Léopold II of Belgium owned an estate on Cap Ferrat and built several houses and an artificial lake. The main residence is the Villa des Cèdres, which has been owned by Marnier-Lapostolle (the founder of Grand Marnier) since 1924 and is now in part a botanical garden called the Jardin botanique Les Cèdres. In 1905, Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild chose Cap Ferrat to build a Tuscan-style palazzo, now known as Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild museum. This very scenic location can be rented under special conditions to host galas and events in the lush park and gardens. Today Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat has probably some of the most expensive real estate in the world, and continues to attract the rich. Current residents include theatrical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Some of its Italianate and belle époque estates have hosted a plethora of heads of state, aristocrats, and personalities: King Leopold II of Belgium, Baroness de Rothschild, Charlie Chaplin, Rainier III, David Niven, Somerset Maugham, Jean Cocteau, Lady Kenmare and Roderick Cameron, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Pierre and São Schlumberger, Hubert de Givenchy, Rachel Lambert Mellon, Mary Wells Lawrence, Isadora Duncan, Winston Churchill, French prime ministers Maurice Rouvier and Raymond Barre. Major Berkeley Levett, an English aristocrat and witness in the infamous Royal Baccarat Scandal, lived there with his brewery heiress wife, the former Sibell Bass. Climate Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat has a mild Mediterranean climate. Average temperatures range from in January to in the summer. There is very little rainfall in the summer. Although occasionally the Mistral winds arrive, it is more sheltered by the mountains than for example St. Tropez, so the winds are not as strong. Winter The temperatures drop below for only three months of the year (December to February), and winters on the French Riviera are balmy in comparison to the cold and gloomy weather that predominates the northern European countries. Townscape Nicknamed as one of the pearls on the French Riviera, this quiet fishing village is renowned in the whole world for its peninsula of lush vegetation and rocky beaches, close to other popular resorts such as Èze, the Principality of Monaco and Cannes. Beaches Paloma beach southeast of the port, on the north side small peninsula (St Hospice). Being on a northeast-facing shore and at the base of some tall cliffs. The location is about a 5–10 minutes walk from the port. Passable beach is on the northwest side of