Our House in the Cevennes
We have owned our house in France since 1990, and love it dearly, but as we
move towards our eighties we are looking to sell it, with an option to purchase
all furniture, furnishings and contents (with the exception of some ornaments
and pictures of sentimental value and the 250 bottles of wine in the cave- a full
inventory is appended).
The an asking price of €190,000, payable in France via a local Notaire ( a
lawyer authorised and required by the Government, independent of both buyer
and seller).
1. Location
The house in France is a spacious, detached, “maison de village” situated in
the pretty little village of Madières, nestling in the Gorges de la Vis in the
foothills of the Cevennes. (Montpellier is 80 km to the South, Nîmes the same
distance to the East and the viaduct of Millau 70 km to the North).
At Madières, the River Vis forms the border between the departments of Gard
and Herault; Madières straddles the river, with half the village (in the commune
of Rogues) on the lower left bank, whilst we are on the higher right bank in the
commune of St Maurice Navacelles), with the Pont de Madières spanning the
river between us.
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Three roads lead out of the village. Running towards Ganges and Montpellier the D25 follows
the twists and turns of the Vis, but is fairly flat and the valley is very beautiful.
The other two roads are scenic but precipitous, climbing the sides of the valley by a series of
hairpin bends to the plain (“Causse”) above; one leads to Le Vigan, the other to Le Caylar,
Lodeve and the auto route (A76) to Calais.
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Madières is a quiet village, but there a number of Gites controlled by the
commune and two auberges, (one with a cafe/restaurant and Maison du Pays
attached) which makes it lively in Summer.
2.
The House – history
The earliest building on the site was the original village church, founded in the
12th Century, and extended twice in the 16th and 18th Centuries. The original
church and bell tower now house our barbecue area; the walls of the church
form the walls of our garden.
A presbytery was attached to the side of the church in the 17th century (and
sacked by the Camisards on 1st and 2nd March 1705!); this now constitutes the
oldest part of the house itself, with massive beams, and houses the sitting
room and guest suite.
The Church was deconsecrated in 1830, and an auberge with stables built on
the front in 1834; this now constitutes the “newest” part of the house. This
was the house as we found it thirty years ago. We had it re-roofed, rewired and
re-plumbed!
3. The House – rooms ( My measurements are approximate )
a) Ground floor
Virtually* the whole of the ground floor is taken up the Cave (93m 2 ) the name
given to the old stabling and wine store; although we removed the vinting tank
years ago and replaced it by a 66 bin wine rack, the mangers are still there.
The Cave has a vaulted stone ceiling.
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*(There are two small outside store-rooms at the left-hand end of the front of
the house).
The Cave is entered by very solid 10 foot high double doors from the road, or
by a small side door that leads from the house proper. At the rear of the Cave
is a gated enclosed passage that leads under the massive walls of house and
church into the garden. At one side of the Cave is a well equipped workshop
(6m 2 ) partitioned off by wooden stable walls.
b) First Floor
The front door from the street leads up an internal stone staircase to the house
front door; entry is into a small hall with three bedrooms leading off. (We put
the bedrooms on this floor because they a stay cool in the summer, whilst the
sitting rooms upstairs have fabulous views across the valley, over the river, to
the chateau and mountainside opposite).
Straight ahead is the largest bedroom (17′ by 14′), (see first photo below) with
walk in wardrobe, and large French windows with small balcony looking out on
the hillside opposite; an ensuite bathroom (11′x7′) with bath, hand basin and
w.c. is accessed up four steep stone steps; below the bathroom is the utility
room (“buanderie”) housing the enormous electric (immersion) water heater,
tumble dryer and clothes racks.
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To the left of the stair door is another bedroom 21′x12′, (photo below) with built
in wardrobe and dressing table. This room also has a large French window
with a small balcony, and another window, both looking onto the hill side. The
shower room, (8ꞌx6ꞌ), with shower, basin and W.C. for this bedroom are across
the hall.
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To the right of the stair door is the bedroom (14′x8′) of the guest suite, again
with a French window and small balcony (but with not much view), and an ensuite bathroom (7′x7′) with bath, basin and W.C. off to one side. A door at the
back of the bedroom leads into a pretty sitting room (14′x11′).(photo below)
A French window opens on to a terrace that runs along the back of the house
and looks across to the Chateau on the hillside the other side of the river.
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(All bedrooms have English 13amp socket outlets by the dressing tables for
hair dryers etc. as well as the normal French sockets.)
c)
Second floor
Stone stairs lead up from the first floor hall to the second floor landing.
Immediately in front of the top of stairs is the door to the TV room and study;
this is a split level room (in total 28′x9′).(Photo below)
(There is broadband (wifi throughout the house) Satellite TV and telephone.)
There is a Godin wood-burning stove. Two windows look out to the hillside
opposite.
To the left of the stairs, the first room is the kitchen, (11′x7′) fully fitted with
built in oven, washing machine and fridge freezer. (top photo on page below)
The next room along is the dining room, (18′x15′) with two windows and a
fireplace (blocked off) housing an ancient Godin stove. (bottom photo below)
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The two photos on the previous page are of the main sitting room, 30′ x 15′,
which occupies the whole of the top wing of the house. It has a 20′ high wood
panelled ceiling; the flooring is wooden boards.
