Ardeche Meridionale - Building from 1830 - 718Mm² - 10 Rooms - 6 Bedrooms - 1000m² Plot of Land with Swimming Pool

Property Description

Ref 68724DD: We are going to tell you the story of this magnificent hamlet house dating from 1830, a place that is both unusual and surprising. A house that embodies everything I love and that, I am sure, will seduce you!
We are leaving for Lavilledieu, a charming Ardèche village located a few kilometers from Aubenas. A little history seems essential to me if you are considering an investment in Ardèche.
Lavilledieu is surrounded by many hiking trails and superb villages to discover, such as Vogué, Balazuc, Largentière, and of course, Aubenas. One of the advantages of Lavilledieu is also its proximity to large cities.
But let's get back to the house itself, built in 1830, perhaps on the foundations of the Saint-Martin church! Here is what I discovered: we don't invent history, we tell it!
The hamlet of Bayssac, where this house is located, is an old Gallo-Roman villa at the origin of the commune. Indeed, the parish of Saint-Martin-de-Bessac is mentioned in a 10th century document. It was in Bayssac that Benedictine nuns from the Saint-André-le-Haut Abbey in Vienne founded a priory.
The Saint-Martin church, a Romanesque church located in Lavilledieu, is dedicated to Saint Martin, who evangelized the region and built the first church of Lavilledieu in the Bayssac district, around 535. A few years later, the nuns left Bayssac to build a convent on a small hill, the heart of the current village. This convent is at the origin of the name of the commune, derived from the Latin villa dei, meaning "God's domain".
The houses of Bas Vivarais are distinguished by their terraces covered with arcades, witnesses to a rich sericulture and craft past. This house adopts a southern style, typical of the regions of vines and olive trees, and is solidly built in limestone.
Generally on three floors, these houses are built on an overhanging vault forming an open shelter, under which are the stables and cellars. The first floor, reserved for the dwelling, is accessible by a stone staircase leading to a covered terrace, the couradou or laouzo. This construction, with its arcades and its back door opening onto the garden, allows the house to be tempered or ventilated thanks to a natural current of air, hence its name of couradou. It could also be used for the process of growing silkworms, to store mulberry leaves or to install hatchers.
This terrace fulfilled multiple functions: rest, reception, shade and drying. This house belonged to Serge Tekielski, known as Candide (1931-2002), an antique dealer from Lyon who settled in Bayssac in 1968 in this beautiful traditional residence. He collected works of folk art there, exhibited and promoted unique artists (such as Gérard Lattier, Lena Vandrey, Philippe Dereux), and founded a publishing house, the first to publish Pierre Rabhi. His "Petit Musée du Bizarre" became an emblematic place of Art Brut and cultural decentralization. This house was also known as the "Musée du Bizarre". We have an appointment with his daughter for a guided tour of this 718 m² residence spread over three levels, which has retained all its character. We climb an imposing stone staircase, arriving on a vast covered terrace, paved with large limestone stones, facing a sublime Louis XIII era entrance door. At that moment, I wonder: what am I going to discover?
A large entrance opens on the right onto a large living room and on the left onto a kitchen that needs to be completely renovated, as well as a small bathroom. Behind it is a living room. At the end of the corridor, large bedrooms with terracotta tiles on the floor and high vaulted ceilings. The living area is 218 m², and of course, some finishing work is to be expected (kitchen, bathroom, electricity, plumbing, heating, etc.).
From the kitchen, a wooden staircase leads to a 200 m² attic. The roof, completely redone in January 2020, has a low slope, covered with canal tiles, and finished on the facade with a three-band Genoese. This attic, with its high ceilings, can be converted.
And finally, the highlight of the show: the 300 m² vaulted cellars, high, dry and in very good condition, with direct exterior access. It is in these cellars that Serge Tekielski had installed his Museum of the Bizarre. These healthy cellars could accommodate an unusual gîte!
The visit ends with a 1000 m² park with a well, magnificent trees, including a huge cypress. If you want to add a swimming pool, it is entirely possible. There is also a covered building of about 60 m², as well as two other structures, formerly used for raising pigs. These 70 m² shelters could become your pool house and summer kitchen. Why not? There is a car access and two pedestrian access doors. The entire land is enclosed by a stone wall.
If you like history q…