The Gascon good life O


nce upon a time, exactly two centuries ago in fact, a handsome


house was built for the mayor of a small Gascon village overlooking the Pyrénées. Bricks and tiles were carted


from his factory in the village, stone brought from the local quarry and mud dug from a pool in the grounds. Pebbles smoothed by the prehistoric passage of glaciers through the nearby valleys were set in neat rows in the walls. A long adjoining barn was


built at right angles to the house, connecting to an older half-timbered building to form a protective U-shape around a courtyard. Then the family moved in and passed down their beautiful home to another five generations. Life was, and still is, good


in this southwestern corner of France. The house is on the


northern fringes of the Haute- Pyrénées department about 45 minutes from department capital Tarbes and 1h30 from Toulouse. Spectacular vistas of the Pyrenean peaks give a sense of wilderness, yet this is a gentle landscape of rolling farmland and shallow valleys. Though fewer than 100 people live in the village, a five-minute bike ride brings you to the mini market town of Trie-sur- Baïse, with its many amenities, including a large supermarket. Many people move to


Gascony seeking the good life – space, sunshine and self- sufficiency – and this property delivers in spades. Boasting generous living spaces and at least three bedrooms in the main house, it comes with a two-bed gîte, all set in over six hectares of land. If you have horses, there are paddocks, two loose boxes, tack room, Equisol arena and three stables.


20 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: July/August 2023 The last branch of the family


to live in the house before it was sold to the current owners in 2005, were self-sufficient, using the long adjoining barn as their ‘porcherie’ with pigs on the ground floor and poultry and a grain store upstairs. They grew tobacco and turned homegrown grapes into wine in their ‘chai’, where they also cured their ham. Today the layout is more


residential. From the courtyard with its elegant travertine marble fountain, the double doors of the main house open onto an entrance hall. A bespoke oak and steel staircase leads upstairs to two ensuite bedrooms. Downstairs, there’s a large triple-aspect living room and a generous dining room with efficient woodburner. This leads onto a spacious kitchen, with granite worktops, island unit, double sink and recently installed range cooker.


Character property pick


In search of space, sun and self-sufficiency, Ruth Wood finds the perfect property in the old province of Gascony in France’s southwestern corner


The kitchen is the pivotal


point of the L-shaped house. From here you have three options. Go straight on into the long garage that runs along the back of the old porcherie. Turn left onto a covered alfresco terrace and into the ground floor of the porcherie, with its laundry and spare room. Or, climb the spiral steel staircase onto the porcherie’s upper floor where, beneath magnificent beams, a three-room master suite with covered balcony connects to a large billiards room. Then, turn a corner into the 18th-century barn, where once a family of stone-cutters lived, but today there’s an office above a workshop. You could always turn this into a second guest house, taking advantage of the balcony and mountain views. The good life indeed! ■


On the market for €799,000 le-bonheur.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148