French soldier Hubert Rochereau’s room has been left exactly as it was when he went to fight – and die – for his country in the First World War 96-years-ago.
The current owner of the house Daniel Fabre showed the Telegraph around the room which has been eerily frozen in time, with his blue officer’s jacket sitting on a stand and his books and photos collecting dust on the mantelpiece.
Second Lieutenant Rochereau died on 26 April 1918 in Belgium after being wounded in fighting near the village of Loker. He was awarded a posthumous Legion of Honour for bravery and his name is on the war memorial in his home village.
The parents of the dragoons officer maintained his room exactly as it was the day he left for the front. When they sold the house in 1935, they made the new owners sign a clause stating that the bedroom where their son was born in 1896 could not be changed for 500 years.