Château de La Buzine
I am devoted to the works of Marcel Pagnol, who grew up
in the suburbs of Marseille and the countryside behind the town.
In Le Château de ma Mère he describes the long and painful journey from the
family home to their holiday cottage.
His mother was frail, and the walk was long. However, a former pupil of Marcel's
father, who worked on
the irrigation canal, showed them a short cut along the canal through the
grounds of various large estates.
In one of them they were made most unwelcome, but the friendly canal-keeper
saved them from trouble.
In another, they were warmly welcomed every time they passed. It was to this
that Marcel referred
as his mother's castle. Many years later, long after the early death of his
mother, Marcel, now
a doyen of the French cinema, bought, sight unseen, a château in the south of
France
with the intention of creating a French Hollywood. When he came to take
possession,
he realised that he had bought his mother's château.
Alas, the second world war shattered the dream of a
French Hollywood, and the chéteau gradually deteriorated
until Marseilles Council bought it, restored it and made it into a Marcel
Pagnol museum. It's also an Arts Centre,
and incorporates – Marcel would have loved this touch – a nursery school.
