Château du Grand-Lucé: Designer Timothy Corrigan’s French Hideaway

Who hasn’t imagined themselves easing up a gravel path in a soft-top sports car, as your very own pale stone country pile looms in grand, elegant style before your eyes? For most, owning a French home of this scale will always be a pipe dream, but for the lucky few it becomes a fabulous reality. One such person is Timothy Corrigan, one of the world’s most respected interior designers and a committed Francophile. Not for him a grand British manor or ornate Italian hideaway – only a picture-perfect French château was ever going to turn his head.

Fortunately for Mr Corrigan, a delightful castle in the heart of the village of Le Grand-Lucé in Sarthe became available to the right buyer – namely, one who would return it to former glories and keep all the key architectural elements intact. Since the state had been backing its restoration to some degree, they didn’t want it being turned into a spa or restaurant.

Few owners would have either the design nous and nerve, the passion or presumably the funds to carry out such a gargantuan restoration and furnishing project but Corrigan has achieved it with style. This tome charts his impressive results, room by room, and then we head to the garden for a glimpse of his horticultural handiwork. You may expect the château to be over-chintzy but the man has a more populist, simple touch and a great way with words.

An Invitation to Chateau du Grand-Lucé: Decorating a Great French Country House, Timothy Corrigan, €65, Published by Rizzoli