Art de vivre

African influences and an artistic approach have brought a unique style to Nicky Barthorp’s Provencal farmhouse, writes Johanna Thornycroft

- Johanna Thornycroft

Nicky Barthorp was born in Kenya, a country she has never forgotten. Anyone who grows up in Africa never quite stops longing for the vast open spaces, the colour, vibrancy and patterns of the continent. Her home now, an old farmhouse in the Luberon region of Provence, is testament to those early influences mixed with her artist’s appreciation for shape, texture and form.

Newly married in the mid1990s, Nicky left England for France with her husband, a landscape and garden designer. “The house we found was in poor shape and the garden was even worse,” she says, “but the location was stunning and we wanted to make our own mark.”

The couple divided their resources between refurbishing the house and creating a garden – an important step for a man starting a new business where his talent and skill making his own three-hectare garden would be the initial showcase for his work.

Although a great deal of work was carried out when the house was bought, Nicky never felt it was quite the way she wanted it to be in terms of light and layout. The opportunity to make changes came after she and her husband parted.

ALL CHANGE

“It is funny how circumstances come together to make things happen,” she says. Her 12-year old son Theo had gone to school in Aix-en-Provence, Nicky had inherited some money and the house needed repairs. “The ceiling in the kitchen was disintegrating so I made plans to do all the things I had wanted from the beginning.”