1/49
The Gysling family handing over the keys. Since February 2020, Gyslings have owned Le Moulin sur Célé. The estate in France is located southeast of Cajarc in the Occitania region.
Marc Gysling grew up in Zurich. Here he completed an apprenticeship as an instrument salesman. After the early death of his father, the horse lover moved to Ticino and worked as a stable boy in a horse boarding house.
When his brother Jody, 18 years his senior, bought an old house in Ireland in 1986 that was converted into a restaurant with a few rooms, Gysling followed him. “In the beginning I was a kitchen hand,” he says Blick. He learned the trade from the employed chef before finally working as a chef himself.
From dishwasher to hotel owner
The young Irish woman Deirdre McGlone works at the reception. Today, Didi, as everyone calls Deirdre, is Gysling’s wife and the mother of their three children, Carl (20), James (19) and Christina (17). “Didi, like me, loves horses and we sometimes went riding together. It soon sparked between us, »said the Swiss.
The couple got married in Ireland on Valentine’s Day 1996 and bought the constantly expanding hotel from their brother in the same year. “For me, my brother was always my ‘boss’. He was more father than brother to me,” says Gysling.
Award winning hotel sold
The hotelier couple successfully built and managed the multiple award-winning Hotel Harvey’s Point in Donegal for 30 years until Didi and Marc decided in 2017 to sell the luxury hotel. “We’ve worked a lot over the years. A Swiss nanny took care of the children when they were little. We finally wanted to have more time for the family,” says Gysling.
Because the children were not interested in continuing the hotel, Harvey’s Point was sold at a good price in 2019 after a lengthy sales process. «Our children often helped out in the hotel and earned some pocket money. They knew what it means to run such a hotel business. They have other plans,” explains Gysling.
Lucky hit on the wedding day
The family has kept the country house on the property in Donegal, where the children grew up and daughter Christina is currently in her final year of school.
On February 14, 2020, Didi and Marc Gysling’s wedding anniversary, the couple pondered the future by the open fire and browsed the internet for items to sell. A return to Switzerland was not an issue. “Switzerland is too small for me. I like wide landscapes and we wanted to go to a sunnier country, »said the Swiss.
The couple has always liked France. They rave about the food and wine, the culture and the climate. While browsing the Internet, the couple came across the Le Moulin sur Célé property near Cajarc in the French department of Lot. They flew there with Brother Jody to inspect the object.
“It was love at first sight. We knew immediately: This is it.” They signed the reservation contract that same week. On the approximately 15 hectare property of the property there is a water mill from the 14th century, a main house and some outbuildings, a pool, a secluded little river and a small island. Purchase price: 900,000 francs.
The costs for conversion and expansion work are just as high. “Everything was reasonably well preserved, but the last renovations were 20 years ago. There was some need for renewal, »says Gysling.
Corona brings sadness and changes of plans
The renovation work was delayed during the pandemic. Nevertheless, Didi and Marc Gysling took over some of the existing reservations of their predecessors and accommodated their first guests.
“There were some cancellations due to Corona and the travel restrictions,” explains Gysling. The family experienced the lockdown together in Ireland and used the time to get their own house in Donegal in shape. «Of course, the lockdown was difficult. Nevertheless, it was a nice time for us to have time together as a family and to renovate our house together,” says Gysling. So the work in France was suspended in 2021.
The family was hit hard in December 2021 when Jody Gysling, who wanted to help his little brother Marc with the conversion plans in France, died of Covid. “Our son Carl, who studies architecture, was a great help when we started the renovation work in the main building in January 2022.”
commuting between two countries
Didi and Marc Gysling are currently separated and commute between France and Ireland. While Didi McGlone and his daughter Christina mostly live in Ireland until the end of school in the summer, Marc Gysling lives with his sons in France.
Son James lives in Toulouse, where he studies. Carl and father Marc have temporarily moved into the newly renovated main house until the conversion work on the other separate buildings is completed. The entire renovated estate, with outbuildings, pool and tennis court, will be rented to holidaymakers from July 2023. Marc Gysling: “Some former hotel guests from Ireland and friends have already registered with us for the summer in France.” The family will then move into one of the more distant small houses, which are currently being renovated and expanded.
More time together after the build-up phase
Didi and Marc Gysling will be a bit busy with their new project for the next two years. Then they would like to buy another house for themselves nearby. “There are still affordable houses in the area, even if prices have also risen here in recent years,” says the Swiss.
The couple does not want to be completely without work in the future either. “But the work in France is much less intensive than before with the big hotel. We will have a lot of time for ourselves and our family and enjoy life in France and Ireland.”
External Content
Would you like to see this supplementary content (Tweet, Instagram, etc.)? If you agree that cookies are set and data is thereby transmitted to external providers, you can allow all cookies and display external content directly.