A recently renovated villa from the Belle Époque period in France's Loire Valley is on the market for £1.4 million (€1.590 million) with agents Espaces Atypiques.
Featuring a glorious mash-up of architectural and interior styles, the nine-bedroom house comes with an unusual history and is currently set-up as a bed-and-breakfast establishment.
Dating from 1906, the house was originally designed as a holiday home for the wealthy local Cheaveau family, who dreamed of owning the most eye-catching beachfront property of the day.
When the sale fell through on the plot of land they wished to purchase, they opted to build the Villa Cheaveau in the commune of Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois instead, as a seaside villa without the sea.
The villa features many of the opulent hallmarks of Europe's Belle Époque era, with tiles on the façade, spikey Gothic roofs, and a dramatic stained-glass circular window in the Art Nouveau style that emerged at this point in history.
Sandwiched between the Franco-Prussian Wars and the First World War, the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century was a period of peace and prosperity (for most) in France, and the arts flourished.
Villa Cheaveau also contained some of the very latest technology in modern conveniences for the time, such as electricity and flushing toilets on every floor.
Its original layout included all the important rooms a well-to-do family of the era would need — including a ballroom, cigar room, maids quarters and a winter garden.
The property's current owners bought it in 2017 and spent two years renovating and transforming the house into a B&B, which they re-christened Villa Alecya.
In keeping with its period details, each of the guest bedrooms was decorated to pay homage to notable artists and artworks of the era.
A Madame Butterfly room was named for the Puccini opera and features a themed mural, while the "Importance of Being Wilde" room pays tribute to the hedonism of Oscar Wilde with crushed red velvet curtains.
Contemporary modern conveniences were also added in the refurb. There is now a hot tub, hamman and sauna in a spa area, and a wood pellet boiler — an environmentally friendly and hopefully more cost-effective method of heating a 14-room manor house
The agents also note that the extensive basement would be "ideal for wine storage", naturellement.
Set in 2.5 hectres of parkland planted with three orchards and a vegetable garden, a groundskeeper's cottage, barns and workshops are also included in the sale.
If it's a Francophile renovation project you're after instead, Espaces Atypiques also has an art Deco train station from the same period up for sale in the south west of France.
