Château de Gudanes

Château de Gudanes is an 18th-century neoclassical Château built on the ruins of a medieval castle nestled amongst the pyrenees in the Southwest of France and currently under restoration by the Waters family. Each summer they open the Château doors to a series of workshops from cooking in the cuisine, to floral design, restoration, and the art of the brocante (French antiquing). For two years now I have spent a a week each summer at the cooking workshops, first run by Julie Marr and most recently by Craig Likefelt where I learned my now go-to salad dressing, a very fruity take on gazpacho, and a seriously mind-blowing good omelette among so much more. 

Karina Waters, the visionary behind saving this abandoned chateau is the Alice in Wonderland guide to your stay and one of the most fascinating women to talk to. You can imagine, she being Australian and not completely fluent in French, how many endless stories she has facing the French bureaucracy, learning the rules of restoration on an historic chateau, the time the chateau caught on fire, surviving winter alone without modern heating, when she set off fireworks for Bastille Day and the police showed up, and on and on… and then in the most effortless mad hatter whim she puts together these magical dinner parties with over flowing champagne coups, classical music echoing throughout the chateau walls, the glow from the candles illuminating out of the open french windows into the night sky to the distant sound of laughter and cheers.

I’ll never forget seeing her drag a dead plum tree through the chateau into the music room to prop up on a table as a “tree of gratitude” where each dinner guest wrote what they were thankful for from the experience at the chateau and hung it on the beautifully bare branches for each of us to read. Or the time we had dinner in what once was the library and she pointed out that the mounted goat head set as decor on the banquet was the actual goat we were eating for dinner, killed and prepared by the local French women from the village below who beamed with pride from sharing their regional mountain traditional food.

Though France offers many exquisite Château experiences, this one is quite different. It’s raw.

I like to describe it as the outside is in and the inside is out. The chateau breathes with the mountains it is surrounded by, the cats and dog come and go as they please, as do the vines, and the wind and the rain, and the guests who are lucky enough to stay here for a brief untouchable moment in time. But what makes this place truly unique is that ninety percent of the chateau is without electricity. This means candle-lit dinners, candle-lit walks to your bedroom at night, falling asleep to the sounds of the old chateau shutters and trout steam below. It was in the purest sense of the word, magical. How does that work practically? The main chateau kitchen and its two adjoining rooms have both electricity set up with charging stations and wifi and a fourth room across the hall with electricity is a communal bathroom with 5 toilet rooms and three showrooms, not unlike an adult summer camp. The rest of the chateau is unwired. The rest of the chateau is candle lit romance.

What I love about this place is the layers of history caked on top of each other. Built on the ruins of a castle from the middle ages you can still run your hands over the natural stone from the earth they carved the original foundation from. No room in the castle is off limits giving you free range to explore and let your imagination ponder different ways of life throughout time. The center of the chateau is home to a petite chapel with a vaulted ceiling decorated by hand-painted gold stars shining on a midnight blue sky. Below the main floor is the medieval kitchen, torture chamber, jail, and slaughter rooms for the animals among other things. I even found a once functioning darkroom for photography. There was a library room, a music room for ballroom dancing, a champagne room they used to bring ice down from the mountain to put in the marble bowl for parties, and endless bedrooms, sitting rooms, terraces, and more. The attic is home to the bats which in my first year there liked to pay me nightly visits through my open bedroom window (I like to let in the cool, fresh mountain air) and circle around my room for a few minutes while I stayed motionless in bed with the antique monogrammed French linen sheets pulled up to my nose watching before swooping back out into the night sky. I LOVED it….

It was, and remains in my memories, a true fairytale.

Chateau wardrobe include designs by Brock CollectionKalita Official, Needle and Thread London, Three Graces London, Luxe Provence, Thierry ColsonSamuel Snider, Behida Dolic, Jacquemus, Rawson, Molly Goddard and Zimmerman with these French beauty products all carried to the Chateau in the Sweetheart collection by Steamline Luggage

Greyfield Inn

There I was back in the United States, sitting on a boat, eyes closed, breathing in the smell of salt and sand and sea. I had missed the ocean so much. Thirty minutes later we docked on the national seashore of Cumberland Island, Georgia, an island with only dirt roads mostly used for walking or bike riding and almost zero cars. We walked from the seashore into an enchanted Southern forest with her blanket of Spanish moss swaying overhead from the gnarled arms of centuries old live oak trees. And then like a beautiful, perfect white shell  you walk upon on the beach, Greyfield Inn appears in front of you in all her splendor echoing a bygone era. 

