We offer the house where we live, a 19th century house in a very quiet and traditional French village in the Loire Valley.
We are a bi-national (France/US) family of 4 and we are planning to spend some the summer in the San Francisco Bay area in the US.
What we offer
Location of the house
The village is located 5 miles away from the city of Angers, which is in the middle of the Loire Valley wine country.
It easily gives access to all the Loire Valley castles. It is located 1.5 hours from Paris by bullet train (TGV). Angers also has direct bullet trains (TGV) to the Charles de Gaulle Paris airport.
Google map: click here
About the house
The house was originally built in the 19th century. It has recently been fully remodeled but we kept the charm of the stone walls, the original wood beams and the original terracotta floor tiles.
The house is very functional for a family. We have been living in it since 2002 with our children (aged today 9 and 11). The house is therefore equipped for children this age, and younger.
First floor
The 1st floor has a kitchen with direct access to the back yard, a separate dining room with antique furniture and a large oak table.
A separate living room has a relaxing sofa aimed toward a fireplace, a tv with vcr, dvd player and home cinema stereo. We have a subscription to a cable network with channels in both English and French.
Second floor
The 2nd floor is where the master bedroom and the offices are located. The bedroom contains a queen size bed. One office is fully equipped with a large desk, phone, dsl line, fax, copier machine. The second office also functions as a library as all of its walls are covered with English literature books. The bathroom on this floor contains a bath/shower, a Jacuzzi and a toilet.
If necessary, one of the offices can be used as a bedroom. The sofa bed in it is currently used for house guests.
Third floor
The 3rd floor has 2 air conditioned bedrooms and a full bathroom with a shower in-between. Each bedroom is equipped with a sink. Because of the dark slate roof, the air conditioning is sometimes needed for warm summer days. The rest of the house however stays somewhat cool because of the 20-30 inch stone walls.
Garage, ammenities and others
A garage separated from the house is used for storage.
In terms of amenities, we have everything you could expect in a modern house, ie: Washer, dryer, freezer, fridge, stove, oven, espresso machine, microwave, dishwasher, home cinema stereo, large flat screen tv (with US Netflix and Huluplus), dvd/divx player, vcr (US compatible), adsl/wifi, telephone (with a US number), printers, alarm clock.. etc. We can also leave a laptop with American keyboard to access internet if needed.
We also have bikes that you can ride along the Loire.
We can also consider leaving our car.
About the village
Because of its strategic location along the Loire, where the Maine River runs into the Loire, the village has always been historically a place where Loire River fishermen lived and used to be a vacation destination for wealthy Angers residents. It is composed of small traditional fisherman’s houses and a few large bourgeois properties.
Today, there are no longer any active fishermen, but traces of fishing activities can still be found in the traditional atmosphere of the local hotel and restaurants. The village is known for its slow, quiet rhythm. The village also attracts numerous artists including painters, basket weaver, and mosaic artist. The local hotel also serves as an art gallery. Some properties are used as weekend houses by Parisians.
This part of the Loire valley is also listed amongst the Unesco World Heritage sites. As a result, the village has kept all of its charisma in term of its architecture as it is nearly impossible to change anything due to strong patrimonial conservation laws. The 'Loire à Vélo' bike path runs across the village, and in front of our house. The portions on each side of the house are bike only portions, and allows to go to Angers, or cycle along the Loire to the surrounding vineyards (here is a video of about one of them). The population of the village is probably around 400 people.
The village has a bakery, an antique store, restaurants (fine French cuisine, traditional French cuisine, crepes) and 1 hotel with about 7 rooms. Not too far from it (10 minutes), there are large grocery stores and malls. The cobblestoned shopping district of Angers is also easily accessible (10 minutes away).
The Loire river is not really a kite place.... but very occasionally possible!
A rock climbing site next to the village, along the Loire river
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