The French Hikers’ Guide to Hiking in France ™

If you are looking for a house for sale France has many hidden treasures. None more than this gem that we couldn’t resist bringing to your attention. Owned by a French friend, this is not just any maison de village, but arguably one of the most charming stone houses in southern France.

Buying a home abroad may be the biggest investment risk you ever make and you need to get it right. The issue is far too important to entrust to one or two estate agents who simply want to sell what they have at any one moment. Unless you dedicate half of your time over an eight-month period to the project, speak fluent French and know the region like the back of your hand, you are never going to find anything like this house for sale France.

For obvious reasons, we are not prepared to promote the address of the property on-line. Those serious about purchasing it will understand this and email us with their interest, questions and contact details, which we shall discreetly pass onto the owner in question.

Location

This France house for sale is located in Le Gard, on a hilltop along the Gardon Valley, equidistant between Nimes and Ales, making it extremely convenient for access from Nimes airport (30 mins. drive) or Nimes SNCF (TGV) station. There are daily Ryan Air flights from the UK and Dublin. For those flying from further a field, say Salt Lake City, it’s a direct flight to Paris, plus a 4-hour onward TGV journey to Nimes.

With regards to the Region’s heritage, you are 30 mins from Uzes, 40 mins from Le Pont du Gard, 50 mins from Avignon and an hour from Montpellier and the Mediterranean coast. The nearest grocer’s shop is less than 5 minutes’ drive away. Local school options abound depending on age.

The house lies at the very heart of a small, working village, so you are not isolated amongst absentee-landlord, second-home owners. The village has a history that dates back to at least Roman times, lies on an ancient Roman trail , and was the location for a Sarrasin encampment in the 8th Century and The Wehrmacht in 1944-45.

Description of Property

This unique maison de village remained in the same family for over 200 years prior to its first sale in modern times in 2005. It comprises the following features spread over three floors:

Ground Floor: small courtyard; small wine cellar; large arched cellar used for wood storage; three sizeable storage areas, including one containing the gas-fired central heating boiler. All outside areas are enclosed, clean and dry.

First floor: bathroom with WC & bath; bedroom; kitchen; hall-cum-dining room; living room with chimney; two terraces – west and south facing, one giving out onto the main square, one secluded.

Second floor: two bedrooms; utility area with bathroom, including WC & shower.

The home boasts a modern gas central heating system; electric system set to economize on energy bills; water tank and all running water/sewerage pipes – no septic tank; reversible heaters (air conditioning) in both main bedrooms – one upstairs, one downstairs; a fully-functioning chimney, capable of heating most of the first-floor if required; and electric awnings to protect you from excess sun when dining on either terrace.

The property does not come with a ‘view to die for’ - an extreme rarity in maison de villages; nor does it have a garage. However, the owners are a two-car family and park outside the property with no trouble at all. Moreover, other home-owners on the square do have garages and the demand on the available spaces is restricted to just a few residents. The village is not located on a main thoroughfare, so there is no through traffic; nor does it have homes converted into flats, that always leads to a proliferation of vehicles. Ultimately, if required, a wall could be knocked through to enable private parking in the ground-floor courtyard – this option had been explored by the previous owners, merely out of interest, and permission granted, but no work was ever done. Were such work to take place, it would actually reduce the parking options in the whole village by two spaces, so denizens are keen to preserve the status quo.

Main Benefits

1. A haven of peace and tranquillity.

2. An abundance of natural light – in contrast to most ‘dark and dingy’ maison de villages. None of these photos were taken with flash photography or electric lights.

3. Modern kitchen.

4. Nothing but the best materials and artisans were employed in the home’s recent restoration.

5. Nothing needs doing – just put down your suitcases, or move in and relax: unlike other maison de villages that have ‘potential’ that needs to be realised at great expense and/or over a long period.

6. Potential gite or chambre d’hotes – the village is on a major hiking trail that lacks accommodation options.

7. Secure – lock up in the knowledge that the property will remain undisturbed for however long you are away.

8. Village location in beautiful rolling countryside in ‘La France profonde.’

Running costs per annum – based on a family with two young children

Gas = €1340.00

Water = €200.00

Electricity = €620.00

Waste disposal = €200.00

Property tax = €500.00

Price

€275,000.00 - no offers below this will be accepted, so please do not enquire unless you have this budget.

Please email your enquiries to: info@walking-languedoc.com

Part Two

Why the Pont du Gard and not L’Aqueduct du Gard? Technically, it is both; for the aqueduct sits on top of a double bridge of exceptional height and arch-span by Roman standards. Of its 50 kms in length from Uzes to Nimes, 90 per cent of it was laid underground in order to avoid costly works of art like Le Pont. It was in perfect working order for around 140 years from its construction, around the second half of the first century AD. With the destruction of the Roman Empire, it fell into disrepair. Its first twelve arches of the third level were destroyed in the middle ages, and used to build the stone churches in Vers-Pont-du-Gard and Castillon-du-Gard, as well as some farmsteads that adorn the hinterland. By the fourteenth century, it had been transformed into a road bridge on the growing highway that linked Uzes to Beaucaire, a function that served as the saviour of Le Pont, which was finally restored in the late seventeenth century. Subsequent widening of the first level took place in the eighteenth century and further restorative work was carried out a century later. It was listed in France’s first list of major monuments in 1840.

The mill on the Gardon’s left bank, near The Pont, was built in 1858 and the first tourists would have arrived around 1860 by rail, probably from Lyon. A rail station was opened in the vicinity as well as a staging post for horse-drawn carriages. A trolleybus line finally opened in 1927. During WWII some uninvited guests, in the shape of La Wehrmacht, turned the vicinity of Le Pont into a veritable militarised zone. Miraculously, their plan to blow up the whole area was saved by a break in the electric power cable installed to set off the explosion. It took the Americans two years to clear up post-war. Le Pont became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1985 In 2002, and the last of the ‘gardonnades,’ (the exceptional flooding that follows intense rains in The Cevennes) saw the Gardon’s waters almost reaching the top of the first arch. When the waters subsided the tourists returned and Le Pont is now the second most visited site in France.

Most visitors do little more than buy an ice-cream and walk across the first level. More committed tourists will scramble up one side and photograph loved-ones beneath the arches. Unfortunately the top level of the structure, the aqueduct itself, was closed to the public in 1989 as a result of too many dramatic suicides. The best chance you have of walking across it now is to join one of the many school groups that qualify for guided walks.

But do not fret. You, the inveterate hiker, whose energy knows no bounds, have earned the right to see Le Pont from various vantage points as few others do. And the view from the western side of the structure, looking downstream, is far superior to the one that first hits you.

You then have the choice of continuing your hike onwards through he garrigue to ‘Vers,’ with the chance to walk alongside some of the remains of the aqueduct; or, alternatively, simply complete your loop via the tunnel hewn out of the limestone ridge above Le Pont in 1863. The walk back to your starting point takes you along a fine stony trail, typical of garrigue territory, and gives you plenty of time to ponder over and replay the images of that marvel of the Roman Empire that progress and serendipity conjoined to save for posterity.

Whether you opt for the 8-kilometre ‘boucle’ or the 16-kilometre figure-of-eight, your return to Uzes, and the source of the water that fed Nimes two millennia ago, is perfect closure to a memorable cultural hike.

Those wishing to walk this tour can do so as part of our Walking Tour Provence or our Hiking Provence-Gard programmes.