A country house with outbuildings and five hectares of grounds, nestled just outside a village in the heart of France's beautiful Allier department -
A country house with outbuildings and five hectares of grounds, nestled just outside a village in the heart of France's beautiful Allier department.
The property lies south of a village, in a calm backdrop. From the house's commanding position, you can admire a far-reaching view of the Bourbonnais countryside and the Auvergne peaks in the distance. The local town is a 10-minute drive away. It offers shops and amenities for everyday needs. You can reach the A71 motorway in 20 minutes and Vichy train station in 40 minutes.
The estate is set back from the village and extends southwards over a gentle slope. The buildings stand at the top of this land. In the foreground, there is the country house. It has a ground floor, a first floor and a second floor in the roof space, as well as a magnificent terrace on the ground floor. Behind the edifice, there are the outbuildings, which include a caretaker's dwelling, a former stable, a bakehouse, barns, a workshop and a kitchen garden. The main house resembles an edifice from France's Touraine province, with white limestone elevations and a slate roof. The outbuildings offer a harmonious display of pale rendering combined with brick quoins. The grounds are enclosed with wild hedges and dotted with beautiful, old trees. They also feature a lake at the bottom of the sloping land.
The main edificeThe main edifice is rectangular in shape, with an eastern section that protrudes slightly. Its facade is inspired by the Late Middle Ages, punctuated with tall windows with Gothic mouldings on the ground floor and first floor. Just above the entrance door, a little balcony interrupts the linear arrangement of the windows. The building features a round tower too. This tower is made of brick and adjoins the house's south-west corner. It recalls the majestic monuments of France's Loire Valley. A double flight of steps links the basement to the ground-floor terrace that edges the edifice's central section.
The ground floor
The entrance hall connects, on its left, to a dining room and then to a kitchen. On the right, this hallway connects to a large lounge and an office or reading room. The dining room has parquet flooring and a fireplace. Mouldings underline its ceiling. The room is bathed in natural light from three sets of French windows that lead out onto the terrace. The fitted kitchen has a fireplace in working order and a remarkable series of glazed cupboards. It also has a door that leads straight outside.
The floor areas of the different rooms are balanced out: each room has a 24m² floor area. With the lounge opened up to the connecting office beside it, the floor area of this space reaches 48m². The ceiling is 3.5 metres high.
The first floor
At the top of a wooden staircase, a landing connects to four rooms. On the right, there is a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and an office. On the left, there are two other bedrooms and a separate bathroom. All the rooms up on this first floor are also bathed in natural light from large windows.
The office has a 24m² floor area. The three bedrooms have floor areas of 19m², 21m² and 23m² respectively. Wood strip flooring extends across the rooms and the ceiling is 3.5 metres high.
The second floor
Up on the second floor, a landing connects to four rooms, which are partly beneath sloping attic ceilings. They are filled with natural light from dormers. There are three bedrooms and a large storeroom. A shower room and a lavatory complete this floor.
One bedroom has a 24m² floor area, the two others each have a 20m² floor area and the storeroom has a 20m² floor area. The ceiling is three metres high.
The basement
The basement has a boiler room, three storerooms and a spacious vaulted cellar. You can reach it either from the indoor staircase or from outside via a door that is fitted beneath the ...
