Every year, Christèle Ageorges and husband Hubert Delance walk a section of the celebrated pilgrim’s way, the Saint Jacques de Compostelle. In 2017, the path led them to the village of Lectoure. ‘We were instantly enchanted,’ Christèle recalls.
The couple chanced upon the dilapidated remains of what was originally The Royal Tannery (the Manufacture Royale de Lectoure), built by Pierre Racine in 1754. Abandoned for 30 years, it had been on the market for over a decade.
‘It was distressing to see a beautiful building in such decline,’ says Christèle. The exterior was splendid, but behind the bricked-up windows it was dark and humid. ‘Bizarrely, we both suddenly felt happy when we stepped inside,’ she says, explaining, ‘I was at a point in my life when I wanted to do something else. This place was offering me a blank page.’
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Offer to buy accepted, the couple left Paris and embarked on a three-year transformation, creating a boutique-hotel experience under the building’s original name, Manufacture Royale Lectoure.
Christèle’s Instagram posts attracted the attention of Parisian visual identity specialists Studio Foltzer, who came on board, while architect François Muracciole drew up the plans. The 1,200-square-metre building was stripped back, and five bedrooms and three suites were created.
Christèle – a stylist by profession – took a simple approach with the decor. ‘This was an industrial building. That’s significant,’ she declares. ‘It was designed as a tannery and so there are no decorative details. My vision was to make a place that I would have liked to stay in when I was walking the trail. I felt it was important to adhere to a sense of sobriety.’
Walls have been limewashed in a palette of colours that speaks to the region’s beauty. ‘Our natural surroundings are my greatest inspiration,’ she says. ‘Faded rose, lichen green or artichoke, the beige of dried hemp and the grey of a turtledove – the end result is subtle and ensures a soft light every dawn and dusk.’
In homage to the spirit that led the couple on this adventure in the first place, they have dedicated part of their project to walkers of the trail. The building’s cellars have been carefully restored, and for just €40 a night, pilgrims can break their journey there in a peaceful, stylish haven.
It’s home for Christèle and her husband too – their children visit with friends and she organises afternoon teas, exhibitions and cooking lessons, which ensure a flow of creative energy within these old walls.
By combining her experience and acute sense of colour, Christèle has created a retreat that’s restorative, stylish and quietly simmering with that uniquely French art de vivre. As she says, ‘I’m all for the simple things.’ lamanufactureroyaledelectoure.com
