The owner’s tour | A sprightly centenarian with a lot to tell

Owners open the doors of their exceptional homes, offered on the resale market.

Houses that have lived have a lot to tell. And when you were born a farmhouse at the end of the 19th century^e century, to become a tourist lodge at the beginning of the 21st century^{e –} and have a special connection with a character in a detective novel – you yourself are at the heart of the story. Welcome to the bright and talkative Hillhouse in Lac-Brome.

Immaculate inside and out, with dark touches that give it an elegant modernity. This is the happy result of the remodeling that Louise Cadieux and Gilles Trudel, owners of the place and hosts of the B&B, carried out two years ago. During the first nine years of their governance, the colours yellow/beige and burgundy reigned, as was the style of the period decor. “We wanted to purify,” summarizes Louise, before we get into the story of their arrival in this corner of the country. Because it was a bit of chance and destiny that brought the couple to the Eastern Townships 11 years ago.

Until then, Gilles, a multimedia designer, and Louise, a meeting planner, were avid residents of the “north block” who liked to take advantage of the Laurentians’ assets. Toying with the idea of ​​operating a bed and breakfast alongside their respective jobs, they looked at the possibilities. It was during their research that an ad caught their attention: the Hillhouse bed and breakfast was for sale in Lac-Brome. The Eastern Townships were not part of their plan at all, but they went to visit the property anyway.

Beautiful and solid

The rest is history, as they say: they fell in love with the place. Especially since their aspirations were materializing with a turnkey home. The Victorian-inspired farmhouse, built around 1898 for the Hillhouse family, had been renovated from top to bottom by the cabinetmaker who bought it 100 years later.

Electricity, plumbing, renovation of the foundations, the kitchen… in short, between 1998 and 2000, the house had undergone a real facelift. It was also this renovating owner who turned it into a gîte. When the man sold a few years later for health reasons, two ladies from England took over. They sold it to Louise Cadieux and Gilles Trudel in 2013.

While the idea of ​​running a gîte appealed to them, the couple also wanted to have their own private space. The basement being quite large and becoming, they had it converted into a loft upon their arrival and made it their pied-à-terre. Practical in the morning, when you only have to climb one flight of stairs to go and prepare breakfast for the guests.

The past conjugated in the present

The original owner, Alvin Percival Hillhouse (1866-1932), was a poultry farmer, businessman and former mayor of Foster. He owned land that extended down to Brome Lake. He and his wife, Sarah Ellena Soles (1874-1955), had five children. Today’s house has five bedrooms, each named after them: Agnes, Beatrice, Margaret, Percival (the only boy in the family) and Donna. Each bedroom has its own bathroom, except for two that share a bathroom.

As you walk through the ground floor corridor, you meet members of the Hillhouse family, captured in old photographs. There is also a poster from 1927, which highlights Mr. Hillhouse’s contribution to the poultry industry. Although the land was sold, the house remained the property of the Hillhouses until 1976.

The property has an ancestral and notarized right of access to Lake Brome, Louise explains. This asset adds to the attractions of the region, known for the beauty and gentleness of its rolling landscapes, its ski slopes, the richness of its history, its cultural life, its vineyards, its cheese factories, its gastronomy…

Chief Inspector Gamache gets involved

The novel character in question at the beginning is Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, a pillar of the detective series by author Louise Penny. The Eastern Townships are not only the place of residence of the famous writer, but also a great source of inspiration for her. The fictional village of Three Pines, Inspector Gamache’s favourite place, is made up of elements taken from real places in the region.

It turns out that the current owners of the Hillhouse gîte, Louise and Gilles, are also in charge of orchestrating the Three Pines Tours. These are discovery tours of places that have inspired the writer. “We’ve had people from Brazil, South Africa, Australia… We come from all over the world,” says Gilles. It must be said that M’s novels^me Penny have been translated into over twenty languages.

Conclude…to continue!

Running a B&B is rewarding and allows you to meet a lot of people, Louise and Gilles admit, but it is also very demanding when you want to do things very well. As they get older and want to lighten their load, the couple decided to sell the house, to devote themselves solely to touring. Note that the residence can be sold as a personal home, or as a B&B, if you include the business. This means that a new chapter in the history of Hillhouse is about to be written.

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