House Tours (37)

An 18th century, large, luxurious home, with its wine storehouse, and its outbuildings just two hours from Paris in the Touraine region.
In the Loire Valley, a region classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. 30 minutes from Tours, 10 minutes from Amboise and just 4 minutes from the nearest shops. 2 km from a train station, with links to Paris-Austerlitz, taking a little more than 2 hours, and to Paris-Montparnasse, taking 1⅔ hours. Tours-Val-de-Loire airport, 30 minutes away, has regular, direct flights to Marseille, London, Dublin, Marrakech and Porto.
This south-east facing house, backing on to a hillside, is sheltered from the wind. The property benefits from a micro-climate, enabling olive and pomegranate trees as well as other Mediterranean plants to grow around the swimming pool. It appears to be divided into five, partially walled areas: an orchard and a swimming pool on the west side, the house, its outbuildings and the garden in the centre, woods to the rear, a guest house and its little courtyard on the east side and, between the two gateways, a driveway, lined with lime trees, an orangery, a barn and the old troglodyte house. The main house, in the middle of the property, stands facing a French formal garden. Only the ground floor is partially troglodytic and the cellar or former wine storehouse, hewn in the freestone, goes around the rear of the house forming two right angles, such that it can be reached from both sides of the house. The adjoining outbuildings, comprising a laundry room, a workshop and the guest house boiler room, are also hewn in the rock.
The houseThe walls of this rectangular house are constructed from freestone. Depending on the angle of the light, the ochre-coloured stone sometimes reflects white and sometimes grey hues. The green shutters and frames of the small-paned windows beautifully enhance the ochre of the main building. The Mansard style roof, with its curved break, is covered with slate and the roof dormers have arched wooden pediments. Adjoining and communicating with the east side of the house, a single-storey extension, hewn in the rock and set slightly back, houses a dining room and the entrance to the cellar or old wine-storehouse. A second entrance to the wine-storehouse is on the west side of the house’s main facade.
Ground floor
This level comprises two reception rooms, a lounge on the west side, a dining room on the east side and, in between, a kitchen. Stairways are hewn in the rock on either side: one, going just to the first floor, the other to both floors. A toilet and a pantry. Each of the three rooms has a fireplace. The floors in the reception rooms are covered with Burgundy stone, with inlaid decoration; that of the kitchen features terracotta tiles.
First floor
The biggest bedroom is in the centre. It is flanked on either side by a stairway, each one followed by a bedroom and a shower room. Only the stairway on the west side goes up to the second floor. The bathroom floors are covered with tiles, whilst terracotta tiles or carpet cover the bedroom floors.
Second floor
The west stairway, made of wood between the first and second floors, leads up under the rafters to a room which could be used for numerous purposes such as a television or a games room. On the east side are a bedroom, its shower room and its wardrobe. On the west side is another room with numerous low cupboards. The three rooms are very similar, with sloping ceilings, exposed beams, parquet flooring and exposed quarry block stone walls.The guest houseThe main facade of this guest house, spanning approx. 65 m² over two levels, faces south-west. It comprises a single room on the ground floor, a bedroom and a shower room, with a toilet upstairs. It looks out over a separate …