It’s hard to write about how being here feels. Words can’t seem to touch this kind of magic. I still find it quite remarkable that this sort of place can even still exist unspoiled by modernization or development. As an original home built in the 1900’s by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie for their daughter Margaret Ricketson as a wedding gift, the home is still adorned by paintings and photographs of the family and priceless heirlooms such at Tiffany lamps and Chippendale furniture. Though it was transformed into an Inn in 1962, it is still overseen by the family as they blur the line between romantic luxury grand hotel and charming, intimate family home. 

I have been once before in the early spring, but I found it to be a cozy hideaway in the winter chill. They keep the fireplace in the parlor roaring all day and the bar stocked where you can make yourself a drink to heart’s desire. In the evening after cocktails and mingling with guests over an oyster roast the dinner bell rings, men in their sport coats and women in their dresses ascend down the stairs for truly spectacular three course meal that rivals any Michelin star restaurant, comprised of many ingredients grown next to the house in one of the Inn’s organic gardens. 

But it’s not all about the mansion. It’s also about the island.

The 200-acres of unspoiled marshland, open empty seashore, former plantation ruins populated by wild horses, and artifacts from centuries of American history including the First African Baptist Church founded in 1893 in a community settled by former slaves and later would become the chapel John F. Kennedy Jr. was married in. The island is home to one of my favorite stretches of beach in the world because you feel as if you have it all to yourself, you see nature as it is when it’s just allowed to be. I started each day here watching the sun rise over the horizon and sparkling off the ocean.

Greyfield Inn has found a perfect harmony with it’s place on the island giving their guests bikes to explore, organized daily tours of historic sites, bird watching hikes, kayaks, fishing and much more. It’s the kind of place you can come and do nothing but relax on the porch swing reading a book or sign up for days of activities. What I love most about it all, is once you step foot on the island it’s as if you live in a magical bubble where you don’t have to drive anywhere or make any decisions whatsoever. Your picnic lunch is packed for you everyday in a basket to grab when you wish, your dinner is arranged and in true southern hospitality style, the home feels like yours for a brief moment in time. 

 

*If you are on mobile you can check out my saved instagram story for a first hand experience with videos of the island & inn. 

Inkaterra La Casona Hotel

fireplace615Finding a balance between historic and new is a very fine line. I have never stayed in a hotel that has walked that line more perfectly than Inkaterra La Casona.

Tucked away on a quiet square just a few blocks from the main hubbub, this very small 11-suite luxury boutique hotel subscribes to the discrete way of life where luxury exists in pride, quality, history, upkeep and experience. Why I love it: the hotel was originally built as a mansion in the 16th century first occupied by Conquistadores and to this day maintains the design and architecture of the original manor.

So here is how it goes, you step into an antique carved wooden door back in time, the smell of eucalyptus dances around your body. They hand you a cup of the local ‘coca tea’ which comes in handmade pottery crafted by the owner of the hotel. This was my first experience with coca tea which was not unlike a green tea in taste, coffee in effect but most notable made from the same plant used to produce cocaine. So there’s that. On the second floor you find your suite, peacefully facing the inner courtyard dripping in colonial history and begging to be instagrammed (which I did here, and here, and here and here, and here). The room is warm and soft with original textile murals, baroque wood colonial furniture and those beautiful Spanish accents including white adobe walls so thick each room has to have it’s own wifi. The heated tile in the bathroom leads you to one of those perfect bathtubs which can (and if you’re me, will) be filled with a bubble bath infused in local aromatic oils. Biggest surprise… when you get into bed at night to the roaring fire at the foot of your bed, you’ll find a chocolate on your pillow and a hot water bottle under your sheets.

The best part about this hotel aside from the beauty of preserved history is their commitment to the future through conservation and programs such as Carbon Neutral. Beautiful and smart- doesn’t get more perfect than that.

 In sum, TOTAL ROMANCE.

A stay at the luxury botique hotel Inkaterra La Casona Hotel in Cusco, Peru A stay at the luxury botique hotel Inkaterra La Casona Hotel in Cusco, Peru A stay at the luxury botique hotel Inkaterra La Casona Hotel in Cusco, Peru A stay at the luxury botique hotel Inkaterra La Casona Hotel in Cusco, Peru A stay at the luxury botique hotel Inkaterra La Casona Hotel in Cusco, Peru

