Castles seem to always inspire the imagination and a surprisingly large number of people have asked me whether our place is haunted. How am I supposed to tell? Of course we have doors that open and close unexpectedly (draft), windows that squeek (old age), we hear scratches in the walls (mice and more) and we stumble across the odd dead body (mice and more).  Since I don’t exactly suffer from a lack of fantasy, I prefer not to amplify every noise and shadow and have my mind race with the thought that a ghost is responsible. Internet provided me with an array of paranormal checklists and I’m happy to confirm what I already knew instinctively: the only haunting thing at Lescure is its beauty.

mist cleansing

In the city I tend to find clouds grey and depressing, but here sprinkling rain and mist just cloak the estate in mystery. Looking for things to do on a misty day in December, we discovered that not only spring brings inspiration to clean from floor to ceiling. After years of neglect, the conservatory is in the worst state imaginable. As a first step in our project to restore and conserve this building we cleaned it like a pro. And because it’s important to keep dreaming of what the orangery will look like in the future, we celebrated this tiny milestone with the purchase of two grand gesture pots.