Deux Belettes

If you're like me, and you love all things French and all things old but time and your purse strings won't always extend to an overseas holiday, my partner and I found the most fantastic alternative the other day.

I had, had a particularly hectic couple of months the week before heading overseas for a buying trip and in some desperate need of down time. My partner hunted around for somewhere not too far away that we could do literally nothing for three days, and much to both or surprise he stumbled across the most beautiful little chateau in none other than just outside the very modest town of Alstonville.

A CHATEAU IN ASTONVILLE!!! I laughed my head off when he told me and and was quite concerned about what I was in for. All I could think of was the tacky, oversized, gimmicky period style accommodation that I had seen around Australia previously.

Well long story short I had to eat humble pie for dinner that night when he showed me their website. Gorgeous! And the reality was even better. I love hearing stories of people who have taken a sharp career turn to do something that they're passionate about. The couple who owned 'Deux Belettes Guesthouse' had both worked in both engineering and interior design. Their passion though was France and antiques, and they decided to make it an everyday reality for themselves, and built Deux Belettes themselves over the course of 20 years.

The time they've taken has really paid off as well. You enter the property via a tree lined driveway, and drive through the most beautifully manicured gardens to the chateau. We were greeted with champagne and strawberries by the fire and they gave us a tour of their home which they have opened to the public as a bed and breakfast and wedding venue. And wow what a place for a wedding!!!!!!!!!!

They have not scrimped on anything, the walls look as if they've been there for 1000 years and the rof is moss lined and gorgeous. We stepped into our section of the house, only to be greeted by a warm fire, a beautifully 'Frenchly' decorated room and a big four poster bed.

It didn't stop there either, we arrived back from dinner only to find home made cakes near the fire and a tour of the garden the following morning. The drawing room had been decorated in a formal French Louis style and the kitchen looked like a big cosy French country Farmhouse.

I don't think I have ever seen a home look so antique and French that's actually not. Really worth a visit and you can check out their website at http://www.deuxbelettes.com/

We couldn't resist taking a few photos for the album!

Rooms that Inspire Me

I get excited when I see interiors that have character and soul, and personally I don't think there's a better way to do this than to mix old and new together. To me a room needs a little bit of history and detail to create this, because after all a home should be a home and not just a display space. I love this room from 'Dream Rooms' by Andreas Von Einsiedel because:

• The space has combined really traditional furniture and elements and in a modern way;
• The portraits across the wallpaper only enhance it and create a wonderful contrast of styles;
• The combination of Louis XV and XVI furniture keeps it interesting;
• Colours are gorgeous, soft blues and grey tones that contast with the red, black and just a touch of gold to lift it.
  

I LOVE this console from Provencal Escapes by Caroline Clifton-Mogg and it reminds me of a beautiful italian painted centre table I have coming back from France. The floor in this photo is incredible - ah if only I had a stone floored French chateau! I love the geometric, olive green floor against the curves of this day chaise. I have an obsession at the moment with big old portraits. The red feather duster just adds a splash of colour and is oh so fitting with the style of the room!

I have been searching for one of the painted Louis XVI marble top tables for ages. My parents have for years had a similar one as their bedside table. Unfortunately they don't look like giving it up any time soon so I will just have to keep on looking.

I just think the combination of old and new in this room has been done so well. It's so clean and crisp, and doesn't have any of the feel of stuffy antiques that so many people seem to think is unavoidable if you introduce antiques into a room. But sure enough, that 'clean' settee is a beautiful antique. (Dream Rooms)

Dream Rooms - Adreas von Einsiedel

The Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee Billiard Table

For me, billiard tables have always conjured up thought of green velvet, legs, green felt and little else, and not being a billiards player they usually left me feeling ... well, rather uninspired. That is until I saw this one at Masterpiece on the Wick Antiques stand! The big tall thing that looks like a door in the background is actually the scorer and behind the door is the cue stand. The table was made by Orme & Sons Ltd in 1887 and was commissioned for Queen Victoria's Jubilee Exhibition in 1887. The concept behind the table was to record the historical succession connecting "the principle links between Her Late Majesty, Queen Victoria, with William the Conqueror, and thus inferentially with Charlemagne from whom William the Conqueror was himself descended: Also by the Panels, in which are allegorised the principle Colonies and Dependencies, to illustrate the wealth, diversity, and breadth, of the British Empire."

The friezes have been decorated with quotations from Shakespeare, Tennyson, Scott, and Byron and portraits of William of Normandy, Henry I, Henry II, John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, James I and Charles I.

To see more pieces of this quality visit www.wickantiques.co.uk

Masterpiece!

