Originally from the South West of France, Bruno Lafourcade
founded his business specializing in the restoration of
old properties in 1968. Awarded the 1st national prixe for his
restoration of a XVII castle in Périgord, he restores farmhouses,
Country Manors, Castles, Hotels, Wineries…
Bruno and his son Alexandre, both architects, lead the
restoration teams while wife/mother Dominique, an artist who
has gained recognition for her Mediterranean influenced gardens,
focuses on landscape.
Atlanta Interior designer Ginny Magher used the Lafourcades
for the restoration of her eighteenth century farmhouse,
Le Mas de Baraquet, and it’s grounds, near St- Rémy de Provence.
Situated above the flat windswept plains of Camargue, low
fields of hay splay out beyond the wide terraces. “These are
the Alpilles, the dividing line between the Provence of olive
groves and peach orchards, chic villages and towns,
such as St-Rémy de Provence, and the scruffier, wilder
and emptier flatlands to the south…”
A broad terrace alongside the blue shuttered house
is shaded by plane trees providing an opportune
venue for lunch…
“When I first saw the site, 12 years ago, I immediately envisaged
a long pergola leading off the terrace on to the new garden, ”
Dominique recalls. “I was looking for strong vertical elements
with a horizontal continuum that would link the formal box
garden, closest to the house, the rose garden that Ginny wanted
to create and the longer, larger swimming-pool garden, which
would merge with the enclosing arm of the mountain.”
A traditional box-edged rose garden, paved by aged brick,
framed by hedges of Viburnum tinus, surrounds
a stone and iron armillary sphere…
The pergola is smothered in roses, honeysuckle and wisteria and
acts as a corridor connecting the terrace to the formal rose garden
and swimming pool…
A huge stone morter set on low stone table and a
grouping of green armchairs conjures up a lazy afternoon
enjoying the view of harvesting in the golden fields of
high summer…
“Flat farmland stretches away to the Camargue,
across a fragrant expanse of lavender”
“Tightly clipped box hedging swirls around neatly shaped cypress
and olive trees below the sheer limestone cliff face that
rises behind the house“
To the east of the house, the approach is framed
by old Aleppo pines, oleander and cypress trees…
the craggy mountainside rising up sharply behind…
Four giant plane trees shade the wide, south facing terrace
British House and Gardens magazine Sept. ’09
Kristy Fergusson
Photography Clive Nichols
Lafourcade Architecture click for website, photos
For interior shots visit Miss Kris Studio (posted on June 4) here
For more photos of Les Alpilles and the Camargue
click here or here
