Coulommiers, Île-de-France 77120

A beautiful property near Paris with vast, tree-dotted grounds, an 18th-century house and a 17th-century dwelling, nestled in a bucolic backdrop. The estate covers a little more than 2.5 hectares. It lies in the middle of the countryside. You reach it via a country lane lined with two rows of linden trees - a road that the current owners bought. This lane separates the estate's main section and buildings from a plot of land of around 4, 000m: an area that forms a kind of nature reserve and that is part of the property. Beyond a wrought-iron double gate beside a pedestrian entrance, you reach a gravelled court with two sides demarcated by buildings that form an L shape. On the other side of this court, there is parkland punctuated with trees and bushes. Two dwellings - one from the 17th century and one from the 18th century - adjoin each other in a harmony of colour and forms. On one side stands the 18th-century edifice, crowned with a hipped roof. Its elevations are classical, symmetrical and elegantly understated. The latter are adorned with pale rendering, brought out by quoins of dressed stone. The ground floor and first floor are each punctuated with six rectangular windows with small panes on the ground floor and large panes on the first floor. These windows are fitted with oak louvred shutters. On the other side, there is the 17th-century building. Its roof has a hipped end and hipped dormers. Its brick elevations bring out the pale elevations of the classical 18th-century building beside it. The building is lower in height than the 18th-century house. It has a ground floor, a first floor and a loft. A small square extension adjoins it. This extension was built in the 19th century and it is taller than the 17th-century building. It completes the row of historical buildings, the architecture of which is varied. At the back, the houses look out at the tree-dotted grounds.