Audrey Hepburn’s Sons Reflect on Her Life in Switzerland: ‘She Would Pick Fruit and Make Jams’

On her 60th birthday in 1989, Audrey Hepburn’s dear friend, designer Hubert de Givenchy, sent her 60 white rose bushes to be planted in her garden in Tolochenaz, Switzerland. “Half of those are still there,” Katharina Beaujolin, who recently put Audrey’s former home La Paisible on the market for $21 million, told Bloomberg.

From 1963 when the Breakfast at Tiffany’s star purchased it until her death in 1993, the estate, which sits behind a stone wall on a well-traveled street of the French-speaking village, was her beloved retreat. “When I had to go to school and could no longer travel to be with her on the set, she gave up her career and became a full-time mom,” her eldest son Sean Hepburn Ferrer, whose father is actor Mel Ferrer, exclusively tells Closer. “I went to school with the children of the village.”

Those years of raising a family out of the spotlight were some of the happiest of Audrey’s life. “I started having children,” recalled the actress in 1985, “and that was so terribly important to me and I couldn’t do both career and family.” A second son, Luca Dotti, joined her family in 1970 during her marriage to Andrea Dotti.

La Paisible — meaning “peaceful” in French — would remain Audrey’s place of quiet, reflection and simple pleasures even after both of her marriages ended. Nestled in a small, non-touristy village, the home boasts 12 bedrooms, eight bathrooms and space for entertaining. It also has a pool, many centuries-old shade trees and 40 acres of park-like grounds where Audrey made her gardens.

“She would pick fruit and make jams,” Sean remembers. When Audrey ’s trees provided an abundance of apples, she donated the largess to the Salvation Army International. Luca admits she always felt more at home in Switzerland. “She liked walking a lot and she liked to know her neighbors — in Hollywood that is sometimes hard,” he tells Closer. “My mother didn’t have a driving license and she loved dogs, so she was a very good walker.”

Audrey Hepburn Loved Switzerland’s Seasonal Joys and Holidays at Her Estate

Audrey and her family spent many holidays at La Paisible. “Her good friend Capucine, who was a famous Givenchy and Valentino model in the ’50s, would come,” recalls Sean. “But it was mostly our group: her mother, my grandmother who lived with us. My stepfather, my brother and me. Christmas was the time we all got together.”

In 1993, Givenchy flew Audrey and her partner Robert Wolders from Los Angeles where she was being treated for cancer to Tolochenaz, so she could enjoy one last season at La Paisible. “In Switzerland, we have hard winters,” says Luca. “One of the things my mother loved most was her garden blooming after a long winter.”