An extended, converted sheep barn made of old stone with a 2,600m² tree-dotted garden with a pool, nestled in a village near Brignoles in south-east F
An extended, converted sheep barn made of old stone with a 2,600m² tree-dotted garden with a pool, nestled in a village near Brignoles in south-east France.
The property lies 2.5 kilometres from the middle of a wine-growing village in a lush corner of Provence in south-east France. The village is in the heart of the country's beautiful Var department, close to the town of Brignoles - the local area's administrative centre. Brignoles offers many shops for everyday needs. The dwelling was initially isolated when it was built in around 1900. Today, other houses lie beside it, yet without compromising the property's cosiness and calm. You can easily reach the centre of the village by bicycle or foot from the home. Brignoles with its interchange that takes you onto the A8 motorway is a five-to-ten-minute drive away. The Mediterranean coast with its sun-kissed beaches and the city of Toulon with its high-speed train station are only a one-hour drive away, as is Aix-en-Provence's high-speed train station. And you can get to Marseille airport in just 1 hour and 15 minutes.
From the road, you reach the house via a cul-de-sac that is a few dozen metres long. When the stone sheep shed was first built, its floor area only covered 30m² with an upstairs room in the western section and walls around 50 centimetres thick. In 1985, this building was extended: two small stone sections were adjoined to it. These extensions have kept the structure's original style. Their gabled roofs have ridges in parallel to the original sheep shed's roof ridge. All the roofs have barrel tiles. The window and door lintels are either made of stone or timber. Today's enlarged building offers a liveable floor area of around 133m². It has four bedrooms. One of these bedrooms has a separate entrance, so it could be a guestroom or it could be rented out. It is a spacious bedroom. The grounds are virtually flat and form a rectangle. Two separate entrances lead into the grounds. The southern section slopes slightly. The northern edge is demarcated with a small stone wall and a row of olive trees. Several pines mark the property's eastern edge. The house stands on the plot's western side. Most of the grounds are open, taken up by a vast lawn. A wire fence separates a swimming pool from the rest of the garden. This pool is around 10 metres long and 4 metres wide. There are two wells on the grounds. One of them probably dates back to the stone sheep shed's period of construction. These wells provide water for watering the garden and filling the swimming pool.
The house
The garden-level floor
A wooden entrance door on the north side leads into the house's most recent section. You step into a lounge with a dining area and a plain modern fireplace. An open-plan kitchen adjoins this space. The room looks eastwards, through French windows, into the garden - the room's backdrop. The walls are simply painted white. Travertine tiles adorn the floor. And exposed beams of varnished timber run across the ceiling. The kitchen is compact and fitted with grey wooden units. Natural light fills it from two sides. A small shower room adjoins the lounge and a flight of wooden steps leads upstairs. A little further on, an arched doorway and a step take you into the former sheep barn, which contains a room used as an office and library. This room has a floor area of around 20m². The ceiling's original exposed beams are painted white. The stonework is exposed in some parts. Two windows face south and French windows lead outside in this direction too. On one side, there is an adjoining utility room. It leads to a shower room and lavatory. On the other side, a tiled flight of stairs with timber nosing leads up to the oldest bedroom. On the north side of the house, there is a large bedroom with a floor area of around 20m². It was made with a separate entrance, but ...
