For sale in Aigurande Berry center of France

by Dominique
(NZ)

Located at Aigurande, in the center of France

(50km south of Chateauroux, 300km south of Paris). Small city (1700 inhabitants), with an active English community, in the heart of the Berry. Vallons, valleys, lakes, the real French country. This is not an isolated house, she's just a stroll to the supermarket and all commodities. The town also has schools, a college, pharmacies, medical center, etc... This is a quiet but active location.

History:

After the French revolution, this house was actually a "National Inn". It has been built during the 17th and 18th centuries, partially with stones from an old dismantled castle. After that, this house has been sold to the Church, and became the town's presbitery. Some references of the presbitery exist in books from a famous French writer from the 19th century, George Sand. The Church then sold it to the City Council, who sold it to an old family who was looking for a "smaller home", instead of their castle (!). Heirs rented it for a while, then sold it to us!

The house, from down to top:

Level -1: A double-cave, with access from the outside only. We never used it. Arched roof, made of square stones. It goes all the house long. Perfect for everything you can think of: wine and food storage (its primary function, some old barrels are still here), but all options are possible. Ground is... soil!

Level 0: A corridor, leading to:
- on the left, a large room (about 5,60m x 5,00m), with a built-in library, currently used as an office, with two (double-glassed) windows and a (working) fire place. Old waxed floor (oak).
- on the right, access to the oldest part of the house. This part has been built in the 17th century. Three small rooms. One is leading to the patio via a windowed door. Ground is made of old flat stones. The other one, in the middle is currently used as the laundry. Floating floor. The third one was used by us to store heating wood, and has been left as we found it, in a pretty rough condition. It has two old windows, comdemned by us, but they can be restored if you wish. Ground is made of old flat stones.
- going straight ahead, you enter into the kitchen. A big kitchen (4,00m X 5,75m), with a sink and a dishwasher. A fire-place and a glassed door opening to the patio. Tiled floor from the 70's.
- The kitchen itself leads to the garden/patio, and to two other rooms. One (2,00m x 3,40m) is used as the back-kitchen (with an opening to the kitchen) and contains a fridge and a gas-cooker. One window. The other one (2,00m x 1,95m) is used as a very small but private office. A very small round window, to the patio. Note that the wall between the kitchen and this small room can easily be dismantled, to enlarge the kitchen. Those two rooms have old flat red stones on the floor (small room ones in rough condition).
- instead of entering the kitchen, you can go to the right and reach the stairs for the upper levels. On the left of the stairs, you'll find the lavatories. A mix of ceramics and old flat red stones on the ground.
The stairs (original old oak), lead to the first floor.

On this level (level 0), the walls (excepted the ones between kitchen and back-kitchen) are more than 40cm width...

Level 1:
- on the left, the bathroom (2,65m x 2,75m). Please note that this place is the only one connected with hot water within the whole house! Waxed oak floor.
- on the front, a door leading to the parents bedroom (4,35m x 4,55m). This bedroom has also access to the bathroom and has two windows. Waxed oak floor.
- on the right, a corridor (old flat red stones on the ground) leading to four rooms:
- room 1: a guest bedroom. Very small (1,85m x 2,10m), but large enough to contain a double-bed and a storage element. It also has one window.
- room 2: a large bedroom (4,20m x 4,00m) with two windows and a (comdamned) fire place.
- room 3: another bedroom (6,00m x 2,60m), smaller than the previous one, with one window.
- room 4: an office (6,00m x 3,00m), which can easily be converted into a bedroom. Two windows.
- on the very end of the corridor, a small wardrobe cabinet (2,00m x 1,25m).

Rooms 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the wardrobe's floors are made of this old flat red stone called 'tomette'. Ideally, rooms 2, 3 and 4 should have their ground refurbished (stones are in good condition and can be reused, but the floor is not always plane!).

The stairs then lead to the attic:

Level 2: A two parts attic. Most of the beams and chevrons are original and the whole carpentry is a real piece of art. However, last summer, four (five?) new oak chevrons have been put in place near old ones in order to consolidate them. The roof is in good condition, and is made of regional old tiles. The attic has only been used as a storage place, but could be converted into... whatever! It contains one opening window (viewing the church), and three opening glassed outputs (orginally made to access the top of the chimneys). All options are possible with this attic.

With the house also comes a little patio (big stones on the ground), with a small garden (40-50m2) and an open shed (about 18m2) covered with a recently renovated roof. Those are enclosed, connected to and part of the house. Last summer, the western face of the house has been repointed. The house's living area is approximatively 200m2, not including the basement and the attic.


Others:

For practical reasons, and it also allows you to enter and immediately live there, we'll leave a lot of appliances and other objects. These are fully functional and in good condition. What will remain with the house:



In the office, level 0: The built-in library, an injection petrol heater, a couple of carpets and some books. An old fire-stove is currently attached to the fire-place (not the one pictured) but this appliance is purely decorative and doesn't work.
In the kitchen, level 0: The sink, dishwasher, table, chairs, the Franklin fire-appliance, an extra petrol-heater, the TV-set (note that a satellite dish is installed outside in the patio), cuttelery, plates etc into this old kitchen furniture.

In the back-kitchen, level 0: The fridge, gaz-cooker (using a small gaz bottle, enough for three months) and various kitchen small-appliances.
In the laundry, one washing machine.
In the bathroom, level 1: Everything you see in the pics, including the instant-heated (electric) shower. This appliance doesn't need you to continuously keep water hot for nothing...
In the parent's bedroom: The double bed, the electric wall-heater.
In the guests bedroom: The double-bed and a small storage furniture.
In the kids bedrooms: The beds, tables and the shelves. The heaters (one electric, one petrol).
In the office, level 1: All the shelves, the old fire-stove (functional, as well as the fire place) and probably tons of books and magazines.
In the attic: various items that can be sold into a local brocante!

In general, all curtains, cabinets, shelves, etc are going to be left with the house.

You can use this house in many different ways. For those who want a house they can immediately enter and live in, that's an affordable and realistic opportunity. If you want to renovate her, and retrieve its original features, she's the perfect candidate, and since she's immediately livable, you can take your time. You can also live here full-time and enjoy this piece of history (note that due to the 13th century church juste beside, she's in a historical protected area) and the country around, or just use it as a holidays house.

As you now understand, this house - and this offer - is not for the usual buyer. You have to love old stones, wood and huge volumes. The starting price is obviously considerably less than the house's actual value, but the reason for this is that we relocated at the other end of the world... and want to buy there.

Notes:

- The house is obviously connected to electricity, water and city drainage. It can be connected to gaz, but we never had to. You can get broadband internet access from here. But please note that the house has NO central heating (hence the heaters disseminated everywhere, especially upstairs). But we spent a couple of winters here, without heating problems.
- The roof is in good condition. We checked it last summer when some of the chevrons have been consolidated.
- Plumbing and electricity are fully functional but have not been done as it should (no legal problems here, just a honest detail, especially for water since electricity has got its panel, etc). But everything is easily removable, and the work can be done by steps, or in parallel with the existant...
- Overall, the house is sane and no urgent work is required.
- This house is absolutely free of any debts or taxes.
- Yearly taxes are about 650 euros (150 for rubbish collection, 500 for the 'taxe fonciere').
- Inspections and all questions are very welcome. One English friend of ours have the keys, and a visit can easily be organised. More pictures available on request.

Contact email : vlourbet@yahoo.com

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