Aha – that title got you didn’t it.
Sadly non, I have not won the lottery but I was talking to a friend the other day about the guy in the UK who won £148m recently and what we’d do if we won it. It’s a fairly pointless exercise this musing on what you wouldn’t or wouldn’t do with money that you haven’t and will never have but it’s human nature I think! If you’re wondering – the winner went on holiday to a caravan site in Scotland!
Anyway – we mused about what we’d give our families and friends and how peeved the people who have behaved badly to us over the years would be to get nothing – all of which kept us amused for a while before we hit more serious issues.
We wondered where we would live – I said that I thought I’d stay in France but I wasn’t sure where I’d live. My friend wanted a house in the hills above St Tropez with an infinity pool and palm trees in the garden. France is a big country with so many beautiful places; I thought it would take me a while to work it out. I’d need to make sure I could get the right gardener, housekeeper, chef and be close enough to some good shops to spend all that money – there are some serious elements to being a (dream) lottery winner you know!
Well, I think I just found the house of my dreams mes amies – it is in Paris and it is superbe.
In the Faubourg Saint-Germain – in this most exclusive enclave of Paris by Les Invalides on the Left Bank, a home is currently up for sale.
Built for Monsieur, Louis XVI’s brother in 1777-1778 it is a beautiful and historic property and has just about everything in it you could possibly want – a house in the centre of a busy and beautiful city whilst feeling almost like you’re in the country. Monsieur is not the only famous person associated with the house though – Cole Porter lived here with his wife in the early 20th Century. They were said to have decorated lavishly: Platinum paper covered the walls and the chairs were upholstered with zebra skins in interiors that were reflected in dozens of mirrors.
They also entertained extravagantly, bringing the Ballets Russes from Monte Carlo to dance before their guests and giving garden fêtes orchestrated by the society party hostess Elsa Maxwell with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway reportedly in attendance – I could see me doing pretty much the same thing. Well not really but I suspect in a house like this you’d be able to cultivate a certain type of celebrity friend!
It has a cobbled courtyard and is a white-brick, half-timbered structure; there are ten bedrooms – not too big and not too small. A sizeable garden of 5,382 square feet which would mean I could carry on growing my own vegetables and the chickens would have somewhere to play… and I could nip to the shops for fresh bread every morning – or send the chef or one of my other staff!
BUMP
Ah yes, that sound… reality… the asking price is about €40 million, or $51.6 million so I am off to get on with painting the kitchen cupboards in my real home… nice to dream though!
