Beachcomber Magazine 04

MAURITIUS THE ART OF DISCOVERY 48 LA DEMEURE SAINT-ANTOINE I t is all about harmony with its gra- cious natural surroundings. After all this time, which has kept it so well-preserved, it is still owned by descendants of the Chazal Family, as it has been ever since it was built in the middle of the fields in Poudre d’Or in 1830. The family was both typically Mauritian and so different that visitors were told: “In Mauritius, there are Mauritians and then there are the Chazals.” It is also a very typically Mauritian dwelling thanks to the care and cash poured into its conservation. It has lived through the changing fortunes of the Mauritian sugar estates from miraculous sugar plantations to the growth of high-end tourism on the same land. Today, Saint-Antoine boasts just four superb bedrooms and sophisticated dining seasoned with a pinch of history. Saint-Antoine started life as the magnificent residence of one of the great sugar barons – EdmonddeChazal who prospered through rigour and virtue, having entered the world of the sugar trade at a time when it was booming as well as the more esoteric world of La Nouvelle Église founded by the philosopher Swedenborg of whom he was an ardent follower. In this large and constantly expanding family – Edmondhad seventeen children, one of whom, Régis, a graduate of the École Centrale in Paris, was smart enough to buy the shares belonging to his sixteen brothers and sisters. In 1902, another little Chazal was born, Malcolm, the offspring of the fifth generation of descendants of François de Chazal who arrived on the island in 1763 at the time of the prosperous Compagnie des Indes. Malcolm was a good little boy who used to visit his grandparents at La Demeure, but as he grew up, after many hard knocks, he proved to be a rebellious, strong willed and mystical artist going, as he put it, from poetry 5. At La Demeure Saint-Antoine, home to the Chazal Family, the pillars on the monumental veranda were destroyed by a cyclone and have since been impeccably restored. 6. Imported from Java in the 17 th century for hunting – as this collection of trophies shows –, there is a proliferation of what are now wild deer. 7. In some corners of the large house objects from the past remain intact, like this wrought iron staircase with its delicate lace work. 8. The impressive remains of a sugar refinery near Saint-Antoine. 5. À la demeure Saint-Antoine, berceau des Chazal, les colonnades de la monumentale varangue détruites par un cyclone ont été impeccablement restaurées. 6. Importés de Java au XVII e siècle pour la chasse – en témoigne cette accumulation de trophées –, les cerfs, désormais sauvages, prolifèrent. 7. Dans les recoins de la grande maison, les témoignages du passé sont intacts. Ainsi l’escalier en fer forgé, ciselé comme de la dentelle. 8. Les impressionnants vestiges de l’usine sucrière voisine de Saint-Antoine. 5 