A well-renovated complex with a converted barn, a dovecote, a swimming pool and a house
from the 17th and 19th centuries, nestled in landscaped grounds in south-west France
from the 17th and 19th centuries, nestled in landscaped grounds in south-west France
Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val,
TARN-ET-GARONNE
midi-pyrenees
82140
FR
Location
The property lies where several geological and geographical zones of France’s Occitania region meet, in the Causse de Caylus limestone plateau. The local region is renowned for its vast open spaces, the variety of its beautiful landscapes, and its unspoilt environments, the most famous one being the Averyon gorges. The town is nestled on a plateau in the Seye valley, which is gentler than most of the neighbouring valleys. The town’s natural environment is remarkable. It includes two specially recognised zones of ecological, faunistic and floristic interest. The property is tucked away between the towns of Caussade and Villefranche-de-Rouergue. It is 15 minutes from the town of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, 25 minutes from the town of Cordes-sur-Ciel and one hour from the cities of Montauban, Cahors and Albi.
Description
This old farm complex, which probably dates back to the Middle Ages, lies at the foot of a 13th-century bastide built by Alphonse, Count of Poitiers, who was the brother of King Louis IX of France: Saint Louis. The property bears an inscription of the year ‘1649’, which is engraved in a lintel that is now inside. In the stone pediment above the entrance door, the initials ‘P’ and ‘B’ are delicately engraved above an inscription of the year ‘1846’. These initials bear witness to the opulence of the owners of the time: by building an additional dwelling here, they gave this old site a new, elegant dimension. You reach the property via a road that leads up to its gate. The house stands in the middle of its beautifully landscaped grounds with trees, vast lawns, flowering bushes, a vegetable patch, a chicken coop and a well that supplies the garden with water. There are three buildings. Two of them have three levels and the other one has two. There is the main dwelling, which has four bedrooms. In line with it, there is a former barn, which has been turned into a dwelling and offers a spacious lounge and three bedrooms. And lastly, there is a dovecote. These three buildings are separate from each other, yet they are linked together with a stone wall that edges a court where a swimming pool lies. On the other side of the grounds, beyond a small stone bridge that stretches across a stream, there is a little annexe with a single room. It stands at the edge of the property. There you can relax in isolation while enjoying the garden. The barn houses a large garage in addition to its liveable space. The whole property has been masterfully renovated. Its historical features have been carefully showcased, high-quality materials have been used and a tasteful touch of contemporary decoration has been added. Furthermore, modern equipment and fittings has been incorporated, including saltwater treatment for the swimming pool, automated watering for the garden and double glazing for the windows.
The main dwelling
Beyond the dovecote and garden, there are the beautiful facades of the house and barn and the inviting swimming pool. All the windows have been fitted with matt black aluminium frames on the outside, in a nod to modern taste, and with pale oak frames on the inside, in line with the edifice’s warm-toned materials. A broad, curved gravelled drive runs around the court. It leads to a straight pathway that begins with two short square pillars. This path leads up to the house’s main entrance door. The dwelling has a ground floor, a first floor and a second floor in the roof space. The elevations are made of white stone, laid unevenly, from the local Quercy province. A hipped roof of barrel tiles crowns the edifice and stands out from the other roofs as it is underlined with a triple-row génoise cornice, which affirms the building’s status as the main dwelling on the property. Although this roof covers the whole edifice and the windows are evenly arranged, you can read a little of the building’s long history in the construction work. On the right side, corner stonework, now incorporated into the whole structure, marks the edge of the oldest section, which is underlined with the ledge of a former dovecote from which birds could fly away. Given the years engraved into the stones, we can assume that today’s central section was completely incorporated the first building around 200 years after the latter was built. The wooden entrance door stands beneath a glazed fanlight shaped in a semicircular arch that perfectly follows the door surround of sculpted stone in bas-relief, which marks the entrance with dignity.
The ground floor
You step into a hallway with a floor of slabs of stone from the local Rouergue province. This entrance hall leads straight to a wooden half-turn staircase that takes you upstairs. This staircase is plain. The curves of its balustrade mark the landings. To the right of this flight of stairs, glazing has been fitted between old timber beams to bring in natural light. To the left of the stairs, there is a dining room. It is a dual-aspect space, like all the other rooms in the house. Its openings are generous: there is a window on one side and a door leading out to the gravelled court on the other side. Its exposed stonework underlines the ceiling’s exposed timber beams and the room’s pale wood strip flooring. To the right of the entrance hall, there is a lounge with a tiled floor. It features a large stone fireplace that was probably once an alcove used for cooking meals. Beside it, beneath a little round window bringing in natural light, there is a stone sink, which further suggests that cooking was once carried out here. From this lounge, a glazed door leads out onto a gravelled terrace. Beyond the lounge, a corridor connects, on its left side, to a shower room and a lavatory. So the dining room could be turned into a bedroom. Straight ahead from the lounge, there is a modern kitchen filled with natural light from two openings. One is a window above the sink. The other opening is a broad glazed door that leads out onto a shady terrace that lies beneath a discreet modern pergola. A door leads to a scullery, which also houses the dwelling’s technical installations.
