A 300 sq metre house, in Sorde L’Abbaye, France, a peaceful, undiscovered, charming village of 569 people in the Landes region of Aquitaine. The house,with 300 sq metres of habitable area and much area left unused, is a fixer-upper and is priced accordingly. (it"s 130,€)

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Part of the house is the remains of the medieval entrance of Sorde and incorporates much of the surviving perimeter wall of that entrance. Sorde is a becoming French village offering a relaxed, charming, authentic French environment. The village is largely undiscovered by casual tourists and expatriates.

THE PROPERTY: comprised of a large house (actually four houses joined together, of which one burned in 1947, leaving a façade), 300 sq. meters in total. It boasts a prominent place in the village and a large south facing garden with an enclosed courtyard and garage. Some architectural details listed with the Beaux-Arts.

LIVING SPACE/FIRST FLOOR: 2 bedrooms (one master, one single), 2 bathrooms, small kitchen and large dining room, sizable hall that all first floor rooms lead off, two large closets.

THE LIVING SPACE/GROUND FLOOR: includes 1 WC as well as two very sizeable reception rooms with stone floors, one with a fireplace with stone lintels and brick hearth. The fireplace room leads out to the enclosed courtyard and south facing garden. Also, garage with large front door (attached to house).

AMENITIES: include sewer and water connections and three independent electrical panels provided to allow subdivision of the house into three independent apartments, each with its own entrance.

THE VILLAGE-SORDE L’ABBAYE: The village contains a café, and a Tabac, as well as a walled ancient Abbey on the banks of the river. All within a 1 minute walk of the house. Sorde's large abbey on the riverbank, currently under restoration, is on the pilgrimage route of St. Jacques de Compostele, but is largely undiscovered by casual tourists and expatriates. The result is a quiet, bucolic locale surrounded by cultural artifacts dating to Roman times and earlier.

Sorde L’Abbaye, while nominally in the Landes, is within 10 miles of both the Basque country and Béarn, with excellent access to the Autoroute du Sud, the Biscay coast and the many inland attractions of Aquitaine. A number of cheap fare airlines fly from London to Bordeaux and to regional airports such as Pau (approx. 18 miles away) and Biarrtiz (approx 50 miles from Sorde). A number of motorways and National Routes will bring you close to Sorde without problem. The D9 leading off the D817 takes you directly into the village of Sorde. The TGV departs from Paris traveling to Pau several times a day and arrives in approx. 3 hours.

Sorde is about 12 miles from Spain, at the base of the Pyrenees. The river that flows through the village is the Gave d'Oloron, which joins the Gave de Pau at Peyrehorade, 2 miles away, becoming a tributary of the Adour.
The rivers provide ample opportunity for swimming and water sports. Golf and a spa day can be enjoyed in Dax (about 13 miles away). If Biarritz, the hugely popular and touristy spot is more your speed, it can be reached in 45mins.

The Landes region and Aquitaine itself is known to be flat, dry and covered with pine forests. The Sorde L’Abbaye area is different in that it receives enough rain to make it lush in many places, making the display of Rhodendrons in March and Passion Flowers and the taste of their tomatoes in the summer something to write home about. The climate could be described as sub-tropical, making swimming and beach-going possible three seasons of the year. Summers can be hot, 40c+, but winters are temperate and kind to the spirits. It’s been known to frost there in winter only a few times in the last twenty years.

The village has, along with a children’s playground, a tennis court and squash court and a market on Wednesdays. While the village no longer has its own boulangeire, the local supermarket (Champion), just a few minutes away is known to employ a wonderful in house baker and its bakery is open 7 days a week.

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