Aquitaine, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Orthez, France

Located near the Landes/Béarn border, this pretty villa will be ideal for you if you are looking for a spacious family home, a large holiday home close to beaches and the Pyrenees, or a property that can be used for accommodating B&B or gîte guests.

Situated on the outskirts of a small village, the villa is set in enclosed grounds of 5026m².Electric gates open into a gravel courtyard with a carport for three cars. There is also a garage incorporated into the villa, which is accessible from the courtyard. A door from the garage opens into a utility room, giving access to the ground floor of the villa.

The courtyard extends around the villa to an east-facing dining terrace next to the front door. The front door opens into a small entrance hall area with a wooden staircase to the upper floors. Beyond the staircase is a light and airy main room with a sitting area and a dining area.

Next to the entrance hall, a separate cosy sitting room with fireplace leads into the kitchen, which has a very practical island unit. The kitchen's worktops have been custom-made and are flecked with gold! The kitchen also accessible has a door into the dining area in the main room.

On the other side of the dining area, a door opens into a study/office area (one step up) with an adjoining utility room and a separate WC. The garage is directly accessible from the utility room. This part of the villa could be ideal for transforming into a self-contained gîte or a granny flat.

Set around a sunny landing, the first floor comprises two bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom and a third bedroom, which has an en suite shower room. There is also a separate WC accessible from the landing.

The second floor is currently open-plan but can be used as a loft-style bedroom straight away, with ample space to create an en suite shower room in the future. This loft room would also be ideal for using as a games room, an office, a home cinema...
This super villa is a 5-minute cycle ride away from a peaceful village on the Landes/Béarn border in south-west France. The village has a primary school, along with a small shop & bistro where you can buy your daily baguette!

The nearby towns of Orthez (15 minutes), Salies-de-Béarn and Peyrehorade (20 minutes) all have a good choice of shops and local amenities. Orthez has a leisure lake with a beach; Salies-de-Béarn has a golