Your
own 3-bedroom French farmhouse for $71,770
(an hour drive from
the Mediterranean Sea)
by Cheryl Taylor
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Because
of a strong dollar and a long-sagging market, you can find tremendous bargains
in rural France right now. For example, a stone-village house in the warm,
fashionable south, with wooden floors, beamed ceilings, and a half-timbered
barn is on offer for $25,500.. a two-bedroom pied à l’eau on the
Mediterranean: $50,240.. or a six-bedroom 16th-century former presbytery
in “Jean de Florette” country, near Provence: $54,950.
After years
in the doldrums, prices are still low, but they are beginning to rise…and
it’s hard to imagine that the dollar can get much stronger. Tax relief
on mortgage loans for French purchasers and a cut in stamp duty has helped.
Young French couples are buying old country cottages and farm buildings
to renovate. The Belgians, the Dutch, and especially the British, are looking
to France for relief from their own countries’ expensive markets.In fact,
the British are buying property here like mad because property is so much
cheaper than we can get at home. I recently went bargain hunting in the
Southwest, and found some places where the British are not yet looking…where
the weather is warmer, the houses are bigger, and prices are half those
in Provence.
Aveyron
and the Lozere
Well-located
properties in areas such as the Gers, the Lot-et-Garonne, and the Tarn,
within a 90-minute drive of Toulouse airport and winter skiing in
the Pyrenees, are becoming sought-after and expensive. The Aveyron and
the Lozere, two sparsely populated mountainous départements on the
edge of the south-west, offer better deals. Both boast spectacular, rugged
scenery, and a good supply of stone cottages and farmhouses for under $39,250.
The Auvergne
North of
Aveyron and the Lozere, the Auvergne, which lies mainly in the Massif Central,
France’s mountainous heartland, has to be one of the greenest, prettiest
and best-preserved parts of the country. Thickly forested and criss-crossed
by rivers and lakes, it has a wild, often inaccessible landscape, dotted
with extinct volcanic peaks, much of it incorporated into the “Parc Naturel
Régional des Volcans d’Auvergne,” France’s largest national park.
Despite its
many attractions, the Auvergne remains largely unknown by British holiday
makers and house hunters. Prices are so low (half those in the Dordogne)
that few British agents bother to list property here. It’s close
to Paris (two hours) and to London Waterloo (under six hours), and
is easily reached by the A10 motorway, within an easy day’s drive of Calais.
Châteaux
are plentiful here, the majority built before the end of the 17th century,
many of them in good condition. The dry climate ensures that most oak-timbered
roof frames are sound, and the buildings do not require damp-proofing.
You can buy a run-down 20-room château, complete with a moat and
a few acres of parkland, for $235,500. A terraced village house with two
bedrooms and a garden can still be had for about $23,500. While a four-bedroom,
stone country house, with a barn as big as a detached house, costs about
$62,000.
The Pyrenees
Ariège,
an “undiscovered” département in the foothills of the Pyrenees,
bordering Spain, offers the cheapest property in the sunny south. It is
easily reached by plane to Carcassone or Toulouse, an hour’s drive north
of Pamiers. It is well-placed for the ski resorts in the high Pyrenees,
or excursions to Spain, Andorra, and the Mediterranean coastline. Within
sight of the snow-capped Pyrenees, the green mountain valleys of the Ariège
are dotted with little spas and ski resorts, including Aix-les-Thermes,
my favorite. Some of the best buys are in the countryside around Mirepoix
and Pamiers. Small unconverted stone village houses can be had from $15,700;
about $23,500 buys a habitable three-story house, near Mirepoix and the
640 hectare Lake Mont Bel, an hour’s drive from the Mediterranean at Bacares.
Or, a beautifully renovated detached house, stone-built with wooden shutters,
in an acre of garden, for sale at $71,770.
Pyrenees
Orientales
The further
south and east you go in the Pyrenees, the stronger the influence of the
Mediterranean. The climate in the Pyrenees Orientales, extending from Perpignan
to the Spanish border, is the driest and the sunniest in France. However,
property prices are much cheaper than in other parts of the warm, fashionable
south.
The area around
Perpignan, the principal town of the Pyrenees Orientales, is the poor man’s
Riviera, with a Mediterranean coastline and a rash of new developments
aimed at low-budget French tourists. The weather is hot and dry in the
summer, and prices are much cheaper than on the Cote D’Azur. Coastal prices
start at $47,100, which buys a new two-bedroom harborside apartment, overlooking
the Mediterranean.
The best buys
are to be found in the rugged hinterland, with its crop of hilltop villages
and lovely old houses that cost less than $78,500. A renovated stone-built
three-story, three-bedroom house, with a roof terrace, in a medieval hilltop
village, about 28 miles from the Mediterranean, is available at $73,265.
The Pyrenees
region is easily accessible, with international airports at Toulouse, Carcassone,
and Tarbes.
On Iain
Cusak’s books right now
• A stone-built,
three-story village house with an adjoining half-timbered barn in a picturesque
village close to Mirepoix and the 640-hectare Lake Montbel in the Ariege,
an hour’s drive from the Mediterranean at Bacares. Price: $23,550
• A renovated
stone-built three-story, three-bedroom house, with a roof terrace, in a
pretty medieval
hilltop village
in the Aspres region of the Pyrenees Orientales, 28 miles from the Mediterranean.
Price: $73,265.
• A detached
three-bedroom stone-built country house, in good condition, in the Lozere,
enjoying panoramic south-facing views across the Cevennes, 12.5 miles from
Genolhac, 25 miles from Florac. Price: $70,650.
• A renovated
three-bedroom detached stone house, with wooden shutters, with a one-acre
garden, near Mirepoix, in the Ariege, an hour’s drive from the Mediterranean.
Price: $71,770. |
