Once again, winter has settled around the Château de Gudanes, the grand 18th-century estate that husband and wife Karina and Craig Waters have been lovingly renovating and restoring since they purchased the property in 2013. With the drop in temperature comes a shift inward: to planned kitchen repairs in the name of warm meals around the hearth, restoration of brightly colored chapel walls, and the daily opening of doors and windows on the delightful Advent calendar Karina created in the Château’s likeness. Though, it should be noted, the Château is no respite from the chilly temperatures outside. “When the sun is shining, I run outside to warm up! It’s like a freezer inside,” writes Karina. “At other times I keep warm by playing tennis inside in one of the larger rooms. I don’t go anywhere without a hot-water bottle, either. Everyone at the village thinks it’s hilarious, carrying a hot-water bottle everywhere!”
The season has also brought a renewed interest in venturing to the nearby village, the quaint Les Cabannes, just a 300-meter walk down a hill from the property’s iron gates. “The village, like the Château, is nestled in a mountainous valley with 360-degree views,” writes Karina. “We walk up and down the hill to the local market every Sunday morning”—though there is always a certain magic to the walk back to the property. As Karina writes, “In winter, when it has been snowing, I could almost believe I have entered Narnia: walking through the gates, the Château iced in white like a wedding cake.”
Source: Virginia Van Zanten from www.vogue.com
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