Cevennes - Sambuget


Our first few months at the place are starting to show a few results - here are some piccies of the work we've done.

  

 

 

 

Proud Home-owners!!

June 2002 - We recently took possession of the keys to our little bit of paradise. Trepidation about the place (we'd really only been inside for about 10 minutes when we viewed it) turned to joy as it surpassed all our memories. 

Note rather spiffing vine, now in full 'grape' which surrounds half the house. Doris tells me its ornamental and you can't make wine out of it - little does she know that in my youth I was renowned for my carrot wine!

It's in the Parc National des Cevennes in southern France - west of Avignon. We've already started trying to clean (and repair) the slate roof, pruning our orchard and weeding around the house. This view is taken from the road above showing about 2/3 of the main house. It's got a roof, electricity and heating :-) with 3 bedrooms, a summer kitchen and a (very) small "gite" (on the left), set in 3 acres (1.2 hectares) of land. It's up on the hillside on the edge of a small hamlet (6 other houses) with fantastic views across the valley of the Gardon to the Montagne de Mortissou.

 

Approaching the property through the orchard; the house is beyond the trees in the distance. If you make it to here, you've found us (see "How to find us" for directions and a photo of the landmark tree stump at the turn-off).

The view out across the valley is stunning - the landscape is dominated by hills, mostly covered in chestnut, with the odd clump of pine. The house is at 500m, so we get a glorious view down the valley.
A view from the side - and taken earlier in the year before the vine was in full 'grape' - you can just see the front door and the bulge next to it is a bread oven which is part of a summer kitchen. The summer kitchen has been joined to the main 'barn' over the years and now serves as a large cool area used during the summer months.

Typical Cevennol decor - or so they tell us. Note large table where roast boar  will be served on the long winter evenings. We also proudly boast an enormous fireplace - which makes us a little nervous about the ability of the central heating to cope in winter! However, view this as an opportunity for visitors to hone their wood chopping skills;-)

The little hamlet of Sambuget lies halfway between Florac and Ales (each about 45 minutes drive away), 20 min. from the next village (no traffic jams, or traffic lights for that matter). It's about 1 1/2 hours to Nimes or the Gorge du Tarn, and 2 hours to Montpellier, the sea or Avignon.

Looking down to the terrace. That's where you will find us in summer, sipping the local plonk and trying to remember what an 8-lane highway looks like.



In the background is the little gite in which you are welcome to stay, unless you prefer the in-house guestroom.  Stay a week, stay a month, as long as you don't mind volunteering for some painting, wood chopping or grass cutting and can endure peace, quiet, long evenings on the terrace and the huffing and puffing of resident wild boar.   

 

Our first few months at the place are starting to show a few results - here are some piccies of the work we've done.

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