The refurbishment of Clifton Hall Great House was a labour of love. It was also a great learning curve but it taught him, said Massimo Franchi, that Barbadians were great workers.
Franchi, the Scottish-Italian owner of the St John plantation house, was giving scores of patrons to the Barbados National Trust’s first open house an enthralling recap of the restoration work done on the 17th Century Georgian/Medieval structure.
Clifton Hall will go down in history as the former home of Ferdinando Paleologus – a member of the Greek royal family and a relative of Constantine the Great. Paleologus’ mortal remains rest in the cemetery of St John Parish Church.
Franchi admitted two words were reverberating in his head when he bought and decided to refurbish the plantation house. Those words were “honour” and “privilege”.
“The history of this house is nothing short of incredible. And I knew when I took it on that it was not going to be easy. In fact it would be a labour of love,” Franchi admitted in his thick Scottish accent. (HLE)
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