The first floor
On the right, the landing connects to a spacious bedroom. One of the windows in this bedroom looks down at the swimming pool. The room’s honey-toned wood strip flooring goes well with the hues of its exposed ceiling beams. The walls are painted white, except for one of them, which is entirely covered with vividly coloured wallpaper that gives the room a resolutely modern touch. On the other side of the landing there is a second bedroom that is also spacious. This dual-aspect room is bathed in natural light from its two windows. It features a fireplace with a stucco chimney breast decorated with classical motifs: two pilasters with Corinthian capitals representing human figures holding up an entablement embellished with a female figure and a frieze of palmettes. This bedroom is painted in deep blue tone. Herringbone parquet adorns its floor. Beyond it there is a modern bathroom with a black resin floor, a large shower, a lavatory and several storage spaces. Two windows fill this bathroom with natural light.
The second floor
Like the first floor, the top floor has two large bedrooms and a spacious bathroom with a shower and lavatory. What makes these top rooms stand out are their sloping attic ceilings and their exposed trusses, which are showcased well. With their skylights, these three rooms are bathed in natural light like all the other rooms in the house. The beige coir carpeting of the floor underlines the sense of calm up here. Some windows in the bathroom are made up of holes from which birds could fly away from the dovecote that used to be here.
The converted barn
The converted barn stands in line with the main house, but it is set back slightly from it. It has a ground floor and a first floor and it faces the swimming pool. It has the same traits as the main house: exposed stonework and barrel tiles. It is made up of two adjoining sections. The first one has a ground floor and a first floor. It is crowned with a simple gable roof. The second one has a single-slope roof and it houses a vast ground-floor room. The windows are arranged less evenly than those of the main house and they bear witness to the building’s original purpose, especially the first-floor openings, which were used for hoisting hay up from the ground so it could be stored.
The ground floor
A glazed double door leads straight into an extensive room. Its floor of polished concrete brings out the stonework of the walls and the old exposed beams of the ceiling. The room is a dual-aspect space. Several large windows fill it with natural light. On the left, the lounge features an old fireplace, which today forms an alcove. On the right, in the dining room, the floor is decorated with a trompe-l’œil painting resembling a white-spotted rug. An open-plan kitchen takes up one corner of the room. A glazed door leads straight out onto a terrace of wooden decking, opposite the entrance. Beyond the kitchen, a corridor connects to two separate lavatories, a cloakroom and a shower room, which is also decorated with a trompe-l’œil rug. A straight wooden flight of stairs, which leads up to the first floor, is painted in the same almond green tone that adorns one wall of the kitchen, the corridor and some of the upstairs walls. Between the terrace and the dovecote, an arched double door leads into a section that has remained as a barn. At the back of it, a lean-to houses a woodstore.
The upstairs
A broad corridor connects to the rooms on the first floor: three bedrooms with pale wood-strip flooring and a shower room with a lavatory. Like in the main dwelling, the restoration has combined the charm of old, noble materials like stone and timber with contemporary touches like resin and white tiling in the bathrooms. Two of the three bedrooms are decorated with wallpaper: in one bedroom this wallpaper represents a tree-dotted landscape and in the other one it represents a more mountainous landscape. The third bedroom has butterfly-patterned wallpaper, which makes it suitable as a children’s bedroom.
The dovecote
The square dovecote has a ground floor, a first floor and a second floor. It is crowned with a pyramidal roof of stone tiles with a small dormer that has several holes from which birds can fly away. Its ground floor houses the technical installations for the swimming pool. A stone staircase leads up to the room on the first floor. This room has an uneven floor of large, flat stone slabs. The space above it, just beneath the roof frame, can be reached via a ladder.
The swimming pool
The swimming pool is perfectly integrated into the property. On one side there are the buildings and on the other side there are shrubs. The pool’s backdrop is the landscaped garden and it looks out at the rest of the splendid grounds. It is set in a poolside area of exotic timber that surrounds it. This pool was built recently. It is automated and has a saltwater filter system.
The grounds
The grounds cover almost three hectares. They are made up of meadows, edged in some parts with tall trees of different species, including oaks, beeches and pines, and tall bamboos that mark the property’s boundary. In front of the house, there is a landscaped garden beside the path leading up to the entrance door. It follows the curve of the driveway that runs alongside it. This garden was designed as a lush backdrop for the swimming pool. Several slender cypresses stand gracefully in this garden, which was landscaped masterfully. Flowering plants of many different varieties and heights grow here. Their colours, blooms and fragrances change with the passing of the seasons. An automated watering system waters the garden. This system uses water from a well near the garden.
Our opinion
As soon as you step into these splendid grounds, you get a deep sense of calm and security. The sturdiness of the buildings, which are harmoniously linked to each other, contributes to this impression. These charming structures have been masterfully renovated. They are nestled in a lush, bucolic backdrop, yet the property is not completely isolated. From here, you can admire spectacular views of the beautiful surroundings. Peacefulness reigns on the site. And the interior is delightful: the room sizes are perfect, the decoration is tasteful and the picture windows provide stunning views and bathe the home in natural light. Outside, in the landscaped garden, every detail has been considered in accordance with the passing of the seasons, including the different heights and colours of the trees, shrubs and flowers. Yet the place is not showy. Its elegance is tastefully understated. Any future owner will find this unique haven comfortable and pleasant to live in.
Reference 646548
| Land registry surface area | 2 ha 84 a 27 ca |
| Main building surface area | 270 m2 |
| Number of bedrooms | 7 |
| Outbuilding surface area | 200 m2 |
| including refurbished area | 150 m2 |
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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.