There are four clerestory windows, two wall windows on the street side, and
two 6’ wide double French windows, looking out over the river to the chateau
opposite. The massive stone fireplace has a modern log burning insert stove.
Except for the sitting room, all of the house floors are stone or tiled with rugs.
The lighting is a mix of chandeliers and wall–lights. There are thermostatically
controlled electric convector radiators in all rooms (heated towel rails in the
shower / bathrooms)
4.
Attic. The Attic is accessed by a pull-down loft ladder through a hatch
on the 2nd floor landing opposite the kitchen door. It is boarded, with 4” of
underboard insulation.
5.
The Garden
The garden (100Ꞌ x 20ꞌ) – see next page for photo- is fitted with an automatic
watering system and is enclosed by the 12 ft. high walls of the old church ; it
is entered by the passage from the cave, or by a back gate from the small
raised outside garden bordered by a little path running down to the river.
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At one end of the garden are the remains of the old altar candlestick pillars
with a pond and fountain between them. To the side is the former sacristy
(12ꞌx12ꞌ) with a stone vaulted roof, housing scaffold tower, ladder, two
mountain bikes and two rubber dinghies, all included in the sale!
At the other end of the garden is a staircase leading up to the barbecue area,
(12ꞌ x 20ꞌ), with a vaulted stone ceiling and a bar-be-cue built of old cut stone.
Below the barbecue area is a stone bench and water feature.
5.
The House -Security
The house is very secure. There are only slit windows in the cave and the
windows in the garden wall have the original iron bars.
There are double steel and wood gates at either end of the passage between
the cave and the garden.
The garden back door is pin massif with three bolts.
The cave door is also pin massif locked by three bolts and a crossbar.
The front door is Oak with treble locks.
The door at the top of the stairs is pin massif with a double mortise lock
All the windows in the house have wooden shutters and lock from the inside.
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6.
Maintenance Costs.
There are two types of house tax (“rates”): tax d’habitation (December) and
tax foncieres (October). TH in 2014 was €700 and TF €600.
The insurance for the house and contents is €600.
Water charges last year (including including garden water and mains drainage)
were €350.
Village levies - an annual charge of €60 for the drainage and rubbish
collection.
Heating and Lighting costs were €760 last year but obviously it depends on
how much you use the house in the colder months.
Phone/TV/Broadband is around €40 per month
We bank and insure with Credit Agricole who have a local branch in Ganges,
although for most matters we deal with our charming Counsellor Marie Mejean,
who is based in Nîmes but is always available, from England or France by
phone or e-mail, or by personal visit to Nîmes
7.
The Village
The Village only has about 60 inhabitants, although the number swells in the
summer to 200.
There is an active Village Association (“The Pont de Madieres”) of which we
were founder members in 1993; few people speak very much English but they
do try to say a few words, and are very, very friendly.
The Cafe Restaurant is open in the summer, and in the winter for special
gatherings. In the summer there are tables outside with occasional jazz
evenings. The food is simple but very good. They also supply bread and local
specialities
The Chateau on the opposite of the Village was originally rebuilt and
refurbished in the period 1985-95 by two Parisians who became great friends.
It was then a superb luxury hotel. Unfortunately Bernard was killed in a tragic
motor accident and his wife died of a broken heart only 16 months later. They
had no children and the Chateau has subsequently been operated not very
successfully by many people. Currently it is run by as the “Chateau Zen” (See
their web-site!)
The river has a number of small beaches in and around the village, including
one, a half mile upstream, which has a huge pool ideal for swimming.
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As you can see below -
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our children, although grown-up, still love taking the rubber
dinghies down-stream from Madières to the next large beach at
Grenouillet.
There are a number of larger beaches alongside the river in the direction
of Ganges with restaurants and bars.
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The river teems with trout; day or week fishing licences are available, or
residents may join the “Association Propriateurs et Riverains de Madieres” –
(APRM) which controls the fishing rights along both banks of the River.
Ganges is the nearest town (12 miles); it has two large Supermarkets and a
fantastic market on Fridays,
8.
Travel
In the summer we normally drive the 600 miles from the Channel coast which
takes about 10 hours (with frequent stops) of very easy motorway motoring.
We are fortunate as we are able to stay overnight at our Son’s house in
Normandy before travelling south.
In the early Spring, late Autumn and Winter we fly from Luton to Nîmes or
Beziers, or from Stansted to Montpellier and hire a car at the airport. Each of
the airports is about 1 hr 20 min drive from Madieres.
Because it is in the hills (although the altitude is only about 350m.) Madières is
cold in the winter months (November through to March) and the house takes
about three days to warm up for Christmas! Now we are older we do not
venture down often in the cold season.
The surrounding area
The village is on the edge of the Cevennes national park, and the Gorges of the
rivers Vis, Herault, and Dourbie are very beautiful with very attractive small
towns and villages, of which the Templar village of La Couverterade and the
small town of Pezenas are particularly famous, and the “Cirque de Navacelles”
is a Grand Site de France. The commune has established a fine restaurant on
the rim of the Cirque.
Nimes and Montpellier are both interesting old cities with very attractive
pedestrian centres.
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