Poitou-Charentes, France - A Place in the Sun

Poitou-Charentes, France - Sara Damergi

Sara Damergi heads to Poitou-Charentes in the west of France to help house hunters Jules and Gaynor. Along with their pet alpacas, they are planning a permanent move to rural France to run their own gite business. Sara shows them the best of what their £250,000 budget gets them with five fantastic properties but will any of them be the perfect place for Jules and Gaynor?

About the area

Poitou-Charentes in western France is about 7 hours drive from Calais, or if you’re flying, the airports in La Rochelle, Limoges, and Bordeaux, take around 2 hours to get to from the UK–all of these airports are around an hour and a half drive from the area. Poitou-Charentes is one of France’s most rural and agricultural areas, known for producing vegetables, cheese and most notably the grapes that make Cognac.

Its western edge runs along the Atlantic coast and it gets the second half of its name from the river Charente that runs all the way through it. We’re focusing our search in the east of the region in the countryside between Poitiers and Angouleme, its two biggest cities.

Property 1

Five-bed Country House in Mauprévoir

This property consists of the main house and a chambre d hote–an adjoining building for bed and breakfast–and has just over three quarters of an acre of land including a large garden, a courtyard, an upstairs balcony, and a garage. The recently renovated main house has both a large and a small living room, a dining room and a kitchen downstairs. Upstairs there’s the main bedroom with ensuite shower room, along with three more good-sized and characterful bedrooms and a family bathroom. The chambre d hote has a living room with a kitchenette, one bedroom, and a bathroom. See more from the agent.

Valued at £293,644 at the time of filming.

Property 2

Five-bed House in Massignac

This property has almost an acre of land, with two covered terraces, a pool and a hot tub, a spacious garden, a big barn with two levels, and some other outbuildings. The main house has an open plan kitchen living and dining area, as well as another living and dining room. On the first floor there are two bedrooms, one with en suite shower room, the other with en suite bathroom, and on the second floor there are two more bedrooms, both with en suite shower rooms. In the gite there’s an open plan living dining and kitchen space, one bedroom, and a shower room. For more information on this property.

 

Valued at £306,992 at the time of filming.

Property 3

Three-bed Country House in Massignac

This house has those 11 acres of land as well as a partially covered terrace with a hot tub, and a big barn with potential to be converted. Inside on the ground floor there’s a large light and bright open plan kitchen which leads into a spacious living and dining room, and two rooms which could easily be sectioned off to be a chamber d’hote. One is currently used as an office, and the other light filled room is used as a gym. Upstairs there’s the main bedroom with an en suite bathroom, along with two more good-sized bedrooms and a shower room. See more from the agent.

Valued at £273,364 at the time of filming.

Property 4

Five-bed House in Lezay

This former school consists of two buildings on a plot of around half an acre, which includes a garden and a lovely pool area. The first building consists of a living room, a kitchen diner, a conservatory, and a bathroom downstairs, as well as two bedrooms and a shower room upstairs. The second building has a high-ceilinged open plan living area with a pool table, a kitchen diner, plus a bathroom, and a shower room downstairs. Upstairs there are three characterful bedrooms with original wooden floors, beams, and exposed stonework. See more from the agent.

Valued at £249,364 at the time of filming.

Property 5

Four-bed House in Mauprévoir

This secluded property has a lovely courtyard and an above ground pool. The main farmhouse has a huge and characterful living and dining room, a kitchen with more than enough space to eat in, the main bedroom with an en suite bathroom and a balcony, another bedroom with an en suite shower room, plus a third bedroom and a bathroom. The separate gite, which is all on one level, has a spacious open plan living dining and kitchen space, one bedroom, and a wet room.There’s also a large garage attached to the gite. See more from the agent

Valued at £253,898 at the time of filming.

Hot Property

Fifteen-bed Chateau in Saint-Barthélemy-de-Bussière

This beautiful country house is only ten minutes north of the town of Chaunac, and sits on almost three acres of land. It has a simply stunning garden with more than 1,200 varieties of plants. The main house and the numerous buildings that go with it aren’t too shabby either. See more from the agent.

Valued at £1,169,841 at the time of filming.