Le Domaine de La Millasserie

Alain is from Bordeaux, France and Byrne from the US. They met in the US in 1977 and lived in New York City and later in Hudson, New York. In Hudson Alain opened Alain Pioton Antiques in 1985, one of the first antiques galleries in the city where eventually more than 70 antiques shops opened. When he closed the shop in 2008 to return to France, his shop was the oldest gallery in Hudson. During those years Alain  and Byrne imported antiques from all regions of France to Hudson.  In the US  Byrne was Professor of English and American Literature  at the City College of the City University of New York where he taught one of the first courses in Gay Studies in the US   and in 1990 was visiting professor at the University of Paris where he also taught Gay Studies. He has written several books in the field. Byrne and Alain owned two B and B's in the US, Black Swan Hall in their home in Chatham, NY and later The Hudson Guest House in Hudson. When they decided to relocate permanently to France opening a B and B was the obvious decision and in 2005 they added the B and B wing to the original ancient manor house and opened in 2007.