Idyllic Historic Maison De Maître on the River Vienne in a most Idyllic Secluded Location with 300m of Riverbank and 65,…

Property Description

Idyllic Historic Maison De Maître on the River Vienne in a most Idyllic Secluded Location with 300m of Riverbank and 65,348 Square Meters of Land but only a Few

Summary
The owner of the house is an elderly friend of mine, she is German and lives in Germany. It is the house of her dreams and her heart, but she has decided to sell it for health reasons. I live near the house and take care of everything for her including viewings.

A little piece of paradise: sitting on the riverbank and listening to the rushing and whispering of the water is healing and indescribably beautiful. Apart from the singing of birds and the voices of other animals, you hear no sound. Only nature, as far as the eye can see. Right in front of the garden, on your own riverbank, you can swim, fish, fly fish, collect shells, go boating... The old, functioning bread oven invites to find creative ways of using it. In the evening, without any light pollution, you can look up at the sky with your own eyes or a telescope, and you feel like you could pick the stars out of the sky.

The size of the house and the land make it not only a dream location for a family but also offer endless possibilities for income sources, from Chambre d'Hôtes to Glamping to a Smallholding.The 6.5 hectares of land offer every opportunity for keeping animals, growing vegetables for self-sufficiency... Thanks to the large roof areas, it is possible to become self-sufficient with solar panels.

The foundations of the barn and the mill, which unfortunately no longer exists, date from the 17th century, while the main house was built in the early 19th century. Legend has it that the Sun King Louis XIV, repeatedly met with his most famous mistress, Madame de Montespan, who came from the area, in the mill. The miller and his family moved out, and for a few days the king and his mistress dressed like peasants and enjoyed the simple life.

The large Maison de Maître has approx. 330 sqm, of which approx. 200 sqm are inhabited with kitchen, living room, 5 bedrooms with walk-in closets, 3 shower rooms, two with WC and one separate WC. The smaller half with approx. 130 sqm is still waiting to be renovated and to be the canvas for your dreams: The impressive double-height room could become a library and games room with a mezzanine, have a pool table… The barn has approx. 160 sqm. In the garden are a well and t is a cistern, which can be filled with water in the winter months and used for irrigation in the summer.

Location
The house is in a most idyllic secluded location with 300m of riverbank and 65,348 square meters of land but only a few minutes from all amenities.

The property is only 5 minutes from Availles-Limouzine, a lively little village with a small supermarket, butcher, baker, a few small stores, weekly market, hotel, restaurant, doctor and pharmacy, kindergarden and elementary school and 15 minutes from Confolens, the charming little town with medieval bridges, all shopping facilities, hospital, schools, weekly market and an annual international music festival.

Access
It takes about 50 minutes to get to the airport and 1 hour to get to the train station in Limoges, 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to the airport and train station in Poitiers, and 1 hour to get to the train station in Angoulême and the airport Angoulême/Cognac.

The driving time to Bordeaux is 2:15 and to Paris 4:30 hours.

Interior
On the ground floor is a large entrance hall from which the stairs lead up to the first floor. Here are the kitchen with a double glass door that leads to the garden and offers an amazing view of the river. A door leads to the living room with an insert fire place.. Off a small hallway are a bedroom, a shower room and a separate WC. On the first floor are four bedrooms, one very large with a fire place, and one with en suite shower room as well as a family shower room. Stairs lead up to a large attic that would be perfect for storage but also as an art studio.

Off the entrance hall is a door to the "secret" part: two connected rooms each with a large fireplace, with original doors and one with an ancient giant inbuilt cupboard. The second room has a door to tha garden. From there stairs lead up to the double height room.

Exterior
From a small dirt road that eventually leads to a farm you turn into a beautiful driveway, an allée, flanked by poplar trees. The garden wraps around the house. There are mature cherry and apple tress, all overlooked by a 300 year old oak (that is protected). From the garden one can step through a gate to the river bank. Just to the left of the house are two small islands in the river which in the winter are under water and in spring appear again with beautiful vegetation. The property is surrounded by the meadows.

In addition to the barn, this property offers a few small outbuildings:
• Three chambers on the side of the house that are used to store wood, but also offer space for a small workshop and for storing equipment. The roof was newly tiled with old tiles to preserve the character.
• A small hangar that can be used as a carport.
• Small stables that were used for pigs and chickens.
• And, last but not least, the old bread oven, which can be used for baking bread and pizza and for cooking.

Additional Details
The roof had been completely revised about 19 years ago, the roof of the barn is new.

There is central heating that is being used with oil but can be used with wood.

The climate change caused a lot of flooding in the past years. The house is located on higher ground and also stands on a base with slits so that water can flow underneath it. Even during the terrible floods two years ago, when large parts of Availles-Limouzine and Confolens were inundated, the water reached the garden but did not even reach the stairs to the kitchen. Some water flowed into the barn during the floods. As I was told, most of it came from the slope; to prevent this, a small ditch with a drain to the river would have to be dug in front of the barn, which is not a big effort (a man with a small excavator, gravel, a half-open pipe, all together costing a maximum of €500). The river water reached the barn, but this could be prevented with a flood wall (a short, strategically placed wall would divert the water).

The diagnostics that are demanded in France show that the septic tank at some point must be replaced. The energy reading on paper is bad, but an ancient house like this cannot be insulated as proposed as that would create damp problems. This is a historic house and needs the appropriate sensitivity.

The property tax was 1650€.