Knowing that I was participating in NaNoWriMo for the fifth year in succession, I decided to get away for the last week of November in total isolation in order to have a last push on hitting those fifty thousand words. I love staying in Landmark Trust properties as they are 1) beautiful 2) unusual and 3) free of TV and wifi, so no distractions. This year I chose the only place Landmark operates in France (they also have a few in Italy and the USA plus one in Belgium but otherwise all are in the UK).

Le Moulin de la Tuilerie is about half an hour from Paris, near Versailles, outside a little town called Gif-sur-Yvette and it happens to be the former weekend retreat of the late Duke and Duchess of Windsor – the only home that Edward and Wallis ever owned together. A former mill, lovingly converted by the Duchess with interior designs by Stephane Boudin – who Jackie Kennedy subsequently used at the White House – and surrounded by extensive gardens and woods, it was clearly once ‘Party Central’. Guests such as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Cecil Beaton and the Moseleys would join the royal pair for weekend house parties. The Duke was a passionate gardener and in their day the grounds were a riot of colour as he recreated a nostalgic English country garden. Nowadays it is simple lawns divided by beech hedges, framed by the woodland hillside and the watercourses from the river. What was once the miller’s race is now overgrown but ran right outside my windows.

My abode was La Celibataire – or bachelor’s quarters, favoured by the society photographer and designer, Cecil Beaton on his frequent visits. In the image above it is behind the tree in the middle –  a one-bedroom apartment in a former outbuilding opposite the big house. In the Windsors’ day, all their guests would find a chilled cocktail of their choice waiting in the room for them and toothpaste applied to their toothbrushes. The Duchess ensured the maids served breakfast in bed to each guest – and their uniforms matched the bedding and colour scheme of each guest room. I’m sad to say no such service is provided today – the cocktail wouldn’t have gone amiss on my first night. Now La Celibataire is a spacious place for a couple or one person to stay – an enormous en suite bedroom upstairs and a double space – living room plus kitchen-diner and study area – and a second bathroom downstairs. There is a little private patio outside overlooking the gardens.

For someone like me wanting to write, it was perfect. A desk ready and waiting in the corner. A bookshelf stacked with books on the Windsors and Beaton to provide some non-writing diversion. And – shock horror – superfast broadband. Le Moulin is the only Landmark with wifi as the property is not owned by them but managed. In fact, this was a huge unexpected bonus to me, being alone, as it meant I could listen to the radio while cooking and when I’d had enough writing, in the evening I could settle down and watch Netflix on my laptop. It was very special to watch the episode of The Crown in which Edward dies, while staying in his former home.

I even got to have a full tour of the big house (which sleeps up to thirteen guests) as the housekeeper showed me around. Even though now there is little or no trace of Wallis’s flamboyant and kitschy interior design choices – it’s all now in the tasteful muted tones favoured by Landmark – I still sensed the Windsors’ presence in the rooms. Photographs everywhere remind you of how it used to be. One of the highlights for me was the mock heraldic mural painted high on the wall of the room where most of the parties were held – now set up as an enormous kitchen and living space. It reads, appropriately, “I’m not the miller’s daughter, but I’ve been through the mill”.

It is fascinating to wander through this house and stand in the bedrooms, imagining their previous occupants. The Duke’s is modest in size with a stairway up to a bathroom and small sitting room. There is both bath and shower – although the Duke eschewed baths and used showers exclusively – preferring to use his baths to store books and papers!

While Wallis’s bedroom is larger, it still feels relatively modest in size – but then this was a place used only at weekends. The rest of the time they lived in the Windsor Villa leased from the City of Paris in the Bois De Boulogne (later bought by Al Fayd). Her bedroom is accessed via another single bedroom – presumably where her maid slept – as it houses also the wardrobes. I’ve no idea if in Wallis’s day there was a bath where there is now one – but anyone staying there now can sip their drink, soak away and look at the collection of horses in the fields beyond. Perfect!

So, with all this history to distract me, did I get my book finished? Reader, I did! It meant no day trips – other than walking into Gif-sur-Yvette – a twenty minute stroll each way. I didn’t avail myself of the pleasures of Paris or Versailles – Chartres is also nearby and a number of chateaux – in order to keep my head down! Having lived for eighteen months in Paris I have visited most of these before. But I am very tempted to go back to Le Moulin – this time with friends and no writing deadlines – to dedicate time to enjoying the many accessible places of interest.