About the Property
The house is situated in a quiet road in the sleepy village
of Baden’s, a 15/20 minute drive from the old city
of Carcassonne.
The area also has fantastic links with the airport also
situated just a 20 minute taxi ride away, also near Carcassonne
with daily flights by Ryanair and others to designations
to the UK and other parts of Europe.
There is a small village shop and bakery in Baden’s;
it also has a post office, butchers and a small but friendly
bar. A large supermarket is two minutes out of the village
centre with many more shops, bars and restaurants in nearby
Trebes and Carcassonne.
The house was a wine growers barn until February 2008
when the present owner purchased it and he commissioned
builders to begin the wonderful conversion to a four bed
roomed home.
Everything in the old barn was stripped back to a shell,
the roof was stripped, the old roof trusses removed and
replaced with new timbers. The roof was completely taken
off and replaced using only the old French historic tiles.
Underneath the Old Tiles there is a completely sealed
and insulated sub roof keeping out the heat in summer
and keeping in the heat in winter.
The guttering to the front and rear of the house are
all new as are the drains that run to and from the house
and courtyard. All the wiring was new and to a top standard,
these were completed by French electricians and once completed
the house was passed as 100% complete by EDF (the French
Power provider) The power is now on and working and the
sockets are all fitted as needed in each room and as regulated
by French law.
The complete ground area including the courtyard were
first of all striped and cleared and a completely new
floor area was laid having first put down damp proofing
and insulation. The electricity, phone wires, TV wires
and drains were all encased in the new reinforced concrete
flooring.
All the four bathrooms and Kitchen were all installed
for Hot and Cold water as well as into a new drainage
system that leads out into the village mains drains.
A very large hot water tank was fitted, to enable enough
water to be heated to soppy the four bathrooms.
All the upstairs floors are new tongue and grooved and
supported on new rafters, these rafters are sitting on
the original and treated beams that formed part of the
original building. The complete home was then re-plastered
on all the walls and ceilings, leaving only a few nice
stone areas showing through and of course those supper
old beams in the lounge, and all bedrooms and bathrooms
upstairs.
Most of the main windows are new and double-glazed. The
doors looking out from the kitchen are the more modern
style and double glazed, all four of these open out into
the courtyard or can in fact be taken off very easily
in summer and left off to leave a rather attractive ‘open
wall’ feature in the kitchen.
The same exact set of four doors are set into the window
space that forms the patio doors from the lounge into
the courtyard these again can be removed and stored in
summer for that really great ‘live outside’
feeling.
From the downstairs suite, there is an old set of French
doors, these were bought, stripped and fitted to give
a special feeling to this room which because of it’s
on-suite shower room could make a nice downstairs bedroom…
it fits a double bed… it is also maybe a nice guest
room as it’s away from the other three bedrooms
and on the lower floor.
An old stripped pair of French doors led from the 2nd
bedroom onto the wonderful sun terrace.
This sun terrace was built new and covers the area over
the kitchen, guest bedroom and on suite. The area is quite
large and would make a great area, set apart from the
courtyard, which see’s the sun from dawn until dusk.
A real suntrap and great for a cocktail party in the evening
sun as you watch the swallows swooping down to collect
their supper in the evening light.
There is a part finished railing built in to the terrace
but this needs finishing off in places and there was plans
and space provided for a small set of stairs to lead off
the sun terrace to the cooler courtyard below.
The courtyard is fitted with power for outside lights
and also water for automatic plant watering systems if
desired. There are also various provisions on both terrace
and courtyard to drain the water away and out from the
building to the mains drains on the street level.
From the new and very secure front door it leads to a
small lobby, and from this there is a substantial utility
room and log store. The new hot water tank is in this
room and it’s a perfect room to keep all a washing
machine and things like pushbikes etc.
Again this room is already fully fitted with power, water
and drains.
The kitchen is all ready with fittings, like power, hot
and cold water to the room, drains out to the mains drains.
The kitchen units are in situation, but as yet not fitted.
To fit them will be an easy task, maybe a day’s
labour for a good fitter. The worktop is there too, but
it will be up to the new owner what choice they may like
for worktops. The one on site is included, but someone
may prefer something like granite.
To finish off the home:
At the moment, all the hot and cold water works, it is
fully up and running with related to all services.
The house has not been lived in since the builders left
early on in 2009. As you will see there are a few things
that need to be considered and finished before you could
move in to the new home. These are:
Finish off the sanding and polishing of all the three
bedrooms and three bathrooms upstairs.
All tiles in each bathroom need doing to the new owners
taste. The downstairs ‘Guest’ bathroom (or
could be used just as a spare downstairs toilet) the shower
cubicle is part tiled and needs the area grouting only.
The old French tiles that are laid in the Kitchen and
continue through the kitchen into the ‘Guest bedroom
and on-suite’ need ‘concrete’ grouting,
again about a days work from a good diy person.
The lounge needs the entire floor laying with tiles, these
are not included as the choice will be the new owners.
This I guess will be a day’s work or maybe two as
well.
There are no tiles in the ‘porch’ or utility
room and again this need buying and fitting.
The sweeping stairs are new, and need a wipe down and
a varnish to keep them looking as they are, new.
All the walls and ceilings are new and newly plastered.
These also were insulated, as were the ceilings when all
the plumbing and wiring was fitted. They were also skimmed
by the builder and are all ready to have the wallpaper
or paint decorated to your choice.
Most of the rooms have all the electric sockets you will
need, some more than you will need, but the French law
states that new build or conversion properties ‘must’
have a certain quantity for certain rooms. They also state
that we have to have fitted TV aerial sockets and telephone
points even if we do not want the sockets. Anyway, our
electrician followed the law and we obtained all the ‘passed’
certificates we need for EDF. Some of the light fittings
and sockets are in place but they will need light fittings
and the special ‘TV’ and ‘phone’
sockets fitted to complete them.
All the plans we submitted to the town hall were passed
by Baden’s Town Hall, and all the usual permissions
were sought and granted.
There are no mortgages on the property and we expect
a quick sale and no delays from our side of things.
Parking is free in the area and we can park outside the
house almost each time we are there. The area outside
the house is a large area to say some of the streets are
tiny and we never blocked anyone in even when we had various
vans and lorries outside.
The local people are super, we have a barn each side that
are both used to store. The person owns the one on one
side we bought our home from and he still owns the one
next door. He uses it to keep his tractor in when it’s
not working on the vines. The other side is a store for
a holiday home that is nearby. They only come a few times
a year.
At the back of our home you can see three cottages. One
to the left (over the wall) is owned by a couple of brothers
that live in the UK, their mum and dad are retired and
visit most summers. A French lady who moved away and has
not been seen since owns the one next door! Next to her
are the family who come a few times a year, the ones with
the store barn next door. All in all we never see or hear
anyone, sometimes happy chatter comes from over the wall
if the brothers or family are there on their holidays.
It’s a very nice village, the people are very friendly
and the village Fete’s are not to be missed!
If you have any questions, please feel free to call me
anytime
Andy Gallacher, UK mobile 07775 688774
Or email me - barnconversionfr@googlemail.com
Thank you for looking…. It’s a fantastic
home in a wonderful area.
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