Private Riverside Estate with Business Potential & Existing Rental Activity. Only 40mins to Nice Airport

Property Description

Summary
This river-side estate comprises of le Foulon, a very large house (769m2/8277ft2) with 9 primary en suite bedrooms, a separate 1 bedroom staff apartment and further flexible-use rooms. The open plan entrance, lounge and dining room are a very generous 143m, with beautiful south-facing views bathing them in natural light. Built as a Maison d'Maitre (Masters House) to the estate it was created around 1890 and has been owned by a Spanish industrialist during the 1930s, a woman 'sans profession' from New York during the second world war, and later became a restaurant of high repute, noted for it's fresh trout and cray fish from it's very own pisciculture.

Next to the main house is a secondary garage, workshop and very comfortable 2 bedroom house.

For the past 22 years it has been owned by a British couple, who renovated the property, added a large heated swimming pool and operated it as a group rental property with a year round income potential.

It would make a wonderful country residence for a family to enjoy privacy, outdoor pursuits or simply for entertaining. There's great potential for some of the communal rooms to house your car collection and to make 2 of the bedrooms on the ground level into the lounge (it was like this in the past). Where better to house a special car collection than at the gateway to some of the greatest roads France has to offer?

Or perhaps you're looking for a restaurant location where the views match the cuisine? And you could offer 5 bedrooms for over fed guests. There is wonderful local produce, from organic vegetables, to mountain reared veal and lamb. Trout is still farmed by a neighbour 1km away and of course this is prime truffle country.

The key here is flexibility; you can make this large property anything you want, but you're unlikely to find another. Gréolières and the Domaine du Foulon are now at the heart of the Parc Naturel Régional des Préalpes d’Azur, which is a long way of saying this protected area no longer allows any further developement, so those uninterupted views will forever remain that way.

Location
They say location is everything. The Domaine du Foulon is only 34kms from Nice Cote d'Azur airport but could be a million miles from anywhere. With far reaching views along the Valley of the Wolf, forest and the medieval castle at Gréolières. The only homes you overlook are for wild animals. To be so close to the hustle and bustle of the French Riviera and yet so secluded makes the Foulon a rare gem.

Access
27kms or less than 40 minutes by car and you are at the A8 autoroute at Cagnes sur Mer, a few minutes more and you reach Nice Cote d'Azur International airport (France's second largest). You can even grab a helicopter from the coast and land in the garden 10 minutes later.

Interior
The house has been renovated to add modern comforts to original style.

Exterior
This solid stone house was built to last forever. There's a large shaded dining area and summer kitchen leading to the swimming pool that's heated in the shoulder months and comfortable to use between April and mid October. There is a very large field leading down to the River Loup (which a farmer comes and cuts for you each summer in exchange for the bailed hay). An area was previously terraced to install a tennis court.

There are two springs that flow all through the hottest of summers, although the house is currently fed by mains water for reliable pressure even when all the bathrooms are being used.

The forests here contain an incredibly diverse number of trees and many very mature and magnificent specimens. Along the riverside you'll find ancient beech trees, holme, poplar, hazlenut and willows to name but a few. The hillside is predominantly oak (and prime truffle country) but look closer and the diversity continues. There's even an enormous Poplar (like the ones you find lining French roads as ordered by Naploeon) that's not been copiced for may be 80 years, unlike almost all of the others you see through the country.

In the courtyard as you arrive at Le Foulon is a horse chestnut that could be 200 years old and adjacent is a lime so large that when in flower the sound of the bees collecting pollen creates a gentle hum.

There are many mature mirabel trees, plumb, apple and green gauge, as well as the hazlenuts and walnuts. Summer brings an abundance of produce.

Additional Details
There is a small one bedroom house at the far end of the land that is owned by an Irishman. It is available to buy separately should you wish.

We are retiring and closing our business, but should the new owner wish to continue our current rental activity we are happy to give them as many pointers as we can.

The main house is in good order and was re-wired and re-plumbed when we arrived. We undertook a lot of renovation work, including all new bathrooms, which is all documented. But like anything of this age there's always maintenance to do and this is reflected in our asking price. The second 2 bedroom house was fully renovated just a few years ago.

Almost all the furniture in the main house is available, negotiated separately.

The price is direct, with no agency and no comission, you'll simply have to add the notaires fees (government taxes).