An 18th century country residence, with outbuildings and a terraced garden, in the Eure Valley, near to the medieval town of Bernay - ref 964384
An 18th century country residence, with outbuildings and a terraced garden, in the Eure Valley, near to the medieval town of Bernay.
The town is located in the Eure, on the edge of the Pays d'Ouche area, within the sector of Berney and near to Bec-Hellouin abbey, with the Charentonne River, a tributary of the Eure River, running through it. It is typified by its rural heritage and the early industrial activities that used to be carried out here. It was originally settled in Gallic times but developed thanks to its geographic location at the crossroads of strategic trade routes. Though discrete in nature, the town is nevertheless steeped in history and witnessed major upheaval, especially during the French Revolution. The mansion from which the former fiefdom was governed only escaped being burned down during the Great Fear in the summer of 1789 when the father of a famous 19th century author handed over its archives to the rioters. Attracted by the living environment, two illustrious engineers and physicists, one of whom won the Nobel Prize in Physics, took up residence here in the 19th and 20th centuries. The town, with its bucolic half-timbered houses, still possesses its old-fashioned charm and is as picturesque as the rest of this part of Normandy with its castles, churches, convents and abbeys. It stands in a pastoral environment of thousand-year-old rural landscapes on the edges of vast Natura 2000 classed wooded expanses. Food shops and local services can be found in the small but lively town centre. The regional train network passes via the station in Bernay 10 km away and means Caen and Rouen can be reached quickly. Paris Saint Lazare is 1 hour 30 minutes away by train and the nearest junction for the A28 motorway is just several kilometres away.
The house, which was once an integral part of the stronghold of a family of marshals, stands on a street which has not lost its delightfully old-fashioned atmosphere. Characterised by its Transition era ambiance, the house is a short walk from the shops and the church. It was built between 1760 and 1770 and is a valuable piece of heritage among the buildings belonging to this family from the knighted nobility, to which Louis XV granted, in the 1750s, a hereditary title in Normandy as a reward for the military prowess of a duke and marshal who distinguished himself in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). The house was built on the upper part of a plot measuring more than 390 m². The garden is perfectly adapted to the slope of the land and set out in terraces, at the bottom of which stands an outbuilding. A hangar and a garage are located on a space adjacent to the main plot. A wall surrounds all of these elements, leaving the impression of nestling in a garden space with beautiful views all around of several other houses, old farm buildings, the hills and, further away, the countryside as far as the eye can see.
The houseIt is built according to a massed floor plan, based on solid foundations that embrace the slope of the plot on the garden side. The pointed sleeper wall is made of locally quarried stone. The main façade looking onto the street has scarcely changed in appearance since it was built. The Louis XV style carved wooden door, crowned with a brick awning, sets the tone for the entire edifice. The four small paned windows all have single-leaf shutters. The five windows on the second storey are aligned with those on the ground floor and the door. Two dormer windows bathe the top floor with natural light. The four-sided roof made of local tiles is framed by two brick chimneys on either side. The lavender blue coloured windows, shutters and doors strike a harmonious contrast with the brown half-timbering that in turn stands out from the pale ochre lime-washed rendering. The rear façade is very similar to the one at the front, except that there is ...
