Remember, it is not a race.

A friend’s wise words resonated with me last year. Sometimes you need a reminder not to make the end result more important than the process. Obsessing about the renovation would only lead to negative feelings about our future at Lescure. We took a breath and stretched our shoulders. So what if the château wasn’t finished? So what if this had consequences for the development of our retreats? Tomorrow is another day.

Thomas traveled the globe and immersed himself in training and workshops, recharging his creativity by meeting new people. I chose the introvert’s path, taking a step back to focus on my everyday rituals, often doing nothing more than letting all my thoughts flow. Lots of reading, a bit of writing. Simple time. And then one day, my mind’s eye turned to the maison de la chasse.

No idea if a witch cast a spell that caused the growth of bushes in the volary, but a visiting architect was certainly mesmerised. Every morning he rose like a prince of thorns and we would find him cutting away at the brambles and roses to find his way to the adjacent woodshed. Inspired by his fascination, we removed the metal construction and demolished the crumbling walls between the shed and the former birdhouse. As it turns out, layers of filth and debris were shrouding a gem.

PEACOCK COTTAGE

Beautiful old cobbles, worn beams, gothic style window openings. This must have been some aviary! Quite the home for the brilliant peacocks that once graced the grounds with their exotic presence. We now dream of turning this space into a small cottage for coaches. We’ve just put in new chestnut roof boarding, next up is the consolidation of the walls with lime mortar and putting in glazing where the shutters used to be. Lesson learned. Sometimes you need a break to take your creativity to new places.