon and when   Chateau de Purnon was constructed just before  the French Revolution the style of the time was   all about Symmetry and Harmony and Everywhere  You Look At Purnon You See Symmetry and Harmony   you see it in the Chateau itself just behind me  which is surrounded on three sides by a dry moat   and it's in the shape of an H of the letter H with  a central part and two wings and you also see it   when you look towards the two giant outbuildings  or comma or dependons in France and this one here   on my left hand side has a chapel and stables and  Tack rooms and here on the right we have garages   and more practical things like a boulangerie and  space where seasonal workers would have lived when   they came to work here at the Chateau and we see  it particularly when we look out in front of me   to pronounce extraordinary Grand La it's three  kilometers long which is longer than the Grand   Canal at Versailles and the wonderful 1812 gate  that we can look through and admire the forest   out in front of us it's an amazing setting and  it's the home of my fiance Felicity and I and   as you can see from the scaffolding behind us  it's in the midst of an enormous restoration   the biggest Restoration in the chateau's history  since it was constructed almost 250 years ago so   come with us now as we enjoy an opportunity  to learn a little of Bruno's history and have   a look around the Chateau so we'd like to start  by introducing you to Antoine Charles ashard de   La Haye the Marquis De La Haye who constructed  paranormal between 1779 and 1788. let's go up   onto purn on scaffolding and have a look at his  coat of arms and that of his wife come along so we've arrived here at the level of  the second floor of the Chateau and   we're at the southern side and here inside this  enormous pediment we can see two coats of arms   here the coat of arms of the family of Antoine  Charles Asha De La Haye the Marquis who had   constructed purnal and here his wife Benin modest  de la Mott barese we can see the rampant Lions as   well as the Malay the birds without beaks the  fleur-de-lis and even these lines which would   have depicted what color was uh was was on that  coat of arms when it wasn't being represented in   stone we see a marquis crown on top and even the  weapons of war which signify Antoine Charles's   status as an officer in the French Royal Army  and this is really a remarkable piece of History   because it testifies to a dynastic marriage a  marriage between two grand French families and   uh and its placement here on the Chateau is a  really important piece of uh of the history of   pernol the people who built it and the people  who lived here while we're up here let's have   a look over purnell's extraordinary Park on  glaze or English Park when pronoun was being   constructed Styles and tastes were changing and  the traditional French garden highly ornamental   highly organized that taste was changing  to the more naturalistic more disorganized   setting of the English Park and so penal has this  amazing English Park which stretches out into the   Horizon behind us with its amazing oak trees  we can see Lebanese Cedars we can see chestnuts   Beech trees an amazing variety that gives this  wonderful sense of being surrounded by Nature   so as we descend off the scaffolding let's have a  look at some of the other things that the enormous   works are starting to uncover for us so we can  see here the work that our stone masons are doing   if we look over here for example with this Dormer  we can see a lot of original Stone but also some   new stone that's been put in to um to to replace  the very damaged stone and you can see when you   look up here just what a terrible State some of  the original Stone that's now almost 250 years old   what a terrible State it's in and in fact Chateau  de pernon was built from Stone that was repurposed   from a nearby Chateau of briset and so when the  ship when the stone when the tufa stone arrived   here it was already uh it had already been used  for for construction for several hundred years one of the most remarkable things about Chateau  de per Norm is the charpont or the enormous wooden   frame that supports the slate roof and if we look  here we can see directly just how this sharp hunt   was made and it was made in what they call the  style of filibertelorme and filibertelorme was   a very celebrated French architect from the  Renaissance Era and he developed a way of   building the wooden frame using small pieces  of wood and at the time that he developed this   system it was revolutionary because it meant that  wooden frames on Grand Homes and chateaus could be   put up much quicker and much more economically  and we we can see that style here in purnell's   sharpond small pieces pegged together by  other pieces of wood and that wooden frame   that charpont is being restored as part of the  current program of works and if we look over here   at the outbuilding at per not on the  Eastern side we can see the shape of   the enormous wooden frame of that building as  well of that building's roof and it's in the   shape of an inverted bateau or in the shape  of an inverted boat and in fact they would   have used Artisans who worked on boats for the  French navy to help build these enormous wooden   frames and they're really works of art and and  we're really very lucky to have them in such   a highly preserved State here at purn on to  be able to be admired for future Generations if we if we stand here and we look up on top of  pronounce Central Dormer we can see a metal stake   and on top of that metal stake would have rested  the bust of a French King in fact the bust of two   French Kings one at the front and one at the back  Henry IV on Ricart and Louis cars or Louis XV when   we arrived at Purnell there was no trace of these  Royal busts and then one day rummaging around in   the Attic we found some small pieces from one of  the busts and then in another vaulted carve or   in a in a tunnel underneath a section of the  Chateau wall we found the the head of Henry   Carter Henry IV and our architect helped us  piece together the mystery of the royal busts   that would have originally sat on the on the  roof of pernol he used old postcards to solve   the mystery of the two Royal busts that used to  sit on purnell's roof and right now they're in   the process of being restored and so soon as  part