He was mounted on a wall near the dining table. Arms up, "lit" and graceful.
Lumière, the carved, gilded candleholder, could have been straight out of that famous Disney "tale as old as time". He warmed the room with a friendly presence among the delicate urns, vintage crystal bottles and collectors' crockery - all precious pieces just daring someone to bump into them.
You wouldn't, of course, for fear the staff would appear from some hidden room to scoff at your clumsiness and clean up.Lumière's home, the Château de Chanteloup, is a 16th-century country estate in the Charente, Cognac region in southwestern France.
The former home of Jean Martell, who founded a cognac distillery in 1715 and gave it his family name, the château is now the House of Martell and is used as an exclusive guesthouse by the legendary liquor maker.The château is covered in tapestries, ornaments, and enough cognac to create a spectacular bonfire if a person slipped up while committing the travesty of warming it - a tip, don't do it.
Besides the fact that you'll look like a pompous ass, it destroys the aromas, which are drawn out like perfume from the grapes of the region.The pantry is fat with all things French: an enviable selection of wine ("No! you cannot buy eet, it is a collect-ione") as well as artisanal produce from the region: butter, bread, pastries and cheese, so much cheese - goats', sheep, ashen, matured, young - kept in a damp cupboard for longer than I would like.
Breakfasts are simple, lunches elaborate, but dinner is a deliberately drawn-out, dressed-up, seven-course affair to be savoured slowly. 
Venture outside to inspect the knobbly vines with their fluffy leaves, which might be distant cousins of our South African plantations.
In the little limestone village of Cognac, we met young men who are training for a lifetime of oak-barrel production, by hand and fire, and saw the place where the magic happens - the distillery.WHAT'S COOL ABOUT COGNAC?
1. The getting there: You fly to Paris, then it's a two-hour flight to Bordeaux (or three hours on the TGV train). You could stop in this spectacular wine region, or drive another hour or so to the little limestone town of Cognac.
2. The vibe: Cobbled streets, ivy-covered walls, duck-egg-coloured bicycles . you feel like you're in a fairytale French village.
3. The drinks: Eau de vie, literally meaning "water of life", the concentrated base for cognac, comes from this region of the world only.
You can visit the Martell Distillery, as well as other famous cognac brands, whose names are marked on simple arrows pointing in the general direction.
4. The smooth stories: At the Martell headquarters, we tasted the latest vintages; and visited a small museum which houses ships' records from the 1700s, written with feather and ink, in books so thin you can only handle them with gloves. Learn how the grapes are grown, harvested and produced on a cellar tour, which includes samples of the most expensive tipple in the world, original oak barrels and ooh and aah over a writing desk with compass and charts that once belonged to Jean Martell himself.MEET THE MAN
Jean Martell, from Jersey in the Channel Islands, founded the company in 1715. The son of a wealthy import merchant, by the age of 21 Martell had set up his own business, exporting and importing a range of products, including eau de vie.
By 1721, Martell was exporting over 200,000 litres of cognac in casks to England.
After the French Revolution, Martell became the official supplier to Napoleon Bonaparte and, following World War 2, Martell supplied British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
• To stay at Château de Chanteloup, you have to score an invitation. See martell.com for details about tastings, visiting the distillery and visitors' centre.
• Naidoo was a guest of the House of Martell...