Gers Traditional Bastides

Bastide properties can be found in Gers, especially in the north-eastern part of the department. The word bastide has dual usage. Most commonly it is the name given to a fortified village found throughout south western France and Gers is the place in France where most of these medieval villages can be found. For our purpose it is the name given to the specific architecture of houses in Gers.

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This type of Gascony house is larger and more elegant than the classic farmhouse often called a Mas. The shape of the house is square or rectangular, with a tiled, almost flat roof and walls made up of stone and sometimes covered with stucco or whitewashed.

Like traditional Maisons de Maitre, Bastides tend to have a really practical layout. As mentioned above, the name "bastide" itself originates from the name given to certain fortified medieval towns built in the 13th and 14th centuries in South west France like Villeneuve sur Lot in Gers.

A key feature of many of these towns was a practical Roman grid-layout. Although most of these bastides are located in the Gers (Gascony) and Midi-Pyrénées regions of France, in terms of property, the word is used to describe a style of detached stone-built property or manor house found throughout the South of France.

Bastide-style properties are found in both towns and in the countryside where they were originally occupied by wealthy farmers.

Gascony Bastides are huge stone houses.

Bastide properties exist in other regions in France. One well-known bastide in the Southern part of France is the Bastide Neuve, located in the village of La Treille near Marseille, which was a summer house for the family of French writer and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol.