17th-century former Baudet de Sade farmhouse with Italian-style parkland, overlooking the Sorgues region and its illustrious isle in the Vaucluse - re
17th-century former Baudet de Sade farmhouse with Italian-style parkland, overlooking the Sorgues region and its illustrious isle in the Vaucluse.
Just a stone's throw from the historic centre of Saumane-de-Vaucluse, the property sits on the south-facing slope of a valley overlooked by the rocky foothills of the Vaucluse mountains. It is part of a unique landscape that man has patiently shaped over the centuries by building terraces to cultivate the hillsides overlooking the food-producing plains of the Sorgues region. Access to the property is at the bottom of the estate from the road leading to La Roque-sur-Pernes via a path lined with low dry-stone walls and surrounded by oak trees, which leads to the single stretch of land planted with orchards, olive groves and landscaped terraces. Facing south-east, the plot enjoys continuous sunshine while being naturally protected from the Mistral wind by the protruding rocks that mark the northern boundary of the estate. L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, with its shops and numerous antique dealers, can be reached in less than 10 minutes, the A7 motorway in 20 minutes, whilst Avignon with its TGV train station can be reached in 45 minutes and Marseille with its international airport in 1 hour.
Formerly a smallholding attached to the Baudet de Sade estate, the property is said to have belonged to Abbé Jacques de Sade, uncle of the illustrious "divine marquis", who lived at Saumane castle, situated to the south beyond a fold in the Vaucluse mountains. A vast 17th and 18th century farm made up of terraces irrigated by springs, with a large farmhouse built against the rock to the north, overlooking the valley below. The building pays particular attention to detail on the courtyard elevations, particularly the main facade, which is rendered in ochre lime and features low-arched windows. The main entrance door is flush with the axis of an old dovecote that towers above the canal tile roofs. The secondary part of the building is no less elegant, with two wide, high, twin arches opening onto the courtyard, while the first floor features a contemporary embellishment of the former hayloft. The buildings are in perfect harmony with the terraced topography, consisting of large landscaped terraces to the south and west. To the east, a boulingrin (lawn bowling green) laid out on the largest median strip at the bottom of the valley offers a remarkable view, enhanced by the alignment of 27 monoliths supporting a trellis on the upper terrace. The buildings and particularly meticulous landscaping (including the ruins of an orangery) accentuate the theatricality of the site, set in a fold of the Vaucluse foothills and the wooded slopes of the valley, reminiscent of Petrarch's favourite refuge in the Vallis Clausa.
The farmhouse and its former hayloft The building is built on a north-east/south-west axis and has an L-shaped floor plan, with the main building set against the rock, which forms the northern elevation on the ground floor. The north and south entrances are therefore located at two different heights. The secondary building at right angles rises from the corner, which is a separate volume with a single-pitched roof set back from the sections, probably built to provide a link between the two parts of the building. Against the rock, on the upper terraced wall, the plan shows a single-storey projection, corresponding to the caretaker's accommodation built in modern times. The roof of the main building, with its two asymmetrical slopes, is marked by a caesura along the length of the south-facing slope by the dovecote tower that crowns the former farm. Dovecote towers built into farmhouses in this way usually served two purposes: firstly, they housed a stairwell and secondly, they asserted their seigneurial character while making the most of the reserved (and highly lucrative) use of ...
