Auvergne Chaumières (Mezenc area)

The area around Mezenc accounts for many houses with steeply pitched rye, thatched or Lauze roofs. These Auvergne houses are pretty rare but extremely authentic and traditional, in most cases their architecture and layout has remained untouched for decades.

The rest of the classic Auvergne Chaumiere is made of stones, with windows of small dimensions. These properties often come with an inside oven and a cellar.

Most Auvergne houses were thatched from the middle-ages to the early 20th century, and then thatch was replaced with materials that resisted fire much better, the others unfortunately burnt hence the very few Auvergne Chaumieres left.

A typical Auvergne Chaumiere.

The second reason is that the thatched roofs socially represented a category of poor people living in very simple houses thus these people got rid of their thatch roof as soon as they could.

Auvergne Chaumieres are very rare traditional houses, but do not hesitate to take a look at our cheap Auvergne properties portfolio by clicking below.