A Gothic dwelling with modern comfort, nestled near the town of Argentan in France's Orne department in Normandy - ref 608780
A Gothic dwelling with modern comfort, nestled near the town of Argentan in France's Orne department in Normandy.
The property lies in France's Orne department in Normandy, in the town of Écouché-les-Vallées, which is renowned for its built heritage, between Argentan plain and the region's hedge-lined meadows. Here, the River Orne and its tributaries, the River Udon and the River Cance, flow through a landscape of riverbanks, ideal for country walks and fishing. The town, which was once fortified, has kept its narrow streets and remarkable historical architecture, which includes houses from the 15th and 16th centuries with staircase towers, as well as an intriguing Gothic church with an unfinished nave. You can quickly get to shops and amenities. The town of Argentan is 10 minutes away. It also offers a wealth of built heritage. From Argentan train station you can get to Paris in two hours by rail. Caen airport is 55 minutes away. And the beaches of Normandy's Calvados department are 70 kilometres from the property.
Standing opposite the town's Notre-Dame church, the property edges a calm, winding street in the historical centre. You reach the home straight from the street. It is discreetly nestled in the town's old heart. Three sections stand out. In the middle, there is the main section, which is large and evenly proportioned. It has a ground floor, a first floor and a second floor in the roof space. The design of its street-facing facade is typical of the 18th century and it has pale-blue window frames and shutters. At the back, an adjoining tower with straight edges houses one of the property's two spiral staircases - remnants of the original Gothic edifice. From this period, ogee-arch lintels and stone mullions remain, notably on the garden side. On the north side, there is a lower wing with a ground floor and a first floor. And on the south side, edging the street at an angle to the rest, there is a single-storey wing, which ends in a pavilion. The three sections, made of white limestone laid in small blocks, are crowned with roofs of flat tiles. The house was recently renovated. It offers modern comfort yet with many authentic historical features preserved, including spiral staircases, wood strip floors, exposed ceiling beams, old fireplaces, trumeau panels, small-paned windows and old doors. In the south wing, there are two bedrooms, a games room, a kitchen, a shower room and two lavatories. The north wing's ground floor has a garage and storerooms. Its first floor, which you can reach from the third bedroom in the main edifice, has a bathroom, a bedroom and a loft space. A garden lies behind the house. This long, tree-dotted space stretches westwards, between two meanders in the River Udon and the River Orne. A first outbuilding, near the house and similar to it in style, lies beside a terrace. A second outbuilding, small and made of brick, serves as a garden shed. A gate leads into the south side of the plot. There is an old greenhouse on the north side.
The house
The garden-level floor
Beyond the entrance door, a corridor with a floor of tiles laid in a checked pattern connects, on both sides, to the reception rooms and to an imposing spiral staircase in an adjoining tower. A vast dual-aspect lounge that looks out at both the street and the garden is separated into two spaces by an internal load-bearing wall. A second spiral staircase, which is small, leads up to a bedroom on the first floor. There is also a spacious dual-aspect kitchen fitted with large glazed cupboards. A door leads straight out to the garden. The adjoining tower houses a large spiral staircase filled with natural light from small windows. The south wing is fitted as a secondary dwelling in a modern style. The north wing includes a garage, two small rooms that serve as cellars and a boiler room where a straight ...
