Bridge For Design April 2015 Bridge For Design April 2015 | Page 91

I

nterior designer David Hare cuts a well-known figure
in the south Loire village where he lives. His pug Piggy
recently had eight puppies, which he donated to some
people nearby. ‘As both Marie Antoinette and the
Empress Josephine kept pugs, it seems appropriate to
have them yapping away in the middle of France,’ he says.
When David, a specialist in period interiors and French
18th-century decoration, found himself taking on projects in
France, he decided the logical step would be to move here.
‘Some friends were living in Saumur in the Loire, so I asked a
local agent to show me some properties,’ he says. ‘This place
was the last on his list, but it was so enchanting, cut into the
rock with donkeys roaming the courtyard. I loved its scale and
the fact that it didn’t feel typically French.’
The property had fallen into disrepair, so David immediately
started on what was to become a two-year renovation project. He
admits that, in spite of his experience, he had wholly underestimated
what needed to be done. ‘I was so excited about buying the house that
I hadn’t realised it had inadequate plumbing and electricity. Then I
thought I’d still be able to live in it while the renovations were being
done, but once the builders started work, the inner courtyard looked
like a swamp, so I moved into a rented house.’
David researched the property and found that it was built as a fortified
castle during the Hundred Years War. The main house dates back to
the 16th century but three adjacent buildings on the property are even
earlier. In the 17th century it was owned by both Roman Catholic and
Protestant families, who respectively built and demolished a chapel on
the site, and by the 19th century it had become a farmhouse.

LEFT: An arrangement of eclectic chairs is grouped under a vast 17th century
Brussels tapestry that hangs across one of the stone walls in the entrance hall
TOP: Interior designer David Hare
Bridge for Design Spring 2015

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