Blue sky thinking

Kath and Stephen Hazell took a huge gamble when they bought their stunning home in Sancerre in the heart of France

The Hazells took a huge gamble when they bought their stunning home in Sancerre, but it paid off

Stephen and Kath Hazell waited six years between buying their house in France and moving in. Not because they were dragging their feet, but because they were taking a huge gamble – purchasing the beautiful old manor house by the French system called ‘Viager’.

Put simply, a Viager loan allows a buyer to purchase a property at a reduced price while the seller continues to live in it for the rest of their life, receiving a sum of money (an annuity) for the duration. The property then passes fully to the buyer on the death of the seller.

In Kath and Stephen’s case, the house remained occupied for six years after they bought it in 2006. Only when the owner died were they able to take possession of the house and begin the renovation and update of the property to make it their own.

‘It generally works well for both parties and is a popular way of buying houses in France,’ says Kath. ‘We used those six years to buy materials for the eventual renovation, storing everything in our warehouse until the property became vacant.’

When they took it over, the house was very dated, stuck in a 1970s time warp and with many of its original features removed or covered up.

‘We were keen to bring it up to date in a way that emphasised its period,’ says Kath. ‘Many of the changes that had been made over the years were not really in sympathy with the house, so our aim was to restore its beautiful character.’

Kath and Stephen were in the perfect position to do it well. Kath runs their business, The French House, based in their home city of York, while Stephen has been renovating properties in both countries for more than 25 years. They were keen to create a permanent base in France, settling for Sancerre, which is roughly halfway between families in York and the South of France.

‘Our passion for French furniture began when I was stripping out a house that I was renovating in the Pyrenees 25 years ago,’ says Stephen. ‘I kept some pieces but sold most of it to friends and acquaintances. It was such a satisfying experience that I started to look for lovely old furniture that I could restore and sell, and a whole new business was born. I love the character, elegance and comfort of French furniture.’ Before they started furnishing the house, however, they wanted to restore its beautiful features and add in some more of their own.

Over the years it had been fitted with white ceramic floors, the beams had been covered up, fireplaces ripped out and some UPVC windows installed. The décor was ‘very 1970s kitsch,’ says Stephen. ‘We didn’t want to change the basic structure of the house but we did want to restore it to its former glory,’ he adds.

Gradually, with the help of a chain of French and English subcontractors, they replaced the floors with 17th-century oak planks salvaged from another house in Sancerre, exposed the beautiful ceiling beams, fitted 18th-century panelling in some of the rooms and lime plastered the remainder, then reinstated one marble and two stone fireplaces.

The final jobs were cosmetic. Kath painted over the orange gloss kitchen units to ‘tone things down’ and then they began to fill their new home with furniture collected over the years or bought while in France. It was a year before they finished.

‘When we find something beautiful that we can’t resist we tend to buy it, but it’s easy to accumulate far too much. I have a rule that if Stephen comes back with something for the house, then another piece of furniture has to go,’ says Kath. ‘It does become addictive, but we can’t keep everything ourselves. What you see in our home has been accumulated over 25 years. We buy what we like, from any period. I think that if you follow your instinct and buy things that please you because of their shape, their colour or their style, there will be an underlying link that helps it all fall into place.’

The warm stone-built house is on a south-facing hillside and most of the key rooms look over the garden towards a valley and vineyards beyond.

‘We didn’t want to spoil that position,’ says

Kath. ‘We capitalised the views and allowed the rooms to evolve around them. We have no particular plans for the house – we just add to it as we go along. It’s a fabulous place to live, really special, but we are always very conscious that we are only custodians here. The house will be around long after we’ve gone.

The beautiful manor house stands elevated above an acre of walled garden, which offers spectacular views across the Sancerre valley and its famous vineyards

Below: The long table in the dining room came from a convent in the Loire valley while the Arts and Crafts chairs were bought at auction in York. Stephen and Kath exposed the old beams and painted them white Below left: The long hallway had been stripped of many of its original features. Kath and Stephen reinstated cornices and pilasters made by a local craftsman

Above: Furniture found in local salerooms pulls the comfortable living room together around a reclaimed 17th-century fireplace and a heavy laminated glass-top coffee table, set on a stone, which came from a demolished church in Paris

The kitchen units were orange gloss when Kath and Stephen moved in, so Kath toned them down with a colour she mixed herself. The 18th-century hexagonal floor tiles were fitted by Stephen’s son, Thomas Hazell. For similar patterned wall tiles, try The Winchester Tile Company. The table came from a house in Bourges, and has been paired with 19th-century French garden chairs

Above: A rustic mix of units with cupboard doors and open shelves with curtains, gives a sense of classic French country kitchen style. When they’re not enjoying the Sancerre weather in the garden, Kath and Stephen spend most of their time in the comfortable kitchen

Left and far left: The iconic kitchen accessories that no French home should be without