Dream a little

What could be more gratifying in these times of crisis than to experience the beauty of things?

A centuries-old château with its formal gardens, an old manor awaiting careful restoration, an imposing country house at the end of an avenue lined with cypresses, an old Savoyard chalet with its chimneys smoking in the snow. At a time when everything changes so quickly, houses have one valuable feature: they don’t change.

They are the fixed point of our lives, whether they offer a home for our distant memories or provide, should we wish to acquire one, our theatre for the days to come.

Buying a beautiful house in 2015? It may seem a little crazy when we look at the economic situation and add up what we have to pay the tax man... But, all things considered, it’s a reasonable madness. Who knows, in this worrying world that’s developing before our eyes, where everything is speeding up, nice houses may soon be the last symbol of the permanence of things...

Globalisation is making us nomads – we’re here, there, and everywhere. We’re constantly being called on to adapt in a vicious centrifugal movement.

No unity, no permanence, no peace.

We need to become a bit more rooted. This latest issue of Le Figaro Properties will have you dreaming, as that’s its primary purpose. You flip through the pages and imagine yourself in the lounge of a Normandy château, in front of a Cevennes farmhouse or on the terrace of a beautiful Parisian apartment. If possible, you decide to visit a property and, who knows, the mysterious alchemy may come into play. The love story begins. We devote ourselves body and soul to these walls, these roofs, these gardens to the point where we can no longer imagine life without them.