Le Maquis, Valescure, near Saint Raphael in the South of France

 

 Nancie was now, in 1934, Nursery-Governess to two children. Coulou was five and Hugh was a new baby. 'Fisty' as he was nicknamed, gradually grew stronger. Nancie grew very attached to them both and her friendship with their mother Eleonore was to last sixty years or more.

Many visitors came to Le Maquis. A lot of them were English aristocrats, such as Lord and Lady Ashcombe, the de Wintons, the Johnstone Douglases and the Rawlinsons. There was quite an enclave of English folk, with writers and artists in particular. It was near here that F.Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in 1925.

Nancie made several friends of her own age such as Elizabeth Johnstone-Douglas (later Lady Craven) and sisters Winifred and Grisel de Winton.

Eleonore's cousin Anne Frauger and her husband  (known as Froggie) lived in a farm just up the road. He worked in the local bank and they had three children.Their scottish Governess was called Sylvia Mackintosh but Nancie hadn't got much time for her. Ebles de Chabannes, however, had taken rather a fancy to Sylvia. Scottish Governesses were preferred to English ones because of their accents.

Nancie's new friend Grisel de Winton never married but her sister Winifred later married Charles Chichester, adopting two children.

Eleonore treated Nancie more like a companion and friend than just a Governess.She met all her friends and was invited to all the social events, very much as she had previously, with the Warden Family at Cannes and Le Havre.

Life in Trouville and Valescure, 1934

Nancie starts her new job with the Chabannes Family

When Nancie answered an advert for a Nursery Governess that she had seen in "The Glasgow Herald", she was pleased to be offered the job. She was to look after the five year old Coulou, daughter of the Marquis and Marquise de Chabannes. After a long train journey from her home in Kilmacolm, via London and Paris she arrived in St Raphael on the French Riviera. She was met by two men, one old and one young and as she puts 'whisked away in a large car to an unknown destination.' She was a little concerned but soon discovered that the older man was Admiral Rene de Godefroi (of whom more later) and the younger one was Louis, the chauffeur/gardener .La Marquise' had been rushed to the hospital in Cannes as her new baby was on its way. After dinner Nancie was taken to the hospital to meet Eleonore for the first time. Ayo's baby was born the next day and called Hugues (Hugh in French). Nancie found little Coulou to be a sweet child and knew that they would get on.
Nancie and the children had their own rooms in one wing of the enormous villa, Le Maquis. Eleonore spend several weeks in hospital with her new baby and then came home with a nurse called Mlle Bergeron. Hugh was not a healthy baby and several times had to be nursed intensively. Nancie soon found herself in charge of the nursery. She fears that poor little Coulou got neglected as they worried over Hugh's health.
Ebles, in the meantime decided to to to Indochina for three months so Eleonore and Nancie became even closer and Eleonore appreciated Nancie's support as she worried over Hugh's delicate condition.

 

Ebles de Chabannes and his Family History

Unfortunately the Chabannes la Palice chateau was no longer owned by Ebles de Chabannes' branch of the family by 1934. Nancie visited it many years later when Eleonore took her and Jack to Allier to see it. It is not open to the public, sadly but there are lots of photographs of it on the internet as it is an historic monument of France.
The Chabannes family played an important part in the history of France.The Chateau de la Palice was acquired in 1430 by Ebles' ancestor, Jacques de Chabannes I and in the sixteenth century, his grandson, Jacques II , Marechal of France, built the renaissance wing with its rose-coloured bricks. The chateau has its own gothic style chapel and the box-beams on the chateau ceilings are stunning, being inlaid with gold
The family have managed to hang on to one minor chateau, however. They still own Le Breveden, in Normandy. This is now a well-loved Castel-camping site, much frequented by English holidaymakers.
Nancie's charge, the little girl, Coulou, is now in her eighties and although the younger members of the family run the campsite, every Sunday evening she gives the guests a talk on the history of the chateau. She married an Englishman, Patrick Gurrey and they live nearby in the village of Faugernon.They live in a wonderful manor house which they rescued from dereliction. We visited not long after they had bought it and Patrick demonstrated that the previous occupants had been cows, by scraping a bit of cow-muck off the floor with a sword!
The stairs started about a metre off the ground and the only toilet was an outside privy with the traditional diamond-shaped hole in the door. We used to go out there with a storm lantern in a group and the rest would sing to save the embarrassment of whoever was in it!( Shades of 'I'm a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here'.)
Some years later Coulou and Patrick bought the ruined castle and accompanying farmstead, becoming Lords of the Manor. In 2013 Madame Gurrey was awarded La Medaille de L'Exemplarite , in recognition of her contribution to French culture and history.
 

Nancie goes back to France 1934

In 1934 Nancie returned to France to look after the daughter of the Marquis and Marquise de Chabannes la Palice. Christened Genevieve, the little girl, was always known by her nickname, Coulou. Once again Nancie became very friendly with her employer, Eleonore whom she called Ayo. Eleonore was expecting her second child. Hugues de Chabannes la Palice was born not long after. Nancie adored babies all her life and thoroughly enjoyed her own when they came along and later her grandchildren were a great joy to her.
The marriage between Eleonore and her husband, Ebles de Chabannes, was not a very happy one. It had been arranged by their parents. She had the money and he had the title. Like all the french aristocrats, Ebles had an eye for the girls, especially English ones!  He was not very good at coping with financial matters but very good at spending his wife's money. Once, when Eleonore inherited some money, he spent it on a huge old villa in Trouville, called La Mare au Diable. His wife was not pleased.
Most of their time was spent at Le Maquis, a wonderful house at Valescure, near St Raphael, in the south of France. Many English aristocrats also built villas and lived in farms in the surrounding area and they all socialised with each other.
Eleonore's Mother was Sybille Bullock-Hall from Six Mile Bottom in Cambridgeshire. The name amused my brother and myself when we were young. She had married Louis Paul Jean Goulden, a French artist who made fabulous enamel works of art. Her sister Marie-Elizabeth, known as Zabet married the Count de Grancey. He inherited the Chateau de Medavy and became Governor of Les Invalides.
I remember dining at the chateau with my parents, Nancie and Jack, in the 1960s. There was a butler called Hans and he served everyone in order of precedence. There were several marquises and other aristocrats and we, being an ordinary English schoolmaster and his family, from Widnes, were served last, naturally. It was an amazing experience.