Oh avid antique lovers, feast your eyes on this!
Masterpiece London is the cream of arts and antique exhibitions and their mission was to hand pick the invitees and provide them only the best of the best. My second last day in the UK and I was fortunate enough to have been given an invitation to attend. June 2010 was the first year Masterpiece has been run, and was designed to showcase the best there is to offer of art and antiques of all periods and styles. My mind was blown from before I even walked in the door, although I didn't quite realise why until too late. If you haven't noticed already the very first image above of the building, is actually a marquee. Of course clever as I am I failed to notice this until inside, and instead stood marvelling at such a lovely brick building. Unfortunately the penny didn't drop inside either, I still thought I was in a building. It wasn't until a dealer started talking about the 'time it had taken to set this tent up', that I started to realise there was something I just wasn't getting. One very nice man obviously saw the dumb confusion on my face and very kindly whispered in my ear and pointed up to the slightly transparant ceiling where a sea of scaffolding could just be made out. Well done Jess.

Strolling around though it was hardly surprising the place was amazing. I really just could not believe it. Never have I seen anything like some of what was in this fair, and whether the pieces are your taste or aren't, at the very least you have to appreciate the them for their age, their quality and their detail. Like Bonhams bed to the left from the Masterpiece catalogue.

The fair featured some of the worlds most famous clock makers, like Tompion, Patek Philippe and Quare.

This was my particular favourite. It was a massive gold clock wheel, and sitting above it was a giant grasshopper, and as the hand swung one way, the grasshopper hopped forward in a continuous circle as if stuck forever chasing his tail.

The Secret Garden

One of my last sunny days in the UK was a trip out to see Martin Scorey, the sculpturer who I've posted about before. It's always one of my favourite stops, because Martin who works from home has transformed his garden into a little paradise in the middle of a city. It's a little bit like The Secret Garden, from the outside you'd never guess what lies behind. Once you walk through the doors however, little 'Martin Creations' appear out of nowhere from every corner of the house and garden. Little birds peep from a log resting in the kitchen, small carved boats sit in the sun room looking out onto the garden, and sitting magnificent in front of the garden wall are some of his beautifully carved blue whales. Above is one of Martin's chairs, which you can find peeking out from corners of his garden as you enter.

This gorgeous bird for the garden was hidden in behind some shrubs. The harder you look in the garden the more you find. Metal lillypads look up at you from amongst the bushes and right in the midst of it all are four enormous garden chairs where you can sit and admire.

My photos don't really do the garden justice and as is always the way, my camera battery died just as I had found some of the best treasures. But I guess it is a like a secret garden so meant to keep some treasures quiet.

Martin makes only a few sculptures each year and all are unique. I have bought a couple back in this next container but he does do commission work as well. You can ask about this at www.wallrocks.com.au/contactus.aspx Martin's work is being featured in gallery's across Europe, one of which is Sculpture Park in the UK. Worth a look!

I think the best bit of the day though was when Martin's dog, a massive Rottweiler which I had never thought
was a particularly affectionate breed of dog, jumped on me and put his big puppy paws around my neck in a hug. He had been abused by his previous owner and was obviously lapping up every bit of attention he could get.

The afternoon finished with a hunt around my uncle's (antique dealer) warehouse to see what, if anything I could scavenge. Alas it was all far and above my price range but I did at the very least take a photo of this AMAZING table. Phenomenal I don't think I've ever seen anything like it in my life. I've taken a few close-ups, particularly of the top for you to drool over.

A Farm and a Rocking Chair

Another day, another adventure! The south of England is the destination, to a little farm I have never been to in the middle of nowhere and full of treasures. Most places we buy are so unexpected, the major cities would probably make up 3 days of the trip as a whole, and not much more. The treasures are generally somewhere you least expect it, and you really do have to sift to find it. The fact that 99% of things have not been restored and are sitting under centuries of dirt makes it even harder.

This little farm was particularly beautiful, and the inside was like stepping back in time. You drove in through these gates, along this leafy drive and arrived at a 16th, 17th, 18th century barn? Walk in through the doors and it's all there.

I really loved the rocking horse in this room but I found the most amazing armoire in the next room that I had to have and so rocking horse was quickly forgotten about.

Not your typical armoire either. This one was huge, looked Spanish and definitely 19th century with the most elaborate carving of leaves and flowers all over the front. It wasn't polished, and from memory almost looked as if it had been limed. It was a real country farmhouse piece, ideal for a big kitchen or lounge area. It's actually one of the only pieces didn't take a photo of, which while frustrating means I can get excited all over again when it comes out of the container.

We ambled through the rooms. At one stage I had this really weird feeling I was being watched by something. Looked up and sure enough sitting on the wall was this massive deer? The photo doesn't do it justice, but he was enormous and so, so beautiful. He looked as if he was alive. Hard to believe someone could kill something so gorgeous.

