A spacious eco-friendly country house on a terraced garden with a wide open view on woods and mountains

If you like wide open views, nature, lots of sunshine, picturesque villages, history, good food and wine, you would probably like our area. Why don't you come and spend your holidays in our eco-friendly, self-built house? We completed it in 2010. We wanted a beautiful view as top priority, a house with modern conveniences but built with traditional eco materials, a large South facing terrace to enjoy the view, a smaller North facing terrace for shade, an orchard, a vegetable garden. We also wished to be on the side of a village (no cars, no noise), within 45 minutes of a large city, in a place with a real countryside atmosphere.
We found the right spot and spent 5 years building this large house (my husband is an artist and needed plenty of space for his workshop). We like Provence architecture so we built the house with the inspiration of this style.
We worked hard, so hard that we made the wish that this house may not be ours only but may be useful to others. We like traveling abroad and often invite friends or relatives to stay in our house when we are away.

Ground floor : artist's workshops, possible extra bedroom, meditation room
First and main floor (100m2 + 45m2 terrace), independent access from ground floor, no stairs to climb : dining room, large kitchen, living room, storeroom, toilet, large terrrace with comfortable summer sofa,deck chairs, tables, chairs, a small fountain, and flower pots and beds. Can sit 20 people.
Second floor : study (can be converted into a bedroom), 2 master bedrooms with160cm wide beds , 2 bathrooms, one with bath tube, the other with shower and toilet.
Other features:
Grand piano, organ and digital piano.
No TV, sorry! We do have a large computer screen to watch films.
Laptop but we 'd prefer if you used your own; internet connection only through 3G : no wifi in our village
No swimming pool. We swim in the lakes, or public pool
Bungy boat for 2 adults. Scuba diving and mountain climbing equipment. Camping equipment. Electric barbecue.
Our car is a 306 Peugeot; it has air conditioning. We would prefer people who have some experience in driving on the right side of the road. Very careful drivers only.

Our house is not suited for very young children, because the balcony on the second floor has no railing.

Sorry some of the pictures on this website are upside down, don't know why, I can send many more pictures of the house and area.

About the location

Our area is not near the sea or in the mountains. It is hilly countryside, with woods, lakes, grazing fields for cows and sheep, a large number of typical medieval villages and towns, typical markets. It is well known for its food and wine (many wine producers half an hour away), and has a number of restaurants, from homely family businesses to exclusive restaurants.
It is perfect for people who wish to rest, swim, ride, hike, enjoy typical Southern France lifestyle. Many sites of major interest within an hour to an hour and a half.
What you may enjoy :
- local 18 hole golf course, 2 minutes from our house : http://www.ngf-golf.com/gardengolf-fiac
- several horse riding clubs in the neighbourhood
- largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Europe, under the authority of the Dalai Lama, built with local clay and wood, nice zen garden : http://www.nalanda-monastery.eu/
- beautiful 13th century cathedral 9km away, in Lavaur, old cathare town http://www.ville-lavaur.fr/
- 35mn away : beautiful lake, fishing, boating, swimming http://www.basedeloisirs-revel.com/presentation_347.htm smaller lakes nearby
- 35mn : Gaillac, medieval quarter and wines, good traditional restaurants http://www.vins-gaillac.com/
- 40mn : exceptional old medieval village http://www.castelnau-de-montmiral.com/
- 30mn : Famous flower park with lotus lakes : www.jardinsdesmartels.com
- 30mn : Rabastens, old medieval town with famous cathedral and music festivals in late July. An unusual festival held in people's stately homes and gardens which are then open to the public www.les-moments-musicaux-du-tarn.com
- Lautrec, a medieval village on a height, which is the capital of garlic, and hosts a lot of painting exhibitions. Many British and Dutch artists live and exhibit in Lautrec
45 minutes away :
- Toulouse, with the world known 'city of space' : www.cite-espace.com and a lot of interesting buildings
- Our favorite place when we have visitors : Albi, fantastic episcopal city, classifies world heritage : www.albi.fr
Many concerts and exhibitions in summer. A must!
- The Sidobre, a natural park with huge rocks and cascades

One hour and 15 minutes away :
- Cordes, elected French people's favorite village in 2014 : www.cordessurciel.fr
- All the famous Cathare castles : it will take you some time if you wish to see them all but we can recommend the best ones : http://www.payscathare.org/
- One to 2 hours away : the 'montagne noire' with a lot of hiking trails and streams; one side is dry, towards the Meditteranean, the other side, closer to us, is very green, as the clouds stop there, so the contrasts are quite interesting http://www.aude.fr/274-randonnees-en-carcassonnais-montagne-noire.htm
- the famous city of Carcassonne : www.carcassonne.culture.fr
- After seeing Carcassonne, you can drive a bit further to the Mediterranean sea and see the lovely salt lakes
- the Aude country, a little Provence in the South West, with its olive trees, typical bars, castles and caves : grotte-de-limousis.com
- the Tarn Valley and its canyons and typical villages : www.tourisme-aveyron.com/.../vallee-gorges-tarn.php
- the dry Causses
and more places but would take too much space to name them all. I will be happy to send you pictures of all these places.

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