Trying to plan an itinerary for a Saturday outing in the Gaillac area, I came across the Château-Musée du Cayla. I’d spotted signs in passing on holidays in past years but never taken the plunge to visit.
On looking it up, it is a writers’ museum, the former home of Maurice (1810-1839) and Eugénie de Guérin (1805-1848), a brother and sister who were both writers, Maurice becoming a Romantic poet.
Given that these both fell into a distinct gap, or fair to say, chasm, in my education, a lack of enthusiasm for Romanticism and Stewart’s lack of French, I wasn’t sure how interesting a stop it would be but it had one huge and rare advantage – it was open throughout lunchtime!
We wiggled our way to the site near Andillac and up to the parking at the top of an excitingly serpentine & unhelpfully gravelly drive as my knee was not going to cope with the walk up plus the anticipated steps in the Château. We were helpfully waved in by a young man who copped me wimping on the last gravelly and precipitous turn, even with 4wd!
The first set of images and quotes from Eugénie’s letters & journals next to the reception all focused on garden produce and foods, so that was promising!
A pleasant young man at reception apologised that he couldn’t offer the tour in English and as we were the only customers, was quite happy to adapt the tour to our limited mobility if need arose. He also kindly grabbed a couple of folding stools and brought them along for us or advised where we were allowed to perch while he spoke.
The house is not huge, a ‘gentleman’s residence’ dating back to 1452, now set in 27 ha of grounds. The Guérin family married into the estate in the 16th century. As was usual, the estate was pretty self-sufficient, surrounded by agricultural land that produced much of what they needed, whether food, meat, wood or textiles.
Our guide told the story of the family very engagingly and we were well invested in them. Their mother died young and Eugénie took Maurice very much under her wing. She and sister Marie were allowed to attend the lessons given to brothers Rambert and Maurice, the latter being a gifted linguist and student, going to Toulouse aged 12 to study for the priesthood, thence to Paris where he decided he wanted to write and persuaded a friend to tell his father!
I won’t reveal all, but will say that the prodigy Maurice’s innovative prose poem The Centaur and his other writings did not bring him instant success. Eugénie corresponded with him and their letters survived.
Maurice contracted TB and returned home not long before his 29th birthday to be lovingly tended by Eugénie for a couple of weeks until he passed away.
His sister continued the journal she had kept, leaving instructions to destroy it on her death, and lived on in the family house. Sadly she only survived him by 9 years.
Friends promoted Maurice’s work after their deaths and he was championed by George Sand. Their sister Marie was approached with a request to publish Maurice’s work and Eugénie’s letters; Marie agreed and decided Eugénie’s journal should also be published. Both gained posthumous fame.
The house is presented generally as it would have been in their day, with some artistic installations enlivening the setting.
It was a pleasure to ‘meet’ them and share a little of their lives. I think our favourite room was the cabinet of curiosities we were left to explore at the end.
The grounds are extensive and various walks are marked; it’s a wonderful setting for a charming little gem.
Random Thoughts 