On the market: 'Our 1758 French manoir became an Opera House'

It all began with a rather crazy idea for a house-warming party. Like many Connexion readers, we had fallen in love with a French country property and upped sticks from the UK and moved to France.

Our ‘coup de coeur’ was the 1758 Manoir La Gozinière in the heart of La France Profonde in north Auvergne. It took us three years to renovate, carefully preserving its 18th-Century character.

Once done, we decided to give a slap-up party for all the new friends we had made.

One of the few things we missed in moving to France were our regular outings to opera. In the UK, we had been accustomed in the summer, to packing up picnics and rugs and heading for ‘country house opera’.

Unfortunately, the English love of these pastoral events is not reflected in France. This is partly because there are so many – about 30 – opera houses in the bigger cities. We were near enough to Vichy, where the lovely Art Nouveau opera house provides excellent productions - but tantalisingly few of them.

So, to celebrate the departure of the builders, we invited a pianist and some young singers from England to sing a few Mozart arias. This performance was enjoyed so much, we asked the singers to return the following year to put on a fully staged opera.

We chose Mozart’s ‘Marriage of Figaro’ based on the 1784 stage comedy by Beaumarchais, which dated from a similar period to the house. The French adore dressing up. So, we asked our guests to come in 18th Century costume.

One of our naughtiest friends came in full regalia as an 18th Century cardinal and another of our oldest friends got the century wrong, and arrived in doublet and hose, his catwalk legs memorable in lady’s tights. So, our first country house opera group was born.

After ‘Figaro,’ we had a long discussion about the possibility of setting up our very own opera company. The upshot was ‘Opera Loki’, named after our resident dog.

Over the years, the company quickly developed, becoming a charity both in the UK and France and in the succeeding summers we put on more than twenty productions.

For each production we auditioned singers in London, most of whom were studying at Royal College, Guildhall School of Music, Trinity Laban or other major music schools in Wales and Scotland.

Many of our singers have gone on to prestigious careers, singing roles at Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, Bayreuth and English National Opera.

Word got around and our opera season grew to include more venues. Most were hosted by generous French friends who were willing to open their chateaux, manoirs, abbeys, or spacious barns, not only to dedicated music lovers but also to people who might never have considered attending an opera.

Opera Loki’s aim was to advance the careers of young singers and also to introduce opera to a wider audience.

Over the last twenty-six years we have hosted performances of operas by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini and Rossini. We are now working with the London-based opera company ‘Regents Opera’ who recently performed Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’ and Richard Strauss’s ‘Salome’ to excited critical acclaim.

Opera at La Gozinière is not the only imported fringe opera run by Brits. Opéra de Baugé was founded in 2002 by John and Bernadette Grimmett at Les Capucins, near Anjou. More recently, in 2019, Jenny Hemans set up Theâtre Basse-Passière at her home in Perche-en-Nocé, in Orne.

You can read more about the ups and downs, trials and tribulations of setting up and running an opera festival in the depths of France in the book written by Chloe Rayban - How to knit an opera available on Amazon.

We have had an absolutely magical quarter of a century living at La Gozinière, but after so many happy years, it’s time for us to move on. So, should you want to buy a beautiful manoir that echoes to the enchanting melodies of Mozart, Verdi, Bizet and Puccini, you know where to come.

Manoir La Gozinière is on the market at €1,100,000. For full details contact Peter Bear at p.bear@wanadoo.fr or visit Leggett International Real Estate.