Lesterie was originally built in the 1700s by the Pougeard family as a holiday home. Local historians tell us that the original Sieur de Lesterie, David Joseph Pougeard was a lawyer in the French Parliament.  They later married into the local families and there are many Pougeard descendents buried in the local cemetery. 

Later, the house was partly destroyed in a fire, being rebuilt in its current guise in the early 1900s.  It was then the family home of the Prat family who were mainly doctors and lawyers. 

A plaque on the front of the house commemorates Jean Louis Prat, the nephew of the house, who was arrested here, along with 3 resistance fighters by the Germans on the 29th June 1944, just a few weeks after the massacre at Oradour Sur Glane.  He was a doctor and a member of the local resistance.  He provided false papers for resistance fighters and treated their injuries.  After his arrest he was deported to Buchenwald where he died.  He was posthumously awarded the title of Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur.  

One of the others arrested on that day was an 18 year old resistance fighter, Ginette Buisson (later Lagrega) who was taken to Poitiers prison where she was held for over a month.  Her nom de guerre was 'Mascotte'.  She later wrote a book 'Une Vie en Sursis', ('A Life in Reprieve') where she recounts the tale.  Charles-Albert Viroulet and Simone Cleret (later Bouvron), codenamed 'Auger' were the other two members of the resistance arrested on that day.  We have named our B&B rooms in their honour.  We plan to open the second floor of the house as a self contained 1 bedroom luxury gîte, which we will name the ‘Jean Louis suite’.  

The Prats owned Lesterie until the 1990s.