Sylvaine GAUTHIER's selection of French property for sale

About my area

I live with my family in Prinçay, a lovely village, with only 205 inhabitants, part of the old named “Haut Poitou” county, in the south of the Loire Valley. At 10 minutes drive, we are lucky to have the historic walled town of Richelieu, where the weekly markets are offering the best of the local gastronomy. This is true rural France with fields of sunflowers, asparagus and melons! The weather is really nice in the area, thanks for being below the Loire river, and especially during springtime and autumn, then we can see the difference with the northern regions. Here gardens are very beautiful with a very large range of trees and flowers, even olive trees and yuccas can be kept without any winter protection. A new trend is to plant truffle oaks, and I can witness it is very successful! This region used to be one of the most important truffle supplier in the 19th century. Of course the vineyards are also very important in the region, Chinon and Saumur are only 30 minutes further north and this is a very attractive part of the Loire Valley, apart from the chateaux ! Our area is easy to reach: there are two airports at less than one hour (Tours and Poitiers) with regular flights to Stansted. The TGV station in Tours is also very convenient, with several daily trains to Paris (1hour) and Roissy airport (1h30). By car we are just 3 hours from Paris, 3 hours from Bordeaux, and 3 hours from the ferry boat at Caen.

About me

I’m from Haute Savoie, in the French Alps, and I arrived here with my husband Cyrille and my two sons in 2003. Our project was to renovate an old stone farmhouse and we started to look around in this beautiful region which is really plenty of such properties. We finally found an old 15th century “Seigneurie” to buy. It took us 9 years to renovate and we have learnt so many things about building , electricity, plumbing etc. Now it is finished and we have plenty of time to enjoy the garden and visiting this beautiful region. We have opened a Gîte and are happy to welcome people from all Europe. They enjoy cycling around and visiting the many chateaux we have nearby. What I appreciate the more in this area is the weather of course, and the peaceful atmosphere, the fact that you can drive or cycle during several km without crossing anybody. This area is totally ideal for those who like the real countryside.