Arbutus Bread owners Patsy and Declan Ryan are selling their two-bedroom villa in Alpes-de-Haute- Provence, writes ALANNA GALLAGHER
PETER MAYLE’S A Year in Provence inspired a generation to flee the fast lane in favour of the rustic tempo of the south of France.
Arbutus Bread owners Patsy and Declan Ryan, one-time owners of the Arbutus Lodge in Cork, the first Michelin-star establishment in Ireland, chased the same dream, discovering the village of Bras d’Asse, in lesser-known Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, when Patsy took her youngest children, Darragh and Anna, out of school for a month of schooling in France.
The couple sold Arbutus Lodge in 1999 and bought their French villa the following year.
Their plan was to spend a lot of time in Provence and some time in Ireland.
Instead, bread has become their staff of life. Arbutus Bread started off as a hobby, Patsy explains. “Declan didn’t play golf. Instead, when in France he became friendly with the local baker, Monsieur Bourjac. They used to spend nights together at the boulangerie, where Declan learned all there was to know about baking bread.”
Back in Cork, Declan set up a bakery in the garage of his house, across the road from their former Michelin-star property.
The pain de champagne Arbutus sells is made using Monsieur Bourjac’s recipe. Their sundried tomato bread uses wild mountain thyme gathered while out walking in the the Alps that surround their home.
The French baker has since retired and is now running an olive oil farm in the region. Upon retirement he gifted Declan all his bread baskets. They are now used in the Cork premises where dough is placed in each individual basket while it “proves” or rises. This takes 22 hours.
Arbutus Bread is now served in the Merrion Hotel and sold in establishments such as Fallon and Byrne in Dublin and the English Market in Cork.
Food writer and Bridgestone Guides author John McKenna is a fan. So, too, is food royalty’s queen mother, Darina Allen.
Demand for the bread has been such that the Ryans have had to rise to the challenge. They bought an industrial unit to house the business five years ago.
When the adjacent unit came up for sale they bought it to accommodate their rising number of loaf orders. They also bought a new oven for €60,000.
Now Patsy (63) and Declan (69) want to recoup some of the dough they’ve invested.
“If we hadn’t expanded the bakery we wouldn’t be selling,” Patsy laments. “We need a financial cushion and unfortunately that cushion is our house in France.”
Surrounded by lavender fields and olive groves, their three-bedroom detached villa is set on a quarter of an acre. It is a three-minute walk to the village.
The 80sq m (860sq ft) house has an asking price of €230,000 through French agent, Terre et Habitat du Provence (00 33 4 92 32 17 60 immodedigne.com) in the local city of Dignes Les Bains.
On the ground floor there is an open-plan sitting room or salon-cum-dining room, two double bedrooms, a family bathroom, and the kitchen – the heart of the house – which features hand-painted tiles and units. It opens out onto a balcony and the patio, where the family breakfasts al fresco and barbecues.
On the first floor there is a master bedroom, en suite bathroom and private balcony.
The garden is scented with wild thyme and rosemary. The house doesn’t have a pool but there’s plenty of room to put one in, Patsy says. She estimates the installation would cost €16,000-€20,000.
The village has a great farmers’ market and on Friday and Saturday nights you can sit outside the Bar du Centre and sample their homemade pizza.
There is also a restaurant that is part of a small, family-run, four-room hotel.
The village has a grocery store and a church, as well as a boulangerie where another baker has taken over from Monsieur Bourjac, and you can still buy fresh croissants and bread.
The region is popular with walkers and cyclists. The Gorges du Verdon and Lac de St Croix, both centres for water sports, are 25 minutes away by car. Skiing at St-André-les-Alpes is a 45-minute drive.
The house is close to Luberon and Var vineyards.
Marseilles is a 90-minute drive. Ryanair and Aer Lingus fly direct to Marseilles. Nice is a 2½-hour drive. Aer Lingus flies direct from Dublin and Cork to Nice.
The property is being sold by agent Corinne Gruber at agency Terre et Habitat du Provence in nearby Digne Les Bains.
[ immodedigne.comOpens in new window ]
00 33 4 92 32 17 60
thp-c.gruber@orange.fr