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Coco Chanel’s Apartment

A tour of Gabrielle Coco Chanel’s Apartment  at 31 Rue Cambone Paris

It’s hard to imagine walking in the footsteps of a legend… but on this most recent trip to Paris that is exactly where I found myself.  31 Rue Cambon, tucked away on a narrow street is the building Gabrielle Chanel (Coco) purchased in the 1920’s to house her incredibly successful fashion business. The levels of the building are still maintained today as Coco had originally set them up- a shop on the ground floor, haute couture studio on the 1st and her apartment on the 2nd. Walking up the original mirrored staircase was a surreal experience, like being in a toy music box or on a merry-go-round, light reflecting and your angle of perception always on the move. I sat on the infamous 5th step, the number five ever present and repeating itself within her house as she believed it to be a lucky number, and looked at the view Coco herself did so many times. From that angle of mirrored walls you can see how the dress would look on a model at every turn and you could also see the client’s reactions to the collection on the floor below without them being able to see you. Being in the house the day before Chanel’s extravagant spring show allowed me to slip into the fantasy even more, standing on that staircase seeing the models in fittings, running up and down the stairs and all the while watching them in a million reflections, reflections that have not changed in decades.

I found myself throughly surprised when I pushed open the mirrored door to her apartment – the first impression was “ornate oriental”. All of the rooms of Coco’s apartment were lined in 18th century oriental screens in a wallpaper-like fashion. Having been known to hate doors, she had the wooden wall panels cut seamlessly so when closed you would not know a door was there, like a hidden passageway. In the salon she used freestanding screens to obscure the entrance and exists of the room, leaving your eye to seamlessly wonder around and around at her very personal collections.

I was taken by how personal everything was in the space. Either chosen by Coco herself or as a personal gift, there was nothing in place without a story. The side tables – Coco had the marble replaced with black lacquered surfaces (sound like Chanel? yes.). The lions everywhere? Coco was a leo and surrounded herself with her astrological sign. The amazing chandelier in the salon bears both the number 5 and the iconic double crossing C’s. A dinner table for six? Coco preferred later in life more intimate dinner parties with the focus on stimulating conversation, conversations that would be happening with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, and Marlene Dietrich. She would pick up pieces from all over and mixing high and low without a bother to monetary value surrounding herself in things that meant something to her. On the side table of the salon sat one frog with his mouth open and inside was a piece of crystal. I asked our host why it was there and she said one of Chanel’s more famous guests accidentally broke a crystal off the chandler and hoping Coco would not see, hid the piece in the frog’s mouth… but, Coco did see to which she replied to the guest was a more fitting place for it after all.

My favorite piece in her apartment are the gifts from the Duke of Westminster- silver trinket boxes that sit on the salon’s coffee table and don’t reveal their true value until one opens it and it’s golden interior radiates so bright it feels like a piece of the sun. Coco said after receiving these lavish gifts that this was TRUE luxury: the most valuable aspect hidden from the public eye. This is what inspired her to make fur jackets “inside out”, with the softest part only for you.

She took inspiration from her home– the shape of the mirror in the entryway is the shape of the bottle of Chanel No. 5 as well as the face of many Chanel watches. On the oriental screens lining the walls motifs of camellias danced- another iconic symbol of CHANEL. Most notably, she created her famous quilted bag from the pillows on her 1920’s custom made suede couch. It is quite obvious Coco Chanel had a vision of personal taste, which she let influence her work in the most organic way possible and to that I find her immensely fascinating for she taught me style is everywhere, you just have to see it.

Now imagine this – the owner of this apartment, a woman who set the tone of style for decades, the creator of a fashion house that bears her name and is still so relevant and esteemed today was once just a little girl growing up in poverty simply as Gabrielle…

A tour of Gabrielle Coco Chanel’s Apartment  at 31 Rue Cambone Paris A tour of Gabrielle Coco Chanel’s Apartment  at 31 Rue Cambone Paris  A tour of Gabrielle Coco Chanel’s Apartment  at 31 Rue Cambone Paris  A tour of Gabrielle Coco Chanel’s Apartment  at 31 Rue Cambone Paris

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Cumberland Island

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I remember that photograph. It was instantly synonymous with American style, American royalty, and that fairytale wedding to Prince Charming. I never forgot that image, the beauty of the moment, the elegance and intimacy of the chosen venue. Such an interesting choice to make for such a famous last name. Fast forward nearly 18 years later, and I’m standing on the steps of the First African Baptist Church on Cumberland Island thinking about all the dreams that one photograph gave me as a child. I remember reading about how the guests stayed at the Greyfield Inn where the reception was held but as time passed these little details faded away, now those faded details are a part of my very personal memories. Cumberland became more than a dream, but a cherished experience.

