Barn conversion with land

The property is positioned in beautiful and dramatic scenery on the edge of a delightful hamlet to the North of Rieupeyroux, a main town of the Segala region of Aveyron – “Land of a hundred valleys”. 

Rieupeyroux has a large supermarket, 2 builders merchants and a good range of shops and business services.  About 30 minutes drive to the west and south respectively are the historic bastide towns of Villefranche de Rouergue and Sauveterre de Rouergue. 

The main airport of Toulouse (Air France/KLM etc) is only a 2-hour drive away to the southwest and the smaller airport of Rodez (Air France and Ryanair) is only 40 minutes to the east.

The wine regions of Gaillac and Marcillac are within less than an hour’s drive.  The historic city of Albi, the home of Toulouse Lautrec, is a similar distance away

The newly enhanced A20 motorway to Limoges and Paris can be accessed close to Villefranche.

Aspect

The front of the property faces in towards the old coeur de ferme of the hamlet, a substantial property that has been carefully restored by its French owners, who have retired from Paris to live there full time.

The rear of the property enjoys stunning, un-interrupted views, over the land adjoining the property, to the wooded valleys of the Aveyron River to the northwest and further to the mountains of the Cantal region to the northeast.  Especially notable features are the granite peaks of the Gorges d’Aveyron and the Chateau Mirabel.

Buildings

The buildings consist of two stone barns, set at ~90 deg to each other and forming the northern corner of the hamlet.

Barn 1

The main barn is approx 22.0m long x 6.8m wide internally and is constructed of 60 cm thick fieldstone walls with a roof of Ardoise tiles on Oak trusses.  The roof is in excellent condition - the ridge has been re-pointed.   

The building already had an integral first floor supported on several gigantic oak main beams (poutres) up to 60cm wide with smaller oak and chestnut sub-beams (solives) up to 25 cm wide.

All existing floorboards were stripped off the beams that were then cleaned and treated with preservative. New upstairs floor surfaces were then constructed using an 8 cm thickness sandwich of particleboard (cottage) or sterlingboard (house) containing rockwool insulation.

Downstairs floors are solid concrete laid on a damp-proof membrane, with the split level living area of the house having a sterlingboard floor covering.  The house floors are insulated.

Barn 1 - Cottage

A 6-metre long section, at the western end of the barn, has been converted to form a self-contained cottage.  Upstairs consists of 2 double/twin bedrooms each approx 4.0 m x 3.4 m, bathroom with bath/shower and hand basin and a separate WC off the landing.  The downstairs is an open plan living and dining area with a fitted kitchen. 

A feature fieldstone fireplace contains a new Jotul woodbuning stove.  At the party wall between the cottage and the house, new chimneys have been constructed for both cottage and house using double wall vitreous clay chimney liners with stainless steel stacks.

The downstairs floor is laid in ceramic tiles.

A washing machine is fitted in the cupboard below the stairs.  There is a fridge under the worktop and a freestanding electric cooker.  The cottage is furnished with furniture and appliances being included in the sale.

French doors lead out to the back of the property where a concrete patio has been laid and partly covered in natural stone.   The cottage garden area is fenced.

Floor area of the cottage is ~82 sq m on 2 floors.

Barn 1 - House

The remaining 16 metres of the barn are being converted into a house with space for 2 double bedrooms and 1 single bedroom, a house bathroom and a large sitting area upstairs. In addition, a master bedroom suite with en-suite bathroom and dressing room is raised from the first floor level, to be partly in the eaves, creating a walk in store area below.  The downstairs will be split-level - with entrance hall, cloakroom and an open plan living & kitchen area on the lower level and a lounge and office area on the raised level. 

The downstairs concrete floor has been completed with a conduit approx 30 cm wide left open around the perimeter to take water, electric and central heating pipes/cables. 

New wall openings have been created and finished and the windows and French doors have been fitted.  The front entrance doorway has been finished.  The kitchen doorframe is installed but the door remains unfitted.  One or two special sized windows and the upstairs barn door opening still remain to be fitted.

Floor area of the house is over 250 sq m on 2+ floors.

Barn 2

The second barn (or hangar) is a 2 storey, three-sided structure, also in fieldstone, with steel roof trusses and a GI sheet roof.  The open face of the building, that faces in towards the hamlet, measures 10 metres wide and extends to a depth of 14 metres.  Conversion to another dwelling or a combination of dwelling and garage or workshop would be very straightforward.  The building is currently being used for storing materials.  Potential floor area is up to ~ 280 sq m on 2 floors.

Services

All new water, electric and telephone services have been installed and connected in the cottage part of the property.  Water pipes and electric cabling have not yet been installed in the house.   

A large (4,000 litre) septic tank and drainage field have been installed in the garden area of the house and approved by the local authority (Mairie).  Drainpipes are installed up to the house but not all have yet been installed/connected inside the house.  The cottage drains are all complete.  The size of the septic tank is sufficient for the additional development of Barn 2.

A satellite dish is connected in the cottage receiving free-to-air signals.  TV, VCR, CD and Stereo are all installed. 

Land and Woodland

The property has over 1 hectare (3 acres +) of land adjoining the barns, including a substantial parcel of mixed woodland.  The land, formerly grazing pasture, is well fenced and slopes away from the property towards the northwest.

 Owner onsite in early October for accompanied viewing - email nrpeck1011@aol.com  to arrange to visit.