In 1975, Nathalie Baye acquired this residence, which is now her lost paradise forever. At 27, thanks to a small inheritance, the actress bought this stone house with green shutters for a “bargain.” The place has been her haven of peace for almost thirty-three years. “She fell in love with this territory and loved this unchanging countryside, sheltered from the world, which has not changed since time immemorial,” recalled her friend of several decades, the writer Jean-Marie Chevrier.
“Philippe Léotard was a close friend, and she accompanied him when he came to see me in Creuse,” he explained the love story between the actress and the department. “Then, she bought this house, a bit isolated from the world. But very simple like her. She was the opposite of a star. She was not part of the jet-set or celebrity crowd. She drank thyme tea and went to bed at 9 PM.” Nathalie Baye gradually transformed the house in Creuse with her movie earnings to make it the place of her dreams.
30 years of happiness in her house in Creuse: “they were left alone”
Nathalie Baye blended into the landscape and adopted the lifestyle of the locals. “She went shopping like everyone else even though she was a star,” said one of her former neighbors. “We would go have a drink at her place, and she was friends with the local veterinarian who brought her freshly caught trouts.” But Paris still called to her. France Gall, Michel Berger, Fabrice Luchini, and Christophe Lambert sought refuge in her house away from the showbiz scene. Separated from Philippe Léotard, Nathalie Baye met a certain Johnny Hallyday. The actress and the singer fell in love. It is said that Johnny Hallyday adored this place. “We saw them when they were shopping in the village. But at the same time, we left them alone. We respected their privacy and their need to get away from the spotlight,” explained the mayor in a previous interview. Pure joy.
But why did Nathalie Baye finally give up on the house she loved so much? “Nathalie thought that Laura would come to Creuse, but for a teenager, the countryside doesn’t appeal that much,” analyzed Jean-Marie Chevrier in Le Parisien. “So, this house no longer had a reason to exist. And she moved to the 6th arrondissement to follow the trend because everyone in Saint-Germain was going there. But Nathalie always regretted selling this house and had told me just a few weeks ago that she wanted to buy it back if possible.”
“The weight of memories may have been too heavy for me to bear”
According to JDD in 2022, the actress from “Le Petit Lieutenant” sold her property for 600,000 euros to a South African woman who immediately fell in love. However, the new owner never returned to Vallièvre. “The extraordinary chestnut tree is hollowed out, the pool has become a duck pond, the garden looks like a jungle. Everything is in disarray, as if the house was not meant to outlive her,” noted our colleagues at the time.
Since 2007, much to the dismay of Nathalie Baye’s former neighbors, the house has been abandoned, overrun by ivy. Neither inhabited, maintained, nor renovated. In JDD, the four-time divorced actress said she did not understand why she had sold it. “I don’t know if I can’t analyze it or if I don’t want to analyze it. Laura regrets that I left. The house was a paradise on earth. The weight of memories may have been too heavy for me to bear. When I visit my friends in Creuse, I can’t help but go back to see my house.”
“It made her so sad,” remembered witnesses of her visits. Now that Nathalie Baye has left, seeing the house in Vallièvre come back to life becomes less and less likely, especially since despite efforts, the municipality “cannot get any news from the buyers.” A sense of sadness.
