Living in the South of France is like living in a sun-drenched olive grove. Living in Uzès is like living in a 16th-century museum. It is officially one of the most beautiful towns in France and the Saturday market is the best in the south.
Peta MathiasI’ve escaped more houses than I’ve said Hail Marys but nevertheless, one day in 2013, I bought a small two-storey house in the centre of Uzès (half-an-hour from Avignon) and turned it into a three-storey home with cooking school and big terrace on the third floor.
Every single friend in Uzès said, “You are making a big mistake, the house is only of interest to cockroaches, your filthy neighbours will make your life miserable and you have no garden.” My friends in Auckland talked to me as if I’d had a psychotic episode, slowly and patiently, in an effort to dissuade me. But I had a dream.
There were some extraordinary features in that house. One, it was a heritage protected building in a protected street in a protected town. Two, it had two small Roman (Uzès is a Roman area) plinths in the kitchen. Three, it had a 16th-century Louis X1V chimney in the living room. I mean, hello!
That horrible house turned into a stylish cooking school with a linear chandelier over the sink, restored Louis X1V chimney, and hand-painted mural on the stone terrace wall. I was so thrilled with it that I wrote a book about the do-up called, Never Put All Your Eggs In One Bastard.
The house was designed by my friend Gina Godoni in Uzès and she project-managed the build. I wanted a dwelling just like hers — open, industrial, exposed beams, white wooden floors.
The heritage association made life very difficult for the build, only allowing me to put windows on one side of the house, so Gina put entirely plate glass from top to bottom.
After the house was finished I discovered Nama Rococco, the hand-painted wallpaper of American artist Karen Jo Combes (namarococo.com). I contacted her and she designed a funky colourful riot for the living room wall. She starts with white archival paper, paints a design on it then screen prints a black design on top.
Another wonderful feature is the golden wall at the opposite end of the living room, painted in a complicated layered technique by a Swiss artist who does it in Arab countries where they have whole houses painted like this, giving new meaning to the word excess.
The only thing that’s really French about the house are the kitchen floor tiles and the turquoise Lacanche stove. I was talked, against my spiritual inclinations, into putting fake grass on the third floor terrace and now I love it because I wake up in the morning and look straight out over the green to the trees outside.
What happened to the filthy neighbours? They were evicted and now I have fragrant, adorable neighbours who grow flowers and plants all over the passage.
The house is currently available for holiday rentals: petamathias.com/uzes-rental
Words—Peta Mathias
