|
|
|
|
| Peter
Elias considers a few popular features available in older properties in
Poitou-Charentes Many clients request a 'character property', but when you ask them exactly what they mean by character they are sometimes puzzled. As with beauty, such a thing is often in the eye of the beholder. It's often easier to identify when a property lacks character. Original features have been removed or concealed, there are no real focal points to the room and nothing stands out of the ordinary. Two of my favourite features are towers and turrets, normally found an grand châteaux, but also on lesser, still very stylish properties. Currently on the market is just such a property north of Coulonges sur l'Autize, of 18th Century origin, with a tower to renovate. The principal house is in excellent condition, with five bedrooms, and a superb feature granite fireplace in the farmhouse style kitchen. Set in grounds of about two acres the property is priced at 290,440 €. Always a popular feature fireplaces are thankfully often found still intact. 'Character' of this type doesn't have to be at the high end of the price scale. For under 100,000 euros you can still find stone built houses with beautiful stone fireplaces in situ, along with exposed beams, and probably some exposed stone walls as well. For some people character equals quirky, something such as a stained glass window or a pigeonnier. Two of the three bedrooms in a house currently available near Saint Maixent l'École are actually sited in the pigeonnier tower and are circular. The house comes with a large range of outbuildings that would be ideal for converting into gîtes, or a small equestrian centre could be created as the property comes complete with 1.3 hectares of land. It is priced at 193,000 euros. |
Character building | |
  An historic feature - a communal lavoir where women used to do their washing - is part of a 17th-century part-renovated property |
Situated 12km from the historic
town of Parthenay the main house has four bedrooms and there are two sets
of outbuildings for conversion, plus a barn. Wells, streams, rivers and mills are always high on the shopping list, so a riverside property with a two-bed gîte, plus a four-bed main house, alongside the River Boutonne is sure to be popular. Close to the Forest of Chize and with access to the coast at La Rochelle, this unusual 'chalet' style house was built at the end of the 19th-century with a spiral staircase and its own mature park style garden. A more unusual feature is an old 'lavoir', where the ladies used to gather to carry out their washing duties. A 17th-century part-renovated property with a lavoir as a feature, plus original fireplaces, spacious rooms and some more modern features such as underfloor heating is available for 291,500 euros. The property has a second unrenovated house featuring large arched barn doors. A little more 'quirky' is an old stone house dating back to 1900, with commanding views and a windmill, which sadly has lost its sails. But priced at under 300,000 euros, this is a rare find. One thing is for sure, there are plenty of real character properties available in France if you know where to look. |
|
| Unusually shaped
windows or doors are always an interesting feature. A part-renovated property
on the edge of the Marais Poitevin has several such features, including
a large circular window created by the current owner. Not original admittedly,
but certainly a character feature, and complimented by another semi-circular
window in an adjoining room. Within a short drive of the coast at La Rochelle,
this property is available with scope to create a gîte at just over
225,000 euros. Unspoiled wooden flooring (parquet) or stone flag floors (dalles) are also another source of character. Such floors are often preserved in old farmhouses, sometimes immaculate and highly polished, at other times requiring vision and elbow grease. Surrounded by rolling countryside, and its own land of 2.6 hectares, an old renovated farmhouse retaining exactly such features, with feature fireplaces and lovely beams at a good height, is available at 275,600 euros. |
||
 |
|
|
