Aquitaine, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Oloron-Sainte-Marie, France

This superb stone cottage is currently a wonderful holiday home, but is an ideal size for a small family home or a gîte to rent out to holidaymakers. Located on the outskirts of a pretty village in the Vallée d'Aspe, the gorgeous property has a delightful south-facing garden and simply stunning views of the mountains!

Although in need of some modernizing and redecorating, the cottage is ready to move into straight away. The property is perfect for anyone who works from home - and if you have children, you have a good choice of schools nearby and in Oloron-Ste-Marie.

The front door of the cottage opens into a small entrance hall with a wooden staircase to the first floor. A corridor leads down to a gorgeous open-plan sitting room with a wood-burning stove, a staircase up to the first-floor mezzanine and French doors out to the garden and a south-facing terrace. The sitting room is overlooked by the open mezzanine floor above, which makes the room feel incredibly light and airy. There is also a cosy snug/television area at the back of the room.

To the right of the entrance hall is a kitchen with an Aga and an adjoining dining room. The dining room has French doors out to the terrace, as does a ground-floor bedroom, which adjoins the dining room. The ground floor also has a bathroom with a WC, a shower room with a WC and a wine cellar/storage room, which is accessible from the sitting room.

Stairs in the sitting room lead up to the splendid first-floor mezzanine, which has an office/study/library area at one end and a sitting area at the other end. Adjoining the mezzanine is a large bedroom at the far end of the cottage and a spacious loft-style bedroom (also accessible from the staircase in the entrance hall).

Outside, the delightful south-facing dining terrace is the perfect spot for sunny breakfasts, long lazy lunches and romantic moonlit suppers, whilst enjoying breathtaking views of the mountains.

The garden has enough room for installing a small swimming pool, if desired (planning permission required), as well as with a summer kitchen, a barbecue area, a children's play area, a boules piste...

This delightful cottage is located in the picturesque Vallée d’Aspe with easy access to shops, bars, restaurants... The Medieval market town of Oloron-Ste-Marie is 30 - 40 minutes away, where you will find a theatre, cinema, hospital, schools and an excellent choice of supermarkets and hypermarkets.

There are several ski resorts 30 – 45 minutes away, as well as numerous leisure and sporting activities on your doorstep, including fishing, hiking, trail-running, mountain biking, mountain climbing, paragliding... If you prefer to surf and swim, the beautiful beach resorts on the Atlantic coast are under two hours away...

THE COTTAGE

Ground floor:
- a south-facing dining terrace
- a huge sitting room with a wood-burning stove and stairs up to the first-floor mezzanine
- an adjacent snug/television area
- a kitchen with an Aga
- an adjoining dining area
- a bedroom
- a bathroom with a WC
- a shower room with a WC
- a wine cellar/storage room

First floor:
- a bedroom
- a loft-style bedroom/art studio/ games room...
- a mezzanine office/study/library/guest bedroom area
- a mezzanine sitting area/guest bedroom area


THE GARDEN

The south-facing garden of 776m² has wonderful views of the surrounding mountains, along with...

- a south-facing dining terrace with pergola
- a garden shed
- a car port
- access to the wine cellar/storage room
- access to a boiler room adjoining the cottage


THE POTENTIAL!

This gorgeous cottage is perfect for a couple or for a family to use as a cosy family home, a holiday home or a weekend pied-à-terre - and with lots of mezzanine space, you will have plenty of room to accommodate your friends and family when they come to stay!

The ground-floor bedroom (which has French doors out to the terrace) could be used as a home office/consulting room if you work from home - or you could use the loft-style bedroom, which would also be perfect for an art studio.

The cottage is a perfect size to rent out as a gîte, both during the summer months and the skiing season, since several ski resorts are just 30 - 60 minutes away.

You might also like to offer Bed and Breakfast accommodation to pilgrims following the Chemin-de-St-Jacques-de-Compostelle, which passes close by. The addition of a swimming pool in the garden (permission required) would definitely be an added attraction... although guests might be reluctant to leave your little corner of paradise at the end of their stay!


SERVICES & TECHNICAL

Telephone
Internet: ADSL + cable available
Electricity
Heating: oil-fired central heating + wood-burning stove
Mains drainage


THE LOCAL AREA

This gorgeous property in the Vallée d'Aspe is about 30 minutes away from the Medieval market town of Oloron-Ste-Marie and 60 minutes away from the historic city of Pau. Both Pau and Oloron-Ste-Marie are accessible by train and bus from the local village. The closest ski resorts are about 35 - 45 minutes away at Somport, La-Pierre-St-Martin, Issarbe and Candanchú/Astún (Spain); Biarritz and other Atlantic beach resorts are two hours away.

The Béarn is extremely popular with tourists all year round. Once the skiing season is over, people visit the area to walk and cycle in the mountains, go white-water rafting on the fast-flowing Gave (river) or enjoy paragliding high above the valley. You can also explore the nearby Jurançon vineyards and sample local delicacies at the many farmers' markets throughout the region.

Many of the villages in the Vallée d'Aspe are located on the St-Jacques-de-Compostelle pilgrim route (the Voie d’Arles), which runs due south from Oloron-Ste-Marie up to the Col du Somport where the Chemin crosses into Spain - and many of the pilgrims hope to find peaceful accommodation en route, should you be interested in offering them Bed & Breakfast in your lovely cottage!

Airports: Pau, Tarbes-Lourdes, Biarritz
Train: local station to Oloron-Ste-Marie and Pau
Long-distance coach: Pau
Ferry: Bilbao, Santander

Ski: Somport, Candanchú & Astún (Spain), La-Pierre-St-Martin, Issarbe, Eaux-Bonnes, Gourette...
Beaches: Biarritz, St-Jean-de-Luz, Hendaye, Hossegor...

Attractions: Parc’Ours, Le Petit Train d’Artouste, Aqua Béarn, Aventure Parc Aramits, Grottes de Bétharram, Gorges de Kakuetta, Passerelle d’Holzarte, Chemin-de-St-Jacques-de-Compostelle...