This south-facing property is nestled in a country-lane bend, in the heart of a hamlet that was built around a river and an old mill. The narrow plot around it includes a hedge of conifers that lines a handful of parking places by the curve in the road. In the south-east corner, a wrought-iron gate supported by pillars leads into the property. The outdoor entrance area widens out in front of the edifice. Its ground is covered with pebbles. In a corner, a wooden terrace edged with rubble pitching contains a swimming pool that looks out over the surrounding countryside. A fountain and a tree stump adorn this outside area. On the west side, a similarly sized neighbouring property adjoins the mansion, extending the building. On the other side of the road, the property offers an area of land that slopes gently down to a river. This land is dotted with fruit trees. It leads to a reservoir developed on the river and to sandbars downstream.

The main building

The main building is made up of a ground floor, a first floor and a partly converted loft. A hip roof with ridges at two different levels crowns the edifice and includes a dormer on its hipped east end.

The south-facing facade is punctuated with square windows protected with grates on the ground floor, three windows on the first floor and a central dormer at the top. Built-in pilasters flank the main entrance door. Their pedestals are capped with a torus moulding. At head height, relief mouldings mark the start of a segmental arch. Above this arch is a pediment in a triangular frame of mouldings with different degrees of relief. The cornice that underlines it bears ciborium-shaped acroteria at its two ends. The pediment’s apex is crowned with a cross upon a triangular base. The wooden door is embellished with a lattice pattern on its vertical panels and with sunrays on the tympanum above. This whole entrance has a monumental look.

From the building’s north side, a section that only goes up to the first floor juts out at a right angle. A hipped roof caps it. An annexe with a sloped roof is tucked between this protruding section and the main building, adjoining both. Next to it, a rectangular double door, decorated minutely, mirrors the main one on the south-facing facade. Mouldings frame it and the year 1723 is sculpted into a depressed pediment above that bears three crosses upon triangular bases. The two crosses at the lateral ends of the pediment have side arms that branch out pointedly and a vertical arm with a wider, spiked tip on its top end. The oak doors are protected by a glazed door with a black metal frame and are sculpted with a lattice pattern. There is a small oval window directly above the door.

The ground floor
The hallway leads straight onto a U-shape flight of stairs with a half landing, winding around a solid middle wall that supports the stairwell’s barrel vault. At the start of this wall there is a built-in pilaster crowned with a capital that is ornamented with a face flanked with egg shapes and volutes. On either side of the entrance hall, two segmental-arch doors stand opposite each other in granite-block frames. A barrel vault runs above the living room. Its wall plastering leaves the stonework slightly exposed. Terracotta tiles cover its floor. Two windows in deep embrasures fill the room with natural light. Their interior shutters are adorned with lattice patterns. Three doors connect to the room: one leads outside and two others flank a fireplace built into the wall. On its north side, two steps up and a groin vault above mark a side space leading off at a right angle. Beneath the area’s groin vault is a plain concrete floor. Natural light fills the space from a segmental-arch window, a tiny window and a circular window. A waist-height stone shelf runs along the walls. This partly underground room stays at a moderate temperature all year round.

On the other side of the hallway is a wood storeroom with a pebble-covered floor. An uneven bond forms the stonework of its walls, which rise in a rendered vault. Natural light fills the room from a window in a deep embrasure and, on the opposite wall, a narrow window in a wide splay. On the flight of stairs leading up to the first floor there is a half landing, embellished with a built-in semi-circular column at the end of the middle wall that the steps wind around. A pedestal marks the bottom of this column. Mouldings embellish its capital.

The first floor
The landing connects to two rectangular double doors that stand opposite each other. The mansion has kept many of its original door frames. The timber of the doors has been smoothened, given it a sheen.

The first door opens into a dining room with walls of exposed stonework and a white timber ceiling. Its floor is made up of stone, old round millstones and raised boarding over some parts. A fireplace stands against the entrance wall. A large hood rises up from a stone mantelpiece with mouldings. This mantelpiece runs around the top of the fireplace, inside which a robust cooker stands. An oak table and two benches are given pride of place in the middle of the dining room. There is a built-in wall cupboard behind doors of sculpted wood. In a corner, a door and a staircase lead to the tower. On the north side of the dining room, a step up, a broad segmental-arch opening and a wooden work surface mark the entrance into the kitchen. This kitchen is filled with natural light from a window. A waist-height stone shelf runs along the wall. Inside a bay are the remains of a stone sink. A door opens into a shower room with a sloping ceiling. It is adorned with little branches and wood on one of its walls. A shower cubicle is tucked into a corner and a washbasin upon a furniture unit complete the room.

On the other side of the landing is a room that was renovated in the 1960s. It has roughcast walls and terracotta floor tiles. Joists and two beams run across a white-wood ceiling. Four pillars support them. Next to the entrance, a round millstone in the floor lies beneath a large fireplace that stands against the wall and is equipped with a fireplace insert. Two large cupboards punctuate the walls. One of them mirrors the decorative patterns in the dining room.

The attic
On the top floor, the central staircase wall around which the steps wind ends at waist height. A landing with sloping ceilings is filled with natural light from a square dormer. It connects to two doors that each open into loft spaces. On the west side are two bedrooms in a row. A rooflight brightens them up. The wall plastering leaves the stonework slightly exposed. The roof framework in the first bedroom is made up of pale-timber battens that are the same colour as the flooring. The darker shade of the rafters contrasts with them. The second one has a wooden ceiling supported by collar beams. A three-panel partition with a wide passage in the middle separates the two rooms. There is a semi-circular window at the top of the partition’s central panel and a small window in one of its side panels.

On the east side, the landing leads to a spacious loft area that could be converted. A traditional roof framework extends above it. A wide chimney rises up the entrance wall. At the opposite end, a nailed horizonal beam runs above a dormer window. Near to it, a ladder leads up to the tower’s loft.

The tower

The tower stands at the east end of the facade. It is made up of a ground floor, two upper floors punctuated with a rectangular window on each side, and a loft. A pyramidal roof with a chimney stack on one side crowns it, rising above the main building’s roof. On the second floor, a lintel is marked with the year 1790. Inside, each floor offers a room.

The ground floor
On the ground floor, a canopy extends above the entrance door outside. It is covered with schist tiles and supported by two corbels that each depict a lion bearing a shield. The wooden door is sculpted with two panels of lattice patterns framed with mouldings. The inside is vaulted in a round arch. An uneven bond forms the stonework and there is a pebble floor. A window that looks out at the main building fills it with natural light.

The first floor
The room features original flooring, laid in a ladder pattern and burnished, as well as a white-painted wooden ceiling. In a corner, a fireplace hood blends into the exposed stonework of the walls.

The second floor
This space is similar to the one below it. The main building connects to it via a straight flight of stairs with a banister. An angled corner wall houses a chimney. The sound of flowing water subtly enters the room through a window that looks out at the river.

The attic
Beneath the pyramidal roof, the loft could be converted. It is lined with rafters and crowned with horizontal beams.