The day turned up quite a lot. One of the many was this pretty little 19th century French carved Louis XVI settee. Perfect for a bedroom!

My most exciting find however was this rocking chair. I LOVE IT! Just a warning here though...I could go on and on, and never stop.

Walked into the room and it was sitting on top of a table all by itself. I fell in love. It's a very fine quality 19th century, circa 1860 English gilded bent-wood rocking chair.

The gilt on this particular chair has almost completely worn off but there is evidence of it in small quantities all over the chair so that there is this beautiful patterned combination of paint or gesso and very soft, pale gold. The gilt, along with the fabric and shape are some of the clues to the exceptional quality of the piece. Particularly considering rocking chairs were never generally gilded.

They created this amazing shape by heating the wood in a steam box, until it was malleable, and then bent the wood into shape. When the structure cooled down again it became rigid and maintained the new form that it had been bent into. The shape on this one is particularly beautiful.

The fabric on the chair is original and I think is what most caught my eye. I'm sure one day I will have to watch while someone pulls it off and re-upholsters it, but I love it just as it is.

It was once obviously a really rich, soft velvet but has now been worn in areas, to a faded smooth surface. Yet another of the details I think just adds to it's beauty. When I was small, like most kids had a teddy bear and he had been used so much that his fur had matted and stuck together, and quite simply no longer really looked like fur. But when I bent him over and looked under his legs, his original fluffy fur was still underneath. This chair was like that. Everywhere you looked there was a little clue as to how it once would have been.

When you looked inside the deep buttoning, you could still see the velvet's former glory, where time and overuse hadn't been able to touch it and it was still soft and brightly coloured. But the combination of the worn velvet with the soft just created the most fantastic texture.

Anyone who appreciates textiles will surely have to appreciate this. Running up the centre of the rocking chair was this exquisite embroidery that had faded out but you could still see the flowers and the leaves.

I guess it's a piece that you either love or hate. I quite obviously love it I can't stop blathering, but to me it's so filled with character and age and history I couldn't look past it. I hope you like it as much as I do.

France

After a couple of incredibly successful buying days we headed over to France on the ferry last Monday. A bizarre way to go to work, across the English channel by boat - I can't quite get my head around it. The ferry itself is enormous with a disco, two restaurants, movie cinemas and the list goes on. Arriving off was a nightmare, we hadn't fuelled up prior to getting on the ferry, it was 12 at night, the fuel stations weren't manned and the credit cards wouldn't work. We passed countless stations but they were all empty. Despite it being summer the temperature had dropped and I really did not fancy sleeping on the side of a French motorway. (I've done it before, NOT FUN.) The open petrol station did not appear but what we did see was a sign for the Mecure. Flashing red neon lights had never looked so good.

5am the next morning we were up and travelling with foot to the floor to make the fair which was several hundred km away through fog, but the scenery was gorgeous! We had established the night before that the trucking company had failed to tell us that the truck was governed 10km below the speed limit.

The first fair was rubbish, not a decent quality piece around...although it is quite possible that arriving two hours late knocks you out of the running for the best bits.

We left and tough as it was, made the decision to go sightseeing and eat croissants! It's a stressful life as an antique dealer!

I love the French, and how they go about everything. Arriving here was particularly entertaining. There was a queue amongst the dealers and a queue amongst the customers. Dealers are not allowed to unload before the 'whistle' is blown. Rather than let their customers in to get assembled and ready, they blocked the entry and hurled insults at each other out the window instead. Good to see good customer service prevails here as well.

Our second day was much more successful. I found some great goodies. This was one of them smiling up at me from behind a pile of rubbish. The marble was so beautiful I don't know how others had missed it, but it was begging me to take it and I obliged. It's the kind of piece you forget about and in 2 months time when you take it out of the container you get excited all over again!

Strolling around I came upon a terrible quality repro in the photo below. Friends often ask me what the difference is and I thought here was a perfect example. On the left is a genuine Louis XV bed that I sold recently. It is the authentic version of the bed you see below and if you look, you can see the amazing detail, the crispness and the definition.

This is the reproduction bed I saw walking around. You can see in comparison that the carving is quite shallow, it lacks detail. This is not to say that all reproduction furniture is poor quality as it's not, but you have to be careful. And the world is full of it being sold as genuine antiques.

We raced through the final day of buying so as to be back at the ferry by 4pm. With foot to the floor we chugged across France and waved from the window as semi trailers twice our size overtook us going uphill. We arrived as the gates were coming down. 'Je suis desole', said the customs officer. I'm desolated, in other words, get comfortable the next one is not for 6 hours!