In Pictures: The restoration of a 10th-century chapel in Provence
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Making a splash in the pool that commands views of the valley.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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Michele O’Neill and Adrian Passey were inspired by the stoic poetic minimalism of British architect John Pawson.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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Saignon is a tiny hilltop town four kilometres from the market town of Apt in Provence.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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The chapel’s co-owner Adrian Passey found the old church on his morning jog after a tip off by a British couple who had bought nearby.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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Co-owners Michele and Adrian often prepare lavish lunches for friends and family.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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The 17th-century chapel was built on 10th-century foundations, and had been desacrilised and converted in the 1960s into a residence replete with brown floor tiles, fake stone walls and a lot of dubious pine joinery.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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A few years back, the couple acquired the neighbouring plot of land, intending to turn it into a garden. Preliminary digging revealed an ancient structure and a grotto, which they have built up into La Petite Maison.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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The restored grotto.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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Michele O’Neill, co-owner of La Chapelle is a fabulous cook who always prepares a pavlova at Christmas.
Alex Reyto Roxburgh
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Passey devised an interior layout that is reduced to pure architectural lines.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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Saignon is a tiny hilltop town with fewer than 1000 residents.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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Adrian, son Ben and friends gather at the Chapel for a pre-Christmas celebration.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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A light-filled bathroom is a contemporary addition.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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The interior was pared back to its essential volumes.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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Light washes across original windows punched into 1.5m-deep walls and onto concrete floors poured white to create an ethereal interior.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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O’Neill’s son Ben celebrates with a guest.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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Michele cures a side of salmon from Scotland with vodka, local beetroot, coriander and white pepper.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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The Chapel has been sparely but elegantly decorated.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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You won’t want to leave this bathroom with its views across the valley.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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O’Neill is a passionate entertainer who credits her mother, herself a formidable hostess, as well as the influence of the indomitable domestic deity Martha Stewart.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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“Here in Provence, Sunday brunch is a favourite, especially in the Christmas month – which screams for truffles and oysters and chilled Ruinart,” says O’Neill.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
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Oysters supplied by the Gillardeau family who have been producing oysters in Brittany since 1898. So sought after are they that the fourth-generation business has the gnarly shells lasered with its logo.
Alex Roxburgh Reyto
