My entire reason for going to Rochefort was to visit the Pierre Loti House.  It had recently reopened after having been closed for over twelve years for extensive renovation work––I had even contributed to the costs of the restoration, and I was excited to see where my money had gone.  And when I get there?  I find it is booked up for three months in advance, and I can’t get in.

Who are all these people who are suddenly so interested in Pierre Loti?  I thought it was rather a niche interest, peculiar to me; pictured myself as a gratefully-received visitor––“Well, bonjour Mademoiselle, we don’t see many visitors like you here”.  Instead, I discover it’s the top ticket in town; can’t be had for love nor money.  And no amount of cajoling on my part is going to get me bumped up the queue.

Now, I said I couldn’t get in, but that is not quite true.  I manage to penetrate as far as the entrance foyer and gift shop, where I found on display a maquette of the Pierre Loti House, rather like a doll’s house of the real thing.

Okay, so if I can’t visit the actual Pierre Loti House, I’ll give myself my own personal guided tour of the maquette.  Studiously, I examined it from one side; then from the other; even examined it from above, and I’d defy anyone to do that in the actual house.

Admittedly, it was not quite the literary/cultural/architectural experience I had been hoping for.  I didn’t get to see the Salon Rouge or the Salle Chinoise or the Pagode Japonaise on the ground floor; nor the Salle Gothique and Grand Salle Renaissance on the first floor; nor even the Chambre Arabe or the Mosquée or the Chambre de Pierre Loti on the second floor but, as museum visits went, it was certainly a memorable one.

© E. C. Glendenny

Wise after the event, E. C. Glendenny recognises that she should have pre-booked.