PARADISE IN THE LOIRE

Anne de Foucaud opens the doors to her family's home in the Loire Valley - the 18th-century Château de Sourches, which boasts the world's largest collection of peonies

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"THE CHATEAU HOLDS OUR TREASURED CHILDHOOD MEMORIES.

BEING ABLE TO COME HERE IS A REAL PRIVILEGE'

Set in the verdant landscape of France's Loire Valley, Château de Sourches is a neoclassical masterpiece enhanced by lovely natural surroundings.

Dating back to the 18th century, the estate is now in the hands of the De Foucaud family, who have added to its charm with their own aesthetic alchemy.

Count Jean de Foucaud, his Countess Bénédicte and their children, Anne and Alexandre, live lives centred on beauty. As a jewellery dealer, the Count has for decades dealt in the kind of historic pieces - such as crowns - that achieve icon status.

Anne and Alexandre are following in his footsteps at À la Vieille Cité, their boutique near the capital's exclusive Place Vendôme. As for the Countess, she devotes herself to gorgeous floral gems. Her passion is peonies, and she has turned the chateau's dry moat into a garden abloom with the world's largest collection of the flowers.

So all in all, they're very much aligned with the spirit of a place that, as bombs rained down on Paris during the Second World War, offered up its vast cellars to shelter works of art rescued from Versailles and the Louvre.

Now, as the family show us around their remarkable home, Anne de Foucaud tells us what it means to them. "Being here is a real privilege for us all," she says.

Anne, how did your parents come to acquire this house?

"It was 2001 and they were looking for a place close enough to Paris for us to spend weekends. They discovered Sourches almost by chance. My father was travelling to Geneva by train when he came across an advertisement in a real-estate magazine."

What happened next?