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