French Property: Three Cités de Caractères to explore

For a place with personality, consider a riverside Petite Cité de Caractère – Carolyn Reynier explores three charismatic locations…

Have you set your heart on buying a property in a lively little French town with lots of character? Then let me tell you about three riverside Petites Cités de Caractère that might fit the bill. We start in the southwest and trace a diagonal line across the Hexagon up to the northeast. Firstly, medieval Sauveterre-de-Béarn in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques (Nouvelle-Aquitaine).

Strategically built on a terrace overlooking the Gave d’Oloron, it lies at the junction of the Béarn, Pays Basque and Landes regions, in the Béarn des Gaves area (gave is the name in these parts for a mountain stream). The town is a stopping point on the Via Lemovicensis, one of the pilgrimage routes of Santiago de Compostela. Moving on to (Cher Centre-Val de Loire region), Aubigny-sur-Nère lies at the Sologne-Berry crossroads north of Bourges. The town, with medieval half-timbered houses and 12th-century church, is twinned with Haddington, East Lothian, and has strong Auld Alliance links with Scotland. In 1423, Charles VII gave the town to John Stewart of Darnley, Constable of the Scottish army, for services rendered in ousting the English during the Hundred Years’ War. The Loire river and Sancerre vineyards are nearby. Finally, for Europhiles hankering for a home near the heart of Europe, Mouzon – the Gallo-Roman name was Mosomagus, market on the Meuse – is in Ardennes in the Grand Est region. Gateway to Lorraine, Luxembourg, Belgium, and near the Parc Naturel Régional des Ardennes, the town has the Flavier Gallo- Roman site and a circuit of fortifications. Later it became an important 19th-century felt- making centre. Its felt museum- workshop is unique in France.

“Sauveterre-de-Béarn is a lively little place with shops and restaurants,” says Sophie Folley of Sophie Folley Immobilier. She originally came to France on a two-year project to improve her French – and married a Frenchman. That was 19 years ago. “Towns called Sauveterre are usually in a high position, so that in medieval times inhabitants could see the enemy approaching and thus had an advantage,” she explains. Thanks to its raised position, the historic centre has beautiful views of the Gave d’Oloron, which runs through the lower parts of Sauveterre. “You also have the most amazing views of the Pyrénées from the town itself,” she adds. Sophie is currently marketing a terraced townhouse in the heart of the old town, next to the Gothic church. There’s no garden, but lovey mountain views and a price tag of €299,000. Another property, this one with a private rear courtyard garden, is priced at €350,000. You can still find town centre properties for renovation and, on the edge of the old town, houses looking down over the gave. Have a look at surrounding villages too. In Burgaronne, Sophie is selling an 18th- century stone village house and garden with Pyrenean views for €271,000. Other pretty villages worth checking out include Oraàs with its Château de Leü, and Laàs; Orriule, up on the heights, also has fine views. For the investor, there are markets for both long-term and seasonal lets in Sauveterre. And if you’re bent on building your own Béarn abode, you can still find the odd building plot. “You’ve got plenty of cycling and walking routes, equestrian centres and fishing on the doorstep,” says Sophie. There’s surfing 45 minutes away at Hossegor on the Atlantic coast; drive an hour and a quarter into the Pyrénées and you’re skiing at La Pierre St-Martin.

“Aubigny-sur-Nère is a little town of around 5,000 inhabitants,” says Diane Pollet of Agence Immobilière Pollet, and this human-sized (taille humaine) aspect is much appreciated by the Albiniens. “We have excellent schools, and early retirees really enjoy life here, it’s a safe environment,” she says. Folk come from near and far to the Saturday morning market – and then there’s July’s Franco-Scottish fete. “Il fait bon vivre à Aubigny,” says Diane. In the centre, three main streets still have ancient timber-framed houses typical of the 15th century others were destroyed in various fires. There is a handful of fine detached 16th-18th-century bourgeois houses, former coaching inns, for example, with large grounds; expect to pay €350,000 to €650,000 depending on size and state of repair. Otherwise you’ll mainly find small-often terraced-stone and brick workers’ houses, usually with a modest back garden, often a potager. “This is a rural zone with elderly people who all have garden and who are almost self-supporting in vegetables.” Expect to pay €100,000- €120,000. Away from the centre are post-1970 detached residential homes. “They’re still building a little on the outskirts of Aubigny.” Famous for its earthenware pottery, Gien lies on the Loire to the north; Sancerre and its vineyards lie to the southeast (the Sancerrois countryside is a candidate for inscription on the Unesco list of World Heritage sites). Due south is prefecture Bourges and its April Printemps de Bourges, the first major music festival of the year. In the surrounding countryside, there are villages with small brick and stone houses. “In the past, there were lots of cafés and little restaurants, but unfortunately all that has closed and rare are the villages where there’s still a grocery shop or a bakery,” says Diane. “Have a look at Argent-sur-Sauldre, it’s more dynamique because it’s further north.” The nearer you are to the A77 and A71 motorway exits at Gien and Lamotte-Beuvron respectively and thus to Paris – the more go-ahead the area. Aubigny lies between Sologne and the Pays Fort Sancerrois. It’s a beautiful and undulating natural region, very much unspoilt, where you still find maisons de caractère with some land; property prices are a little lower than in Sologne. Thanks to the Natura 2000 classification, there are no wind farms; “the countryside is not artificialisée”, says Diane.

