A hillside villa in Toulon, south-east France, built on a 17th-century priory with vast wooded grounds and a sweeping view of the city's natural harbo
A hillside villa in Toulon, south-east France, built on a 17th-century priory with vast wooded grounds and a sweeping view of the city's natural harbour.
The property is nestled on a hillside in Toulon in south-east France, four kilometres from the city centre, in a calm, residential district of the city at the foot of a mountain: Mont Faron. The splendid beaches of the city's Le Mourillon district are around 12 minutes to the south, as are small, unspoilt coves. To the north, you can reach several areas of outstanding natural beauty: the Calanques national park, the Sainte-Baume regional nature park and the Maures plain.
Essential shops and amenities are less than one kilometre from the property. You can reach Toulon's high-speed train station in ten minutes by car. From there, you can get to Paris by rail. Toulon-Hyères airport and Marseille airport are respectively thirty minutes and one hour away.
An electric gate marks the main entrance. You reach it via a steep lane with two bends that is around 100 metres long. Beyond the gate, on the left, there is a large, flat parking space for four vehicles. A shelter there offers space for three vehicles. At a lower level, there is a half-open second space where two other vehicles can be parked. A few steps take you up to a wrought-iron double-leaf gate that leads into a covered entrance area from where you enter the house.
The villa, crowned with a roof of barrel tiles, has two floors, extended with terraces on three sides. It was entirely renovated in the early 1990s, then in 1998. Its one-metre-thick walls rendered with roughcast bear witness to the building's long history: the place was probably a priory that dated back to the 17th century - this is suggested by a millstone bearing the year '1630' that was found on the site. The south-facing house is rectangular, built upon the rocky hillside with a flat ground floor. It offers a floor area of around 280m². Its many sliding picture windows across its facade herald a bright interior bathed in natural light. These windows are fitted with electric roller shutters. The west gable wall is made of exposed pointed stonework. A niche in this wall houses two small statues of cherubs.
A vast terrace in front of the south-facing facade of white rendering offers a spectacular vista of the city below and, beyond it, Toulon's natural harbour. On this terrace, you can relax in an infinity pool where you can admire an unrivalled view of the sea. On the left, two shelters offer shade and coolness in the summer heat. On the north side, two walkways lead to the first-floor terrace and the garden.
The villa is surrounded by its vast wooded grounds on a slope.
The house
The ground floor
A spacious entrance hall connects to a shower room and, on the south side, to a vast reception room used as a lounge with a floor area of over 65m². This extensive space leads out onto the terrace through two sliding glazed doors. In the middle of this room, a staircase of two quarter-turns with ergonomically shaped winder stairs leads up to the first floor. The stairs are adorned with orange ceramic tiles and have wooden nosing. The floors have the same tiles throughout this level.
On the north side, a storeroom connects to a scullery. At the right-hand end of the vast reception room, there is a bedroom that also leads out to the terrace and swimming pool via glazed doors. This bedroom has an en-suite shower room. At the left-hand end of the extensive lounge, there is a spacious fitted kitchen that leads out to the terrace and to the garden on the east side. The kitchen also connects to a scullery with a boiler. The ceiling height is around 2.6m.
The upstairs
A long central corridor connects to three bedrooms on its south side. These bedrooms offer spectacular sea views. On its north side, the corridor connects to two ...