The day is full of delight with the kind of youthful energy and discovery you find in a F. Scott Fitzgerald book. We went on hour long hikes, took bike rides to old cemeteries and rode around horses grazing beneath the ruins of the Dungeness mansion. We rode for hours down the seashore without ever seeing another person, finding seashells and chasing horses. One of the most charming rituals of the Inn is how they make their guests picnic baskets for lunch everyday you can take with you on your private adventures.  On our second morning we rode with the house naturalist on a tour of the island where we visited that famous church, saw the house where President Jimmy Carter ate at multiple times, and discovered Plum Plantation which took my breath away. The history and nature, preservation and privateness is so far beyond anything I have ever experienced that I can only describe this stretch of land, twice the size of Manhattan, as magical.

If you ever need to find that corner of the world where things just are… where you can sit in the natural silence of the world alone and breathe in the sunlight, taste the salt of the sea and feel that life is just simply beautiful… then come to Cumberland Island. My heart will be there waiting for you.

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Greyfield Inn

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While we were in California last year, spending the day photographing Lake Tahoe with our friends, Adam Katseff and his wife Amy, they told us about the Greyfield Inn…the magical place they stayed on their honeymoon, one that they knew I would LOVE (turned out to be a major understatement). I knew the name sounded familiar, and once they mentioned it was on Cumberland Island, it all came back to me…an enchanting wedding, an all-American couple…but more on that tomorrow…

After hearing about it, I knew I had to see Greyfield Inn for myself and with the trip down to visit SCAD, it was the perfect opportunity. I’m an extremely visual person and I’m sure it comes to no surprise to you that I quite often dream about the way life looked “back then”. I think walking through the doors of Greyfield will be as close as I will ever get to knowing the way it might have actually looked…

You leave your car on Amelia Island and Mitti, one of the four owners and inheritors of Greyfield and the Carnegie property, takes you by boat to Cumberland Island. Walking up from the dock the giant, old live oaks seem to wave at you with their long fingers of Spanish moss, diffusing the afternoon sun into a sparkling haze underneath their centuries-old canopy. Then, from behind the trees you catch the first glimpse of the four story white mansion they call Greyfield. Built in 1900 as a wedding gift to the Carnegie’s daughter, Margaret, this home is still furnished with many of the original pieces of that era but with exceptional modern day comforts (ummm…air-conditioning). As you walk up the grand staircase to the second floor porch lined with rocking chairs and swinging daybeds, you regret how short your stay is. Now, up in the canopy of live oaks, you overlook the property of white picketed fences and fields of grazing wild horses and as they offer you organic rosemary lemonade, if you’re like me, you think you’ve died and gone to heaven.

The house, grand as it is, still holds a very sweet intimacy. At night, sitting out by the waterway looking back on her, she stands a soft pearly white in the light of the moon, framed by Spanish moss draped trees with a golden light glowing out of every window, so warm and welcoming you would swear the evening was meant just for you. The charm extends to the inside with its historic clawfoot bathtubs, immaculate upkeep, full service bar, organic meals, classic high quality southern linens and L’Occitane toiletries. Every evening, men in dinner jackets and ladies in our sweet southern dresses snack on hors d’oeuvres and classic Southern cocktails (recipe for my favorite below!), awaiting a dinner bell around 7:30 where we all move into the formal dining room for that night’s seasonal meal which at times can harvest ingredients from Greyfield’s own impressive garden.

I know on busy New York days or times when I’m caught in a blizzard, I will think back on this memory and my soul will fill with the warmth of these sunny afternoons, lost on Cumberland Island in a dream called Greyfield

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Rhinebeck Retreat

An historic old farmhouse sitting quietly on a hill where outside the kitchen window chickens lay their eggs and time seems to move ever so slowly. In this magically decorated home I felt as if they found a respectful balance of old and new, formal yet comfortable. It is to no surprise an artist lives here and with her husband raised wonderfully creative kids, as you can see here

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An Artist & Air Force Vet’s Home in Beaufort, NC

A very sentimental home tour for me — it’s filled with personal memories from my childhood summers growing up visiting our family here on the outer banks. This is the living room my parents were married in, the kitchen I ate my first southern boiled shrimp, shucked oysters and spent hours on the third floor with my brother looking through all the boxes of treasures from eras gone by while ran fell on the tin roof. Summers in a house nestled in a town so peaceful they didn’t have to lock the doors at night. If I close my eyes I can smell the mixture of antiques and french perfume and feel the damp humidity of the south on my skin.

The owners — Laura Piner was an exceptional artist as well as art teacher in the community and founded the Mattie King Davis Art Gallery. Her husband Jim Piner spent 15 years in the US Air Force including a stint in Viet Nam later becoming a highschool teacher and baseball coach. 

The creative vision of this home was not based on trend or example but by an artist’s love of color, pattern and texture as well as a passion for historic preservation.

Welcome to the 1852 coastal home of Laura & Jim Piner.