Friday 10 October 2014

Ephrussi de Rothschild Villa and Gardens.

Sorry for the long absence everybody, the SP & I have been away on an extended trip to England and Scotland (pix & stories to come) and I have neglected my blogging duties for far too long.

A large Sevres vase is the centerpiece of this flowerbed, part of the celebrated Sevres Garden

With sister Kathryn, Cap Ferrat, September 2014
Today I'm going to be sharing with you the delights of the amazing Ephrussi de Rothschild Villa and Gardens in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat which I visited last month whilst in Nice for the QCI annual meeting.

The villa was the winter residence of Beatrice Rothschild who built the house after her separation from her husband Mr Ephrussi in 1904, and on the death of her father Baron Rothschild one year later.




Beatrice was extremely rich and spared no expense in the creation of the villa, she was able to afford anything she wanted and furnished the house accordingly. 

Painted wall panels in the Directoire bedroom

With it's triple aspect windows looking out over the gardens and towards the sea, furnished with both French and Italian pieces and a Meissen chandelier the nicest bedroom on the first floor was reserved for Beatrice's guests

Guest bedroom

An upstairs inner hallway looking out onto the gardens

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Each of the bedrooms had it's own bathroom, she also installed many new fangled inventions such as a telephone, a lift and central heating!



When it came to designing the gardens, and there are nine of them (click here to learn more), she called her servants together and made them into a living garden dressed as trees and holding long swathes of fabric to represent rivers and ponds, pathways and flowerbeds.






As the servants moved around the grounds Beatrice was able to picture the garden exactly as she wished it to be before instructing famous landscape designers to create it for her.

A view of the Spanish garden

Looking into the Florentine garden
Many varieties of cacti are at home in the Exotic Garden
Kathryn in the Florentine Garden



A view of the Sevres Garden from the first floor balcony of Villa Ephrussi Rothschild
The view out across Cap Ferrat from the Rose Garden
Joining Beverly @ How Sweet The Sound
for Pink Saturday.

Click on the link to see who else is in the Pink this week.

12 comments:

  1. Maggie, what an absolutely beautiful setting. Thanks for sharing your photos.

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  2. What a gorgeous place to visit, Maggie. I'm sure you and your sister had a wonderful time wandering through this house and gardens. It's like a jewel. I can't even imagine such wealth.

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  3. Looks absolutely amazing Maggie. I would love to wander around this beautiful building and garden . I'm glad you had a wonderful visit.

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  4. How blessed you are to be able to enjoy other parts of our world. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  5. So gorgeous! Visiting you from Pink Saturday! Would love to travel there someday! Happy Weeekend! Karen

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  6. the beauty is stunning. Thank you for sharing so the we arm chair travelers get to take little virtual vacations, too.

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  7. Beautiful setting. So glad you shared these photos. Glad to see you back at Pink Saturday!

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  8. Maggie what a treat for us and for you to visit this amazingly beautiful place.

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  9. What a view! Those gardens are to die for -- can you imagine looking out the window and onto the sea through such beauty? I can tell you had a spectacular visit -- how could you not?!

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  10. Wow, what an amazing place to visit! I could definitely get inspired there! Thanks for sharing and Happy Pink Saturday to you!

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  11. Maggie, you could be tour guide for the villa. Great job and great photos. I so enjoyed visiting the Villa Rothschild again, especially the gardens. And can't forget the 5* lemon tart consumed in the tea room.

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  12. This is a wonderful overview of this splendid visit..wasn't it just fabulous?

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Thanks for stopping by, your visit just made my day!