A restored, 19th-century, former farmhouse, with a dovecote and swimming pool, in grounds of 1.5 hectares near Cordes-sur-Ciel in the Tarn area - ref
A restored, 19th-century, former farmhouse, with a dovecote and swimming pool, in grounds of 1.5 hectares near Cordes-sur-Ciel in the Tarn area.
The hamlet of La Cadène sits at the crossroads of three municipalities in the north of the Tarn area, 30 minutes from Albi. Its name, which means 'the chain' in the local Occitan dialect, could allude to a former crossing point, possibly marked by a tollgate. The property is located in a landscape of great quality, rooted in the midst of the Occitan Tuscany, to the north of the renowned vineyards around Gaillac. The residence enjoys uninterrupted views of an old 13th-century fortified town, is 10 minutes from the medieval town of Cordes-sur-Ciel and its remarkable architectural heritage, approximately 1 hour from Toulouse and its international airport, as well as 1 hour from Montauban.
A road winding past fields leads to the property, with the slender silhouette of the dovecote looming into view first. A gravelled drive leads to the house, whose lawned garden is organised around the three main elements of the property: the former farmhouse, the swimming pool - installed during the restoration - and the dovecote at the southeastern tip of the plot. The property overlooks the neighbouring fields lined by trees with tall branches. The L-shaped building, which is spread over two and three storeys, encloses a courtyard protected from the road by a stone wall and a small annex housing the hamlet's former bread oven. The stone slabs on the patio in the shade of a young oak also run all around the house.
The old farmhouse' volume has been carefully rearranged to create a more fluid interior layout. A stone flight of steps to the old residence has been preserved, even if the entrance to the house is via one of the two French windows on the ground floor. They lead into a lounge and to a staircase that climbs upstairs, while a corridor leads to the dining room and kitchen. Upstairs, three bedrooms and a bathroom occupy the space and open onto the garden and surrounding countryside. In one of the bedrooms, which is part of the restored old residence, there is still an imposing stone fireplace. In the corridor nearby, the remains of a stone sink have also been preserved. Above, there is a fourth bedroom in the attic space, overlooking the courtyard.
The rear of the main building can still be reached by a corridor on the ground floor running along the length of the house. It opens onto a small studio with a shower room, as well as onto an upper floor with a bedroom below the sloping ceiling and exposed roof frame. There is also a barn, housing an old cistern, that could be used as a garage.
The farmhouseIn the beginning, this former farmhouse faithful to the customs of the Cordes countryside was made up of a small residence on the upstairs of one of the wings overlooking the courtyard. It could be reached by a flight of stone steps with a stone parapet that is still in use today. The lintel above the entrance door is the original one and bears the date when the farm was built: 1893. Around the residence, there used to be farm buildings and two outbuildings, laid out in a functional manner typical of the region's farms. The restoration carried out in the 1980s unified the hitherto disjointed volumes to create a more coherent whole suited to modern usage. The façades of limestone rubble have been preserved and restored with care by the most skilful of stonemasons. The door and windows also still boast their original lintels, in ashlar or wood. At the top of the elevations, a restored double genoise corbel discretely underlines the rural character and architectural authenticity of this 19th-century edifice.
The ground floor
The house can be entered through several French windows leading to different rooms: a lounge, the kitchen or a studio. In the lounge with ...
