Vallière, Limousin 23120

A 19th century manor house and outbuildings, in almost 3 hectares of grounds, on the edge of the Millevaches plateau, in the Creuse department. The building and its outbuildings are surrounded by almost 3 hectares of grounds, made up of lawns, fields and copses. The property is protected by a heavy wrought iron gate set into a surrounding wall that runs alongside a small country road. The manor house, which is in typical Second Empire style, was commissioned by an entrepreneur from the Creuse who had made his fortune in Paris. The building is a perfect example of the bourgeois architecture that was very much in vogue in the second half of the 19th century, particularly under the influence of Baron Haussmann. This is reflected both inside and outside in the highly refined features and attention to detail. Built out of red brick and ashlar, the east-west-facing main building has three storeys on top of a basement containing cellars. It has a slate mansard roof and a total of six bedrooms. The main faade features a projecting central section topped by a higher mansard roof. The faade features dentilled cornices, elaborate dormer windows, sculpted stone balconies, external faade staircases, terraces and balustrades. At the rear on the west side, a staircase tower is topped by a pointed hip roof. It is flanked by two lower wings that form corner structures with decorative terraces. The outbuildings close off one side of the grounds and consist of garages, former stables, storerooms, a former service dwelling awaiting renovation, a dovecote and a former gardener's cottage converted into a self-contained gte with two bedrooms. There were other outbuildings that were originally part of the complex. These have since been detached from the property. The surrounding landscape is a variation of wooded plots and meadows, crossed by streams and dotted with ponds. Outside the grounds, a number of plots, including a small pond surrounded by woodland, are available for sale too.