A 17th-century townhouse with a 13th-century tower,
in the medieval town of Domfront in the Orne area
in the medieval town of Domfront in the Orne area
Domfront en Poiraie,
ORNE
lower-normandy
61700
FR
Location
Domfront dominates a region of undulating wooded landscape, with a mosaic of hedges, small valleys and rivers, in the south of the Orne area, in Normandy. The town once played host to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother of Richard the Lionheart, and inspired poet Robert Wace for his writings about the Arthurian legend. The imposing fortress, with 24 round towers, of Robert d’Artois, the hero of the historical novel ‘The Accursed Kings’, dominates the landscape. The town boasts all necessary shops and services as well as a market. Bagnoles-de-l’Orne is 15 minutes away and Paris can be reached in 2 hours 30 minutes from the railway station in Flers, 25 minutes away, while Caen and Rennes are respectively 1 hour 20 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes away. Nantes airport can be reached within 3 hours.
Description
A narrow street leads to the ramparts and then to the property’s entrance. The different buildings stand around a courtyard. To the south, the main residence overlooks the landscape from almost 80 metres above the plain. The three-storey edifice dates from the 17th and 18th centuries. It has a slate gabled roof punctuated with dormers and facades made of shale and granite dotted with tall rectangular windows. The interior includes bed and breakfast accommodation. The edifice adjoins an imposing 13th-century defensive tower that is listed as a historical monument. It is made of granite, protected by 2.50-metre-thick walls and boasts the remains of machicolations below the wall plate, which are reminiscent of the former wall walk that ran around the town’s walls. To the south, there is a roof terrace, while to the west, a second residence houses the bed and breakfast accommodation. Two cellars extend beneath the house’s surface in the basement level. They can be reached via the street and one of them houses the fuel-oil tank.
The main residence
The ground floor
A double-leaf door leads into an entrance hall, with modern tiling and a moulded ceiling, from where an imposing wooden staircase climbs to the upper floors. On one side, there is a lounge/dining room, with an impressive ceiling height, into which light streams through two windows topped by fanlights. The room boasts parquet flooring as well as cupboards with finely crafted doors. There is also a black marble fireplace topped by a baroque style trumeau panel adorned with a countryside landscape scene. A kitchen with an uninterrupted view of the town stands behind an engraved glass door. Beneath the floorboards, a wine cellar can be reached via a trapdoor and then a wooden staircase. From the entrance, a tiled office overlooks the courtyard and narrow street through two openings. A guests’ lavatory and storage space are housed beneath the staircase.
The first floor
A vast landing bathed in light leads to two separate apartments. The main apartment is made up of several rooms set one after another. A large southeast facing bedroom with two tall windows topped by fanlights boasts a fireplace with a trumeau panel standing against one of the walls. The room is adjacent to a walk-in wardrobe, a bathroom, a lavatory and a utility room. The second apartment includes a bedroom, with two windows on the courtyard and street sides. Inside the tower, there is a study with exposed stonework on the walls and terracotta tiles on the floor, as well as a fireplace in which a wood burning insert has been installed. Views of the landscape can be enjoyed through a south-facing window. An old door opens into a shower room and lavatory.
The second residence
This building can be reached via a separate entrance from the courtyard. On the ground floor, a breakfast room for bed and breakfast guests connects with the main residence’s dining room. This small room precedes a stairwell tucked away behind a discretely concealed door, from where a wooden former service staircase climbs to the upper floors. On the first floor, a door leads to the walk-in wardrobe in the main residence. The bed and breakfast apartment can be found on the second floor, in the attic space of the main residence and the tower. The exposed roof frame is punctuated with dormer windows and the walls are made of half-timbering and cob. On the floor, there is either wood stripped flooring or terracotta tiles. The different rooms, set one after another, are separated by period doors.
The roof terrace
It stands against the southern facade of the main residence as well as the tower and is surrounded by a wrought-iron guard-rail. It overlooks a vast urban garden and is covered with wooden decking. The vegetation, which espouses the freshly re-pointed masonry of the low walls, is dotted with bellflowers and coliseum ivy. In a small pond contained in a granite trough, there are several fish.
Our opinion
This elegant residence and its listed historical monument medieval tower stand alongside the ramparts of a one-thousand-year-old town in Normandy. The property is the utmost embodiment of what defines the understated elegance of the region’s historic homes, with architecture from different eras, both vast as well as cosy volumes and many period decorative features. The living rooms and bedrooms boast unbeatable views of the landscape, while its fluid and coherent layout is ideal for bed and breakfast accommodation but also private use. The property combines heritage and hospitality in a human-scale town.
460 000 €
Fees at the Vendor’s expense
Reference 293225
| Land registry surface area | 175 m² |
| Main building floor area | 215 m² |
| Number of bedrooms | 3 |
French Energy Performance Diagnosis
Information on the risks to which this property is exposed is available on the website: www.georisques.gouv.fr
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NB: The above information is not only the result of our visit to the property; it is also based on information provided by the current owner. It is by no means comprehensive or strictly accurate especially where surface areas and construction dates are concerned. We cannot, therefore, be held liable for any misrepresentation.