of this first pro program of works we'll   be able to return these Royal busts to the  place that they belong on pernon's roof and   it's really going to be quite spectacular  to have these Royal busts back in place   so take a look at these Corner cornichas these  corner pieces with the crenellations underneath   Each corner piece weighs 850 kilograms and we  needed a crane 60 meters long to be able to put   these four cornishes on this side of the Chateau  back into place so our stone masons crafted these   beautiful pieces that fit exactly in the place  where they belong and it was a really important   step in that first program of Works to be able  to get these corner pieces into position to make   the Chateau look as it would have looked when it  was constructed at the end of the 18th century   so part of the wooden frame of pernol included  enormous pieces of wood called sablanc which   sit with which the frame rested upon and they  were an important part of helping the Chateau   roof to expand and contract in changing weather  conditions but of course today they're completely   rotted we can see evidence of of woodworm  eating out their pieces of wood so they need   to be replaced and take a look at how degraded  they are this piece of wood that should weigh   many kilos is actually quite light because it's  been so degraded over time um over the last Almost   250 years and so seeing all these pieces of  wood being um being restored where possible   and replaced where necessary it's just such an  important part of this first program of works   we're coming through the main entrance  this is the entrance that guests and the   family would have used in the late  18th early 19th and 20th centuries we come here through this grand entrance  and up the Grande Scalia the main staircase and it's on this grand staircase in the early  part of the 20th century in 1919 when the then   Marquis De rashkeri who helped restore pernol  helped restore the Chateau in the early 20th   century he tragically died here of a heart attack  in in 1919. but let's go and have a look at the   chateau's Blue Room one of our favorite rooms so  we're here in the chateau's blue room and we're   surrounded by this extraordinary hand-painted  wallpaper from the end of the 18th century and   if we look carefully it's in a Arabesque pattern  and this uh and this wallpaper we've had experts   in French wallpaper look closely at it and  after careful research we've learned that it   was constructed that it was manufactured  at the workshops of the of revion in the   foberg Sant Antoine in Paris and these workshops  were the scenes of some of the worst some of the   bloodiest riots during the French Revolution  and there's absolutely no doubt because of the   chateau's date of construction finished as it was  just the year before the French Revolution broke   out there is no doubt that some of the workers  who worked on this extraordinary wallpaper would   have witnessed and perhaps participated  in the tragic events of the rivion riots   uh at the outbreak of the French Revolution  this wallpaper is the last surviving example   of this particular design anywhere in France  it's extraordinarily precious and we're very   very lucky to have it uh let's go have a look in  the salomonjour in the chateau's grand dining room so we're here in the chateau's dining room  the Salamon jam and the Marquis Asha de Lahey   who had constructed pernorm just before the  French Revolution was an Ardent monarchist   and so During the Revolution he fought on  the side of the royalist troops fighting   to overturn the French Revolution his son  August was killed massacred during a massacre   of royalist troops in Lyon and he fought in  many battles with the army of the Conde and   with the army of the princes and he returned  to pernol at the end of the 19th century in   about 1797 to oversee the construction of  the very last stages of the Chateau and the   surrounding buildings and so for them it would  have been a great joy to see the restoration of   the monarchy after the abdication of Napoleon  Bonaparte we were surprised to find this bust   of one of France's least popular Kings Louis X  here at the Chateau and the question is is what   is it doing here well obviously with a family of  fervent monarchists the restoration was a great   event it was something that meant that the old  social order that they respected and that meant   so much to them was going to be restored and  re-established the Marquis himself the Marquis   Antoine Charles Asha De La Haye had been a page  to the Duke de Olean to one of the brothers of   Louis XV and so for them the restoration was a  very important part of the re-establishment of   the social order that they preferred and that was  such an essential part of their lives so let's go   and have a look in the chateau's basement in the  seussol and we'll have a look at the old kitchen   and learn a little bit more of the history of  the next phase in Chateau de parnell's life so we're heading down to the basement and the basement was of course a place  for domestic staff for servants the family   would have rarely gone here and as we descend we   we move into a new world a different  world a world of the workers the servants   the people who served the grand families  who lived in these extraordinary Estates and so this is purnell's original kitchen so after  the Marquis Antoine Charles Asha dillahay died in   1816 The Chateau passed to his last surviving  son eduard and when he passed away in 1844 The   Chateau passed to his daughter Catherine who had  married the baron de goyon and if we look here   in the gritty air in the Attic of the Chateau we  found some of the degoion copperware if we look   closely here on this lid we can see the name  de goyon etched onto the lid of the copperware so imagine these kitchens in  the height of the 19th century   there would have been noise and bustle as the  meals were prepared The Mont plaque which is just   one room away from us or dumb waiter would have  delivered the meals up into a room just next to   the Salamon chair so they could be served hot  to the guests dining in the grand dining room   there would have been movement and noise uh  activity as food arrived through the through   the drive mode through the dove sesh through a  different entrance that the than the entrance   that would have been used by the family and  