Between Dijon and Besançon, within a 1 hectare park, a maison de maître, guest house and outbuildings with an industrial past - ref 972839
Between Dijon and Besançon, within a 1 hectare park, a maison de maître, guest house and outbuildings with an industrial past.
Set in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region at the junction of four départements, the property stands in a village typical of the Jura, between Dijon (45 minutes) and Besançon (40 minutes), and within 25 minutes of both Gray and Dole. This cultural crossroads has long shaped the wealth of the area, notably through the château route winding along the valley of the River Ognon. The medieval village of Pesmes, with its shops and amenities, is under 10 minutes away, and the small town of Marnay, with its larger stores, 15 minutes. Tavaux airport and the TGV station at Dole are within 30 minutes. The A36 motorway is 10 minutes away; Geneva and Fribourg are 2 hours 50 minutes by road, Paris 4 hours by car or 2 hours 30 minutes by train.
The wrought-iron entrance gate heralds a bourgeois house, probably built in the mid-19th century. A paved drive leads to garages at the rear of the property. To the front, the maison de maître stands before a group of outbuildings arranged around an intimate square courtyard, centred on a tall horse chestnut. Adjoining the house, a long building contains wooden grain silos, reminders of the trade once plied here: the occupants were millers. On the opposite side of the courtyard, a second dwelling - the guest house - shares a party wall with a barn raised above large cellars, which attest to the farming history of the estate. At the far end of the courtyard stands a small outbuilding that formerly housed the facilities. Beyond lies a large garage dating from the 1930s. The park, extending to over 1 ha, is laid out in the English landscape style, with 90 ares given over to an orchard.
The maison de maîtreBuilt to a rectangular plan and rising two storeys, the house is crowned by a recent hipped roof clad in small flat tiles. On the main west-facing elevation, the painted panelled wooden front door is surmounted by a wrought-iron entrance canopy. The wooden double-glazed ground-floor windows are fitted with louvred shutters, while those on the upper floor carry an awning. The north elevation, giving onto the courtyard, features a double-leaf glazed door and a service door. Three fireplaces grace the house. On the ground floor, under the staircase, a carved wooden trapdoor in Asian style recalls the diplomatic career of one of the former occupants.
The ground floor
The entrance hall leads to a wide corridor floored in octagonal red terracotta tiles, giving onto the timber staircase to the upper level. To the left lies the sitting room: the seating area is parquet-floored, the dining end in Burgundy stone. Beyond, a landing room - a former kitchen adorned with a stone fireplace - serves the lavatory, bathroom and the kitchen, recently remodelled in black, with a Burgundy stone floor. A second stone fireplace houses a bread oven. From here, a landing room leads to the boiler room and the outbuilding. To the right of the entrance corridor, a study with moulded ceiling and black stone fireplace adjoins a bedroom with dado panelling, painted panels and a ceiling rose. A wood-burning stove sits in a rounded recess. All doors and door surrounds are timber with moulded panels. Cast-iron radiators throughout.
The upstairs
The double-flight oak staircase opens onto a parquet corridor serving three renovated bedrooms, all parquet-floored and each with a fireplace. To the right, a corridor leads to a bathroom with a freestanding bath. A door communicates with a further corridor giving onto a library with exposed beams and a seagrass floor, leading to a staircase. To the left, the principal bedroom has decorative parquet, ceiling mouldings and views over the courtyard, with a lavatory at the corridor's end. Above the boiler room, one room could be ...
