A house steeped in history with an outbuilding and garden, nestled in Lectoure, a quaint, vibrant town between the cities of Toulouse and Bordeaux - r
A house steeped in history with an outbuilding and garden, nestled in Lectoure, a quaint, vibrant town between the cities of Toulouse and Bordeaux.
The spa town of Lectoure has 3,700 inhabitants. It is perched on a hill in the Lomagne area of the Gers department in south-west France. This beautiful area is aptly nicknamed 'Little Tuscany'. The town is rich in art and history. It includes many historical edifices, antique dealers and first-rate boutiques. Lectoure is also clearly open to the outside world - its large community of British expatriates bears witness to this. The town is a stop on the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrims' way. Lectoure enjoys a mild climate, fine cuisine and a range of cultural events. The city of Agen with its high-speed train station is 35 kilometres away. From there, you can reach Paris in just over three hours by rail. The city of Toulouse with its international airport lies 100 kilometres from Lectoure. Bordeaux is 160 kilometres away.
The edifice's layout is typical of others in this town where buildings interlock with one another and stand around inner courtyards and gardens.
The property extends from a main street on its north side, where you find the shop space and apartment, both currently rented out, to a secondary parallel street on its south side, where you enter a garage. It is made up of three distinct buildings that stand between two parallel streets. These sections are separated by outdoor spaces: a patio, a garden and terraces.
The first building faces the main street. It has three floors with an unconverted loft space. Its entrance hallway leads to the grand town house and to the ground-floor shop space, which offers a floor area of around 60m² and has a shopfront window. The hallway also leads up to the apartment, which has three main rooms and a floor area of around 140m². This apartment takes up the edifice's first and second floors. The shop and the apartment can be acquired as optional extras.
The second building has a single-storey 18th-century main section made of dressed stone that faces a court, which is partly covered. A four-floor medieval tower with a loft adjoins this section. This edifice has a wooden terrace on its south side and a walled garden that extends eastwards and southwards. On the narrow street on the south side, there is a separate stone building that adjoins two other properties. It houses a vast ground-floor garage and an upstairs space with sloping attic ceilings that could be converted. The latter space can be reached from the garden via the wooden terrace.
The town houseAn inner building made of sand-coloured dressed stone adjoins a tower. The facade displays the characteristics of grand 18th-century town houses. It has a single floor upon a semibasement and a loft space. Monk-and-nun tiling covers its roof, which is underlined with a stone cornice. Tall window surrounds with slightly arched lintels add a touch of refinement. In the patio, a shelter protects the main house's entrance from rain. The medieval tower has three floors, cellars and a converted loft space. Rubble masonry of squared blocks forms the walls, which are punctuated with corbels.
The ground floor
Beyond a glazed door, a long corridor connects to the main rooms and goes all the way to the hallway where the grand staircase is. Wooden double doors with mouldings lead into a living room with sumptuous decoration and wood flooring. A fireplace of finely sculpted wood with a straight hood adorned with mouldings stands in this splendid room. A cosier atmosphere pervades a second lounge and reading room. Here a fireplace with a stone mantlepiece stands against one wall and two tall windows look out at the vegetation. On the other side of the hallway, there is a comfortable dining room. From here, an arched doorway takes you out onto a wooden ...
