‘The Bourdieu de l’Espelette holds a remarkable place in the landscape of the town’
Located on the hillside, near the village church, the Estate discreetly hides its facade behind the trees of its park. From the 18th century, the windows multiplied and were enlarged, thus allowing the rooms of the house to bathe in natural light. At the time, the house was secondary and belonged to the bourgeois of Bordeaux, the Léotards. The Estate is abandoned, the Leotards only come there very rarely. The vines are completely lost, the fountain has fallen, the walls cracked. The sale is then desirable.
The Delamaties, also a bourgeois family from Bordeaux, decided to buy the estate and remained the owners of the house for 25 years. The Delamati undertook renovation work but the revolution sowed chaos and the Estate was sold and then passed from hand to hand from the 19th century.
In 1903, the Wetterwald family, famous printers from Bordeaux, renowned for printing wine bottle labels, took over the estate where they spent wonderful moments of sharing, with family and friends. With great regret, she sold the house some time later. The Estate then passed very quickly into the hands of a man of letters from Turin for a very short period. It is Grandma’s sister who buys the property to offer her. Mamie, with her pronounced taste for decoration, the art of the table and architecture has given back to the Domaine its charm and splendor of yesteryear.
However, an unknown remains….Why Espelette, why this name? Probably a Basque lord who bought land in the region. Another place called the village of Haux is called ‘Le Basque’. We don’t have certainty about this, but investigations are continuing.
