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History of Château de Bagnols, continued...
At Bagnols, many of the bedrooms are decorated with the bright colours and light-hearted motifs of Lyon's Grande Fabrique. For instance, the painters gave the Salon aux Bouquets pale apricot walls dotted with floral bouquets, framed by columns twisted with fruiting vines, the whole creating the effect of being on a columned terrace overlooking flower-strewn countryside. In the Appartement Geoffroy de Balzac, friezes of grotesque decoration are distinctly Italian, with cartouches, arabesques and monkeys playfully looking into mirrors. One room, the former family chapel on the second floor, has trompe l'oeil arcades framing scenes from the life of St Jerome as well as the Dugués coat of arms.
The château's third period began in 1711 when it was bought by Joseph-Barthélémy Hessler, a 35-year-old man from Frankfurt who settled in Lyon. Lavishing money on its maintenance and yet more decoration - it took ten years to re-roof it - he removed some of the by now unnecessary fortifications and added an ice-house and the formal garden with its grand terrace. Inside, the Salles des Gardes was redecorated with trompe l'oeil columns framing paintings of the four seasons, all in fashionable 18th-century pale colours with shell and palmette motifs.
By the end of the century, the glory of Bagnols was over. Owners took little interest in the château and the break-up of the estate reduced its income. In a brief moment of revival, the Grand Salon (the first-floor drawing room) was decorated in trompe l'oeil cartouches, broken pediments and illustrations of Ovid's Metamorphoses, while the adjacent Salle de Chasse was painted with a scene of hunters in a forest inspired by late 16th-century engravings.
Bagnols could then be said to have lapsed into obscurity for almost 200 years. The château became a working farm and the Basse Cour was partly demolished to make way for the huge Cuvage.
It was in 1987 that the present owners discovered Château de Bagnols, a sad but ravishingly beautiful building with leaking roofs, creepers running rampant, cracked walls and a family of crows living in one tower. It was, however, a 'Monument Historique Classe', a building protected by the State for its architectural and historical importance.
Bagnols then entered its fourth period, a phoenix-like rebirth. With energy and vision, the owners have painstakingly brought the château back to the finest moment of its life. More than 400 specialist builders and craftsmen rose to the challenge, while hundreds of specially commissioned items made throughout the world complement the private collection of antique furnishings which complete the interior. Raynaud, one of the old French manufacturers in Limoges, made the blue and white armorial china; Hartzviller, in Alsace, made copies of the 18th-century glass; the old Irish firm of Liddell made the table linen; and Prelle of Lyon made the silk to cover the chairs in the dining room. The relaxed atmosphere of being in a private home is complemented by every modern facility.
Bagnols could easily have disappeared, but revived and revitalised, it is now offered to those who wish to experience perhaps France's finest château-hotel.
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