In a village on the banks of the Rance, An authentic 16th- and 17th- century maison de maître within a walled park - ref 615172
In a village on the banks of the Rance, An authentic 16th- and 17th- century maison de maître within a walled park.
In northern Ille-et-Vilaine, in the historic province of Brittany, on the banks of the River Rance, the village - a former fishing settlement - ranks among the most beautiful in France. Its centre is threaded with narrow lanes lined with granite houses, in direct contact with the estuary and its maritime setting. The property stands at the heart of the village, within immediate reach of shops, the school and the quays. Saint-Malo and its TGV station are some twenty minutes by car; Dinan, 25 minutes; Rennes, under an hour. From Saint-Malo, Paris is less than 3 hours by train.
Within the village, the property occupies a stone-walled plot accessible from the street through a gate opening onto a courtyard, extended by a garden sheltered from view. The main house and its old stone outbuildings form a group built between the 16th and 17th centuries. The house comprises eight rooms, including four bedrooms. The principal building, set beneath a long-pitched slate roof pierced by dormers, presents rendered rubble-stone facades articulated by orderly window openings with exposed granite surrounds. An arched doorway marks the main entrance from the courtyard, while the gable walls, punctuated by chimney stacks, define the building's silhouette. A timber spiral staircase, lit by an opening in the facade, connects three levels. A carved date - 1711 - visible on a window surround, records an earlier phase of construction or remodelling. To the rear and side of the house, the garden adjoins ancient masonry, a former outbuilding and a stone lean-to.
The main dwelling
The ground floor
The stone-flagged entrance hall leads to a living room retaining its original fittings. To one side of the doorway, a former china dresser with stone shelves is set into the thickness of the wall. The gable wall holds a fireplace with granite corbels and lintel. Against the rear wall, a run of built-in furniture within the wooden panelling includes two box beds and a longcase clock. This interior illustrates attests to the room's historic role as the principal living space. A kitchen, which connects with this room, has a cabochon-tiled floor. Beyond, a study occupies the rear of the house. At the far end, within partly rendered stone walls, a sitting room retains a stone fireplace with a straight hood above the mantel.
The upstairs
Several hallways serve the various rooms, whose floors are predominantly original timber boards. The walls, rendered or papered, retain decorative elements in places, while the ceilings combine exposed beams, exposed joists and smooth sections at varying heights. Four bedrooms occupy this level; one extends to a dressing room, another incorporates storage. A stone fireplace stands against one wall, where windows are fitted with small-pane glazing. A bathroom adjoins a separate lavatory.
The attic
At the second level, two distinct areas, as yet unconverted, with the roof trusses exposed throughout. The openings afford a plunging view over the tightly packed rooftops of the village.The outbuildingsSeveral outbuildings are distributed across the property: two cellars, a workshop, two lean-tos and a car shelter. In need of restoration, they represent genuine potential for additional accommodation and lend themselves to a variety of uses. Some could be converted into self-contained dwellings.The gardenEnclosed by walls, borders and mature trees punctuate the garden, among them a silkworm mulberry. A circular press and a stone well speak to the site's rural past.
