A small village house with a garden and covered patio, 1 hour from Paris, close to the Chateau de Courances - ref 181846
A small village house with a garden and covered patio, 1 hour from Paris, close to the Chateau de Courances.
Courances, which is 1 hour from Paris in the heart of the Gâtinais natural regional park, is set around the chateau of the same name with its more than 85-hectare estate, famous for its water garden and horseshoe-shaped staircase reminiscent of the one at the Chateau de Fontainebleau, located around twenty minutes away. The village is lively all year round and possesses several convenience stores including a bakery, a watercress seller as well as the café and shop at the chateau. Each Saturday afternoon, a local producers' market takes place in its main square. There is a nursery school for young children, who can then continue their education in other establishments in Dannemois, Milly-la-Forêt or surrounding municipalities. Paris can be reached from the stations at Boutigny-sur-Essonne and Fontainebleau-Avon on Line D and Line R on the RER and Transilien rail networks respectively.
The house, which was built in the late 19th century and is located in the village centre, adjoins another and can be easily recognised thanks to the Virginia creeper than runs along its stone facade. The entirely walled two-storey edifice, one of which is beneath the rafters of a gabled roof made of flat tiles, is L-shaped around a small garden and possesses around 95 m² of living space. The volumes, with six rooms including two bedrooms, have been optimised thanks to a recent and wide-ranging renovation. The entrance to the house is from the courtyard, which can be reached through two tall wooden doors. A weathervane topped by a rooster stands on the top of the covered patio. A stone-paved path leads to the entrance door, on a patio surrounded by a millstone, plants and shrubs.
The house
The ground floor
From the entrance, this dual-aspect level leads to a kitchen and dining room. In the grey-green, customised fitted kitchen, the ceiling extends up to the house's roof ridge. The room also boasts plenty of cupboard space, while the dining room acts as a transition between two lounges. The first, with exposed joists on the ceiling, is bathed in light and opens out ont the courtyard. A stone fireplace stands against one of the white-painted walls. The second lounge, decked out in royal blue tones, can also be used as an office and leads to a shower room, a lavatory and a cupboard. Apart from the shower room and lavatory, which are paved with terracotta tiles, there is chevron parquet flooring throughout.
The upstairs
This level can be reached via two separate staircases located in each wing of the house. From the main lounge, a staircase climbs to a landing, on which there is a cupboard, leading to a Zellige-tiled shower room with a lavatory and then to a bedroom, which, with its white painted panelling and exposed beams plus the seagrass flooring, boasts a maritime ambiance. To make the most of the volumes, storage space has been built-in to the slopes of the ceiling. From the smaller lounge, a second staircase climbs to another bedroom, which also boasts large cupboards.The gardenThe approximately 70-m² finely gravelled courtyard has been designed as a landscaped garden around a fountain. Several potted plants, including boxwood and ivy, provide a touch of greenery to the mineral setting. In the sunny months, the covered patio, with a wooden roof frame, is like a genuine extra room.
