If You’ve Been Dreaming of a Home in Provence, This is it!
The drive to Vaison-la-Romaine from Nice was a little over three hours. We didn’t even notice the time pass while we chatted incessantly along the way. It wasn’t idle chat—the time in the car gave us an opportunity to discuss all of our current projects. Patty Sadauskas rode in the back seat of Jennifer Parrette’s car answering email. Meanwhile, I asked them both a few questions to help prepare me for Saturday night’s Zoom event sponsored by the Federation of the Alliance Française—”Demystifying the French: A Panel Discussion.” The questions all relate to cultural clashes we’ve had while living in France—what’s it like to be an American living in a French world not always understanding what should be so obvious, but isn’t. It gave me great food for thought in advance of the discussion that will reach hundreds of people.
Note: Be sure to register to participate in the discussion with Janet Hulstrand, Harriet Welty Rochefort and Mark Greenside, hosted by Linda Witt of the federation of the largest and most important French language learning institution, the Alliance Française all over the U.S.—it’s free to readers of our Nouvellettres® on Saturday, August 28th at 1 p.m. EDT, and 7 p.m. CEST (France time)—visit our events page.
We also prepared ourselves for our visit of the house for sale in the Romanesque Provençal village…the reason for the excursion. We had been contacted by an American couple who have owned the house for about 16 years, but have decided to move their France home to Nice. Would we want to see it and possibly offer it for sale to our community?
Well, that all depends! We don’t represent properties we wouldn’t recommend, so we had to come see it for ourselves. Our drive to Vaison-la-Romaine was not singular in purpose, however. We also planned to make a stop in Venasque where two of our clients live—one New Orleanian who sold one of her two Venasque homes to another New Orleanian who is currently renovating and decorating the centuries-old village house. I will leave this part of the story for tomorrow’s French Property Insider. We will also be making a stop in Cucuron for lunch with an old friend…and there will be much to tell tomorrow.
Vaison-la-Romaine may be a town of only 6,000 inhabitants, but it’s a bustling center of activity and quite beautiful. It’s a part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, but in the northern part of it. What makes it so special is that it’s rich in Roman ruins and its medieval history, harboring three towns in one: the Roman, the medieval and the modern one. Two thousand years of history all lie close together.
We didn’t realize this at first. The “upper city” or “Colline du Château”is on a hill on one side of the Ouvèze River, and on the opposite bank, is the “lower city” centered on the Colline de la Villasse. Our immediate access was into the upper city where we took a brief tour before getting back into our car to drive to the “mas” and meet with the American couple. (A “mas” is a traditional farmhouse of Provence and Midi regions of France.) Our visit of the lower city was by car after touring the home, which we discovered would be well worth a return visit.
The town is an artists’ enclave as many writers, painters and actors live in the area. There are theaters, galleries and exhibition spaces in greater quantity than one might imagine. We arrived just as the weekly open-air market was packing up, which is frequented by the residents of the area. This is no ordinary Provençal village and we discovered this was no ordinary mas.
The mas is a brief drive (or 20-minute walk) from the village. This makes it easy and accessible to everything one might need—and that’s a big plus for every day necessities. It’s a world into itself when you snake down the drive to the house, which is surrounded by 2.2 hectares of land (5.4 acres), completely private. The house itself is 192 square meters of perfection, with a garage, a pool and a poolhouse plus a large rose and vegetable garden of tomatoes and eggplants. On the grounds they are also growing lavender (which they harvest every year), cherry, plum, peach and fig trees.
The house is everything one might dream of. Once a farmhouse, it’s stuccoed with classic blue Provençal shutters. A patio on two sides of the house is trellised with wisteria vines, shading an outdoor dining table and lounging area completely from the summer sun. One can enter the house from many different “portes”—we entered from the kitchen door and were immediately impressed by the beautiful and completely equipped large very Provençal room, appointed by an island of special note—an antique piece of furniture they found that is clearly a one-of-a-kind and is so fitting that it feels as if the entire house was built around it.
The “double séjour” (dining room and living room) is more spacious than most, and simply, but beautifully and tastefully decorated. It is adorned by a large working fireplace and a massive dining table that seats eight comfortably. Off the dining room is a small office (or whatever you might use it for). On this main level is also a powder room and a guest suite—a large bedroom with fireplace and bathroom, all immediately accessible to the outside vine-covered patio. On the upper level are two bedrooms and two bathrooms, both perfectly decorated and appointed. (The furnishings all come with the sale of the house.)
Just down the path from the house is an infinity pool and poolhouse, walking past the gardens. The pool and all of the grounds are supported by well water so as not to incur a penny of usage. If one wanted to have horses or livestock, this is a perfect spot to do so. The poolhouse is about 45 square meters with an open living room/kitchen and bedroom with a bath. The pool has a view on the garden and grounds.
From a practical standpoint, the house is equipped with fiber optics so Internet access is just as if you were in the middle of town. The carrying costs of the property are minimal thanks to the thick walls and efficient heating system. A lawn tractor comes with the property to keep the lawns perfectly manicured. There is also a gardener who takes care of the property as if it’s his own, which could “come with the property.”
The price? You won’t believe this…a mere 860,000€ plus about €40,000 for the furnishings…all agency fees are included.
Doesn’t this sound like heaven to you?
Trust me, it is. If you’ve been dreaming of a home in Provence, this is it.
As of tomorrow, the property will be officially on the market and while we will have opportunity to sell it at any time, you are getting the inside scoop before anyone else—no one else knows about it but “us!”
If you are interested, email us TODAY.
Be the first to make an offer and call it yours before anyone else does!
A la prochaine…
P.S. Thinking about selling your property, too? Our connections to North American investors looking for properties like yours allow us to get your property sold, and with as little hassle to you as possible. Check out the details TODAY!
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