their guests and visitors it would have been   a bustling place it would have been an exciting  Hub of life here at the Chateau for the domestic   staff and their servants who looked after the many  people who lived here now we're going to move to   the biblio tech or the library and and continue  learning about the history of Chateau de pernol so we're here in the chateau's library or  bibliotech and in the middle of the 19th   century this would have been the Hub of family  life here at the Chateau and at that time Pauline   de goyon married the comp de Montesquieu phezen  sack and the the count came from a great French   family with a long and distinguished history his  grandfather had fought alongside Napoleon during   the retreat from Moscow and he was Gravely  wounded at the Battle of Waterloo and his   father his name is recorded on the Arc de Triomphe  and he'd been a member of the academy Francaise   I'm one of their ancestors de castlemore is the  figure that Alexander the Dumas based the central   character in The Three Musketeers upon what a  great French family sadly during this time the   Chateau started to fall into decline thankfully  in 1893 the compt Danielle Jerome de rashkere   purchased colonel and it was during his time that  a great new investment took place to protect and   preserve the Chateau for future Generations let's  have a look at the results of some of that work   so we're here in the chateau's Grand salon this is   one of pernell's grandest rooms and the  style changed completely during the era   um when the Compton started the investment to  protect pernon for the future it would have been   originally in a Louis XVI style but if you look  around us now you can see that it's in a Louis   XV or raquet or Rococo style and if we come over  here to this Grand fireplace we see this enormous   fire back at the back of the at the back of the  fireplace and just like the Blazer on the facade   of the Chateau the two coats of arms testify to  a dynastic marriage and it's a marriage between   the rosh Kari family and the dwarong family and  the dwaron family own a Grand Chateau just a   few minutes drive north of here at chateau  dewarong had married Elizabeth dewarong in   1887 and together they had four children sadly  she passed away in 1901 and the following year   the Marquis now he is the Marquis De rosh Kerry  married her sister Yvonne at the chapel here at   Pernell and that at the time that was not an  unusual occurrence and if we look at the back   of the fire back we can see a marquis Crown  over the top of the two family Coats of Arms as well as redecorating this room the the uh  the the rosh curries made many other changes   to Purnell they built the aeolian bolay in  the chateau's pottiger garden which pumped   water to feed the plants and vegetables and fruit  trees growing in the garden and also pumped water   to the Chateau here they put the guttering system  that we can now see throughout the chateau's roof   and they put new heating systems and introduced  electricity to the Chateau it was a period of   great change that restored Colonel and preserved  her for future Generations so let's go and have a   look at Chateau de pernance Chapel where the  Marquis De roshkeri married Yvonne dewaron   heading across to have a look at Chateau de  pernon's Chapel and as always at a chateau there's   an enormous Chateau key and this is the key to  pernon's Chapel this is one of our favorite places foreign you can see we still have the old confessional box   so if you have any sins you'd like to  confess now is the perfect opportunity and although purnell's Chapel is really in a  terrible State we can really see even today what   a beautiful place she must have been during  the um during the grand era of the Chateau   we can see the niches where two statues would  have sat Las here who is a saint that's revered by   farmers and agricultural workers and sent A Shard  over here who was the patron saint for the family   that constructed The Chateau we've protected these  two extraordinary statues and they're protected in   another part of the Chateau before the restoration  of the chapel takes place we have this amazing   Annunciation um uh the the painting of the um  uh the Archangel Gabriel Gabrielle telling the   Virgin Mary that she will be giving birth to uh  to Jesus we have the stained glass windows here   Saint Joseph and the Virgin and child over  here slightly damaged and the and the Stalls   with the balcony above us where the family  would have sat for masses and for um for   religious Services it's really an extraordinary  place of private devotion uh for a uh for the   family that constructed Chateau de pernol  and it was here in 1902 that Danielle Jerome   de Ross Kelly married Yvonne dewarong so let's  go and have a look at pernol's amazing Stables so the Marquita Ross Kelly was regarded as  a great Horseman and a very very keen Hunter   he had the forest in front of him and other  forests in the local area where with his friends   he could hunt the Stag and the road deer and the  other animals and of course so much of the hunting   in that era was done on Horseback and the horses  were cared for here in these Stables foreign the door's a little stiff we can see the loose  boxes here where the horses would have been   brushed and fed and also the other boxes at each  end of The Stables where the horses would have   would have slept and stayed for longer periods  of time and although they're really in terrible   condition today we can imagine how they must  have been during the height of the Chateau and so after the Marquis De rosh Kelly passed  away in 1919 pernor saw many decades of great   uncertainty the Great Depression World War  and a period of neglect until the Chateau was   purchased in 2020 by Felicity and I and we've  embarked on a program to restore and rebuild   many of purnell's most beautiful features  and you can see the the commencement of   that work behind us with the scaffolding  around the Eastern side of the Chateau   and that's it pernon's history from its  construction on the eve of a revolution that   would Echo around the world until its Restoration  in the first Decades of the 21st Century

Channel: So Chateaux (in English)

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Id: E1FRH6ajQmM

Length: 25min 47sec (1547 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 18 2022