A specially designed timber house with a garden and swimming pool, nestled on the idyllic Cap Ferret headland on France's Atlantic Coast - ref 510433
A specially designed timber house with a garden and swimming pool, nestled on the idyllic Cap Ferret headland on France's Atlantic Coast.
At the southern tip of the Cap Ferret headland in France's Gironde department, the unique landscape here is made up of vast beaches, an endless ocean and the refreshing sea spray of Arcachon Bay. Oyster-farming villages, discreet piers leading out onto the water and enchanting pine forests together form a magical backdrop, at once wooded and maritime. The house is tucked away, just a stone's throw from the two shores, in a calm district that is barely frequented. A rare balance characterises this place's spirit: omnipresent nature and immediate closeness to the ocean.
The house, specially designed by the architect Sandrine Mercurio, was built in 2018 on a wooded 800m² plot. Its style is contemporary, combining timber and glazing. Its plain form, crowned with a roof of traditional barrel tiles, blends harmoniously into the pine forest. It offers a 225m² floor area and has two floors: a ground floor that leads straight out onto terraces and a garden-level floor lower down that leads out into the garden. The tone of the vertical pinewood cladding, with a patina forming over the years, contrasts with the dark grey hue of the window frames. The dwelling houses a vast reception room and five bedrooms, one of which is extended with an office. Solid-oak strip flooring extends across the rooms. Heating comes from a suspended white cast-iron fireplace. The indoor spaces, bathed in natural light, look outdoors and lead straight out to the terraces and to a discreet, refreshing swimming pool.
The houseYou enter the property via a timber gate that leads to a terrace and swimming pool. The house is U-shaped, positioned around a central garden. The elevations are entirely timber-cladded. This cladding is slatted or made with broad vertical boards. On the first floor, an open-air timber gallery connects to the bedrooms and provides a lengthways walkway fitted with an evenly designed guardrail.
The ground floor
The entrance hall leads to a spacious reception room with a 60m² floor area. This vast space includes a lounge, a dining area and an open-plan kitchen. Broad picture windows look out at the timber terrace and draw your gaze from the main rooms to the garden down below. A modern-shaped suspended fireplace is centrally positioned and gives the room structure without breaking up its smoothness. The pale tone of the solid-oak strip flooring brings out the brightness of the rooms and the continuation with the house's other level. The doorways and the interior layout strike a fine balance between cosiness and fluidity. The open-plan kitchen with its work surface made of stone is very practical and includes many white wooden storage spaces.
The garden-level floor
The lower floor - a garden-level floor - includes five bedrooms, each of which has a floor area of around 20m². All of them look out at the garden and three of them have their own separate entrance door. Four of the bedrooms share a shower room. The fifth one - the master bedroom - has its own en-suite bathroom and private office. The bathrooms are bathed in natural light and have pale-oak strip flooring. Pale ceramic tiles adorn their walls. The indoor openings are fitted with solid doors made of natural wood.
The garden and swimming poolThe enclosed garden has a lawn and plants suited to the Atlantic climate, beneath towering maritime pines. The house is U-shaped, positioned around this central haven of greenery. The treated pinewood terraces extend the main rooms outwards. The saltwater swimming pool is seven metres long and three metres wide. It is warmed up with a heat pump and is protected with an electric cover. It blends ...