Many of her clients are Parisian, she continues, and when Parisians want to settle in the country they are looking for “une nature intègre“, it must be authentic. There are lovely walks along the banks of the Nère and you may find a property where the river flows past the bottom of your garden. To stop it actually flowing into your garden, the mairie (town hall) has created a large field either side of the Nère to accommodate flood water. Diane sold a character 16th-century family home with parc down to the Nère for around €550,000. You could also buy a terraced workman’s cottage with kitchen garden for between €120,000 and €150,000 here. You can still find houses ‘dans leur jus’, an evocative expression you’ll often hear to describe old unrenovated properties. This gives you a blank canvas, certainly, but may also require a blank cheque. Diane suggests looking in smaller surrounding communes like Oizon, Concressault on the Grande Sauldre river or Ennordres on the Petite Sauldre where you may also come across 16th- 18th-century small farmsteads, known as fermettes. Aubigny is labelled a Ville Active et Sportive; the magnificent Étang du Puits at Argent-sur-Sauldre is a nautical base with fishing and there’s lots of horse-riding in the area. There’s a riding club at Brinon-sur-Sauldre, a typical Sologne village. Its old church, St-Barthélemy, is renowned for its 16th-century caquetoire, an external gallery (caqueter in old French means to talk or chat in a sheltered space). The Parc Equestre Fédéral is based at Lamotte-Beuvron. If you’re searching for land for your horses with a house attached, look no further.

Cycle along EuroVelo 19, the 1,050km international route that follows the Meuse from its Langres plateau source to its mouth into the North Sea along the Dutch coast, and you’ll pass near our final Petite Cité de Caractère, Mouzon. It has narrow lanes, a fine 12th- century Gothic abbey church (abbatiale) and gardens, and the early 13th-century Porte de Bourgogne. “In the historic centre, there are primarily terraced stone houses over several floors with a small courtyard or occasionally a tiny garden,” says Nathalie Scarlata of Safti. Some have been converted into apartments by investors. The price range is €30,000 to €170,000. Nathalie recently sold one at the lower figure because “it was a ruin”, and another property with four apartments for €140,000. “From the town centre, you’re only 300m from the local Voie Verte Trans-Ardennes cycle path,” she says, which runs through the Meuse valley along the former towpaths. On the outskirts of Mouzon are some old farmsteads (corps de ferme); higher up, an area with modern properties, some built over basements, dating from the 1960s. Another neighbourhood has small terraced 75m² bungalows selling for €80,000-€140,000.

The advantage of living in Mouzon, says Nathalie, is that you’re in the country, yet everything you need is on hand. You can pick mushrooms in the surrounding forests; there are wild daffodils in the nearby Beaumont woods. In 30 minutes, you’re in prefecture Charleville-Mézières or in Belgium, where the tourist town of Bouillon on the Semois attracts lots of visitors. There are also gîtes in Mouzon that are busy year-round with tourists coming to visit. Paris is only two and a half hours away, but “we’re in the country and have peace and quiet”. I’ll wager that whether you go for the gaves, choose the Nère in Cher, or zoom up to Mouzon, one of these three Petites Cités de Caractère will come up trumps.

For more information, Visit:

tourisme-bearn-gaves.com

sauldre-sologne.fr/office-detourisme-aubigny-sur-nerecher_fr.html

ardennes.com/organisme/office-de-tourisme-des-portes-du-luxembourg