Interview
Provençal allure
V
The black night skies and simple charms of his home in Provence enthral Viscount Linley as much now as when he first found it, he tells Arabella Youens
ISCOUNT LINLEY and his wife
happened upon a former hunting lodge far from what he describes as the ` posh bit' of Provence, in the
eastern Lúberon hills, 14 years ago. Des- pite its grand nameÐ Château d' AutetÐ the house is a modest holiday home to which the Linleys repair with their two children, aged 11 and eight, whenever possible. The house is surrounded by fields filled with heady-scented lavender, which provides inspiration for the products Lady Linley sells in her new shop in Knightsbridge.
How did you find your house? By mistake, really. It stemmed from a chance conversation with a friend my wife sat next to at lunch one day in 1997. We didn' t know the Lúberon and decided to go on holiday there that summer on the back of the recom- mendation. Once there, at dinner with the lady who' d organised our trip, we said how much we loved the area and added, a little carelessly, how we' d like to live there one day. It turned out that she used to be an estate agent and, the following day, the last of the holiday, she took us to a house that just fitted the billÐ miles from anywhere, surrounded by lavender fields and not a hint of any orange glows in the night sky. We did look at other houses, but this one was so compel- ling that we settled on it from the first.
What happened next? At that point, the owners decided they weren' t going to sell, so we left them a message to get in touch if they changed their minds. Six months later, I was driving down from the north of England on New Year' s Day and thought we' d give the agent a call to nudge her with a Happy New Year. It just happened that the vendors had put the house back on the market. We resubmitted an offer and it was accepted. It was several months, however, before we completed the deal.
84 Country Life International, Spring 2011
Lavender-scented life: Lúberon craftsmen, cheese and markets captivate Viscount Linley
Has much changed in the intervening years? No, I still like all the things that attracted me there in the first place: the quiet, the deserted roads, the clean country air and the wonder- ful views. The houseÐ it' s called a château, but must be the smallest one in the worldÐ is thought to have been built by a family from Marseille. It was perfectly all right, but we' ve made it work for usÐ putting in baths and taking out the bidets, for example.
How is it decorated? Part contemporary and part traditional Pro- vençal, but very simple throughout. I have the first piece of furniture I ever madeÐ a desk I finished when I was 14. And we have various pieces from the Linley collectionsÐ including a rather lovely bookcaseÐ in the bedroom, drawing room and outdoor furniture in the garden. These are mixed with other things my wife and I have collected over the years.
Where do you shop locally? I'm utterly blown away by the craftsman- ship thereÐ it' s very good indeed. From the metalworkers to stonemasons to the person making doors and windows, there' s never a shortage of good people. We' ve also com- missioned pieces from a basket-weaver in Apt. Market-wise, there' s Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and Banon, where they make legendarily good goat' s cheese. Otherwise, we pile the children into the 2CV and head to the bou- langerie in the village, which makes the best croissants. We' ll stop at the market to pick
up little pieces of cheese and sometimes we knock on the door of farms, where things are laid out on the kitchen table. Nothing' s been near a pasteuriser, of courseÐ it' s all totally illegal. Their honey is the best in the world.
How has owning changed your lifestyles? It certainly hasn' t improved my French, which is hideous, but fortunately, my wife speaks it beautifully and I wait like a patient dog for a translation. It' s provided the justi- fication for my wife' s new ventureÐ Serena Linley Provence. She opened her new shop on Walton Street in December. All the products
Ð soaps, scents, candles and creamsÐ are inspired by Provence. We make all the laven- der oil on the farm, where we planted three fields early on in our tenure and everything is produced in a factory in Apt. Everything possible is sourced locallyÐ if not from our fields, then from those of our neighbours.
What do you miss when you' re not in Britain? I used to say the newspapers, but now we can get them every day in Apt, so possibly Marmite? But mainly I think the reason for going somewhere else is to forget about home and wallow in everything foreignÐ the wine, food and the smell of the soap are very much what you remember from your holiday when you return. I like that. A range of silver items has been created to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Linley (
www.davidlinley.com); Serena Linley Provence, 156, Walton Street, SW1
www.countrylife.co.uk/international
Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features
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