18th Century Stone-built Farmhouse with Pool near Renaissance Town

Home description

Where is it

• Location:  North West France  >  Pays de La Loire  >  Vendée
• Closest town/village: Longeves (Vendée) (0.8 miles *Direct distance, road distance may vary. Please refer to detailed area map for local roads.)
• Closest airport: La Rochelle Airport (26.9 miles *Direct distance, road distance may vary. Please refer to detailed area map for local roads.)
• Access: Car Essential Car hire
• Property highlights: Barbecue, Garden, Swimming pool (exclusive use)

 

This mid-18th-century farmhouse nestles in a dell in a hamlet, 100m from a small river and five km from the beautiful renaissance town of Fontenay-le-Comte. This area has a very sunny micro-climate and is a day's drive from southern England. The house has an orchard, a well-treed garden and a swimming pool. Internally its visible stone walls provide cool in the summer and, helped by central heating and a magnificent stone fireplace, that warm country feeling for the rest of the year.

The facilities include: three double bedrooms, a room with three single beds a family bathroom and separate loo, a further shower room with loo, a large kitchen/diner with artisan-built , modern kitchen, and a large living room. In the loft area, there is a large low-ceilinged play area/hanging out area. There are also dependances to play in and hunt through. It's an hour (max) to the sea, 20 mins to Mervent Forest and 10 minutes to Fontenay, which has 'everything'.

Accommodation detail

This old farmhouse is set in the middle of a lozenge-shaped 1500 square metres of sloping grounds, with an orchard above the house, a garden area to one side and below it, and a gravelled area around the front. There is a new swimming pool in the lower garden The garden has lawns, flower beds, hedges around much of it and plenty of trees for shade and privacy. Parking is generally within the gates but could be inside the grange, or cowshed. The house has:

• Visible stone walls in the kitchen-diner, hall and living room.
• Kitchen units, worktop and shelving hand-built by a local craftsman.
• Beautiful, old stone fireplace in the living room and beams in most rooms. 
• The ground floor bedroom can also serve as a study or play area, depending on how many beds you need. 
• A charming, curved, wooden staircase to the bedroom area.
• A family bathroom with two basins, but separate loo, upstairs, and a shower room with loo and basin downstairs.
• Three double bedrooms upstairs and a fourth bedroom downstairs (see above).
• A huge room (28m²) in the (low) eaves above the bedrooms, which can be used to play in, to hang out in, or as an occasional bedroom.
• Cellar, workshop and large cowshed  attached. In the grange there's a table tennis table.
• Very pleasing furniture throughout.

About the location

Our house is in a peaceful stone-built hamlet, 1km from Serigne where there is a food shop, church, cafe, tennis courts and the Mairie. The road is a country lane with a few tractors and fewer cars. L'Hermenault with its impressive castle is 4km to the NW. Just 5km away lies Fontenay-le-Comte, an old renaissance town of 15,000 people. On its outskirts lie a Leclerc and a SuperU, each surrounded by a plethora of other stores. Fontenay is full of good shops, cafes, many restaurants, of which at least five are good, a five-screen cinema, an impressive arts centre (theatre, dance, rock groups/classical music), museum and chateau. Market day is on a Saturday. Its famous old quarter is great to explore in and is listed as one of 'les plus beau detours de France'. Niort is 30 mins away (golf), La Rochelle an hour. Sea swimming is at L'Aiguillon, La Faute or La Tranche (all 'sur Mer' and an hour or less away) or on Ile de Re.

See Local guide and map for information on nearby towns and facilities.

How to get here

• By car: the house is 6km from Exit 8 of the A83 from Nantes. Via Paris and Poitier you leave the A10, skirt Niort and get onto the N148, leaving it soon after it has skirted  Fontenay.
• St Malo and Caen are the closest ferries (3 1/4 hours and five + hours continuous drive). The cheapest crossing is Speedferries to Boulogne, then  via Rouen, Le Mans and Angers.   
• By plane: fly  to La Rochelle (one hour distant) or Poitiers (1 hour 30 mins). 
• By train: to Paris; change to TGV to Niort (three hours) and hire a car at la gare.
• Detailed travel directions would be supplied.

See Local guide and map for information on nearby towns and airports.

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Facilities

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Additional price information

• Sheets and towels are included in the rental. Any further changes are charged at 12 euros per person.
• There is a charge of 50 euros per week for the use of the phone 
• A cleaner can be supplied at a cost of 70 euros a week (one visit). But if the stay is for over two weeks then the cost of the cleaner for one visit during the stay will be nothing. NB The rent already includes the cost of a cleaner before and after a stay.
• There is a deposit of £300 or 350 euros, which is refundable after an inspection to check on breakages, spillages and other damage (which will be deducted from the deposit before it is returned).
• Start day is Saturday for the summer high season, but not before 4.30pm. Guests are requested to leave by 10.00am to allow cleaning  to take place before the next arrivals. At other times of the year, the day is negotiable at your and my convenience.

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