MillChâtillon-Coligny (45)

A restored presbytery, a mill, vestiges of a former fortress and converted outbuildings on grounds of nearly 9 hectares, located within an ecovillage. Upon exiting a village, the property is located at the end of a valley, surrounded by several illustrious estates, wooded parcels and pastures. Bordered by the Briare canal – 55 kilometres long – as well as inlets, outer walls and verdant hedges, the contiguous tree-filled property contains nearly 9 hectares. From the road, tall, automated gates open onto a drive that leads to the different buildings, which include a caretaker’s cottage near the entrance, a guesthouse, outbuildings and former stables, while behind the different buildings, gardens with water features provide a bucolic backdrop for the whole.
The main dwelling, a former presbytery from the 17th century, stands on a verdant esplanade of approximately one hectare. Rectangular in shape and flanked by a cylindrical corner tower, it has two floors under an attic level. With approximately 300 m² of floor area, the main building is topped with a hipped Mansard roof, while the tower is crowned with a pepperpot turret, the two both covered in antique tiles. In addition, the building’s façades are clad in lime-pointed stone and punctuated with large-paned windows of different shapes and sizes, all safeguarded by louvred shutters, except for its bull’s-eye windows, while its window and door surrounds, excluding those for the gable and hipped dormer windows on the roof, are in brick. Lastly, cornices in ashlar stone for the tower and brick for the main building add the final touches to the façades.
The property also includes a mill built in the 19th century and its outbuildings, which are located not far from the waterway that traverses the grounds. The Loing River, rich with abundant aquatic biodiversity, divides a vast pasture in two, while a small peninsula still conceals the vestiges of a former fortress with moats, an outer wall and towers built out of limestone, flint, rubble stone and ashlar stone, which date back to the 13th century.