A couple of hours drive from Paris, the Normandy town of Sées, huddles around the twin spires of its ancient cathedral. I was there to shoot an extraordinary house for the Times. The house is a bit of an enigma. While some of it is as old as the nearby cathedral, some elements including the staircase, are new additions, albeit salvaged from some other ancient structure. Even the newly built and clearly modern kitchen blends seemlessly with the old. What I loved most about the place, with it’s urns, statues and candlesticks, was an almost total absence of colour. In its place was texture: stone, linen, plaster, distressed timber and galvanised zinc. All enveloping, on a larger than life scale, it’s like an elaborate stage set, the interiors transport you to wherever your imagination directs. Act I, Scene I…
Owners: Paula & Stephen Parkinson
Exterior with the cathedral’s twin spires just visible, right.