A water mill with two houses and a former restaurant, awaiting renovation, at the limits of the Creuse, Haute-Vienne and the Monts d'Ambazac hills - r
A water mill with two houses and a former restaurant, awaiting renovation, at the limits of the Creuse, Haute-Vienne and the Monts d'Ambazac hills.
This mill is located in the Creuse, in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, in the heart of mostly wooded countryside, 30 minutes away from La Souterraine, Ambazac as well as Bessines-sur-Gartempe and less than one hour from Limoges. For daily needs, several village grocery stores can be found nearby, while larger shops for bigger purchases are half an hour away. The nearby A20 motorway means Paris can be reached in 4 hours and Toulouse in a little more than 3 hours. The railway station in La Souterraine is approximately 30 minutes away.
Small country roads wind through the wooded hills and meadows up to the mill, which can be found behind thick foliage. The stream running below has carved out its bed through the surrounding relief and a mill race supplies the still visible wheel with water from the lake almost 500 metres away. The various buildings, which are built lengthwise and are joined together, are made of two separate dwellings, namely a former restaurant with professional grade kitchen and the old mill itself, which still has all the old mill workings. The different adjoining and non-adjoining plots of meadows, coppices and woodlands as well as the lake amount to almost 11 hectares.
The first dwellingThis building, standing on the western side of the complex and with floor-space of almost 135 m², can be reached via a double stoop. On the ground floor, there is a lounge with a fireplace in which there is a wood-burning stove. A small flight of steps leads to a room used as a library, which can also be reached from the outside via the rear façade. Next to this, there is a shower room with a lavatory, a kitchen and a bedroom with a fireplace in the corner. A second staircase leads to the first floor, made up of a landing, two bedrooms a walk-in wardrobe and a bathroom. The attic above could be converted into extra rooms. Below the ground floor is a basement.The former restaurantThe restaurant is separated from the first dwelling by a barn used as a woodshed and a boiler room with a double gas boiler. The restaurant building is made up of a large, south-facing 70-m² dining room with plenty of windows overlooking the patio and stream. It also boasts lavatories, the former restaurant kitchen, a scullery and a dish-washing room.The second dwellingThis part of the buildings was designed as large-scale bed et breakfast or holiday rental accommodation and can be reached by a wide spiral staircase built in a modern extension set in the north and centre of the complex. Over the two storeys, it contains nine bedrooms which all have en suite shower rooms and lavatories.The flour millThis slate-roofed, three storey part of the buildings can be reached either via the south-facing façade or through a second barn located to the rear. It still possesses the mill machinery and equipment dating back to the 1920s. The water wheel is still in place on the eastern gable of the buildings and is powered by the mill race which brings water from the lake situated 500 metres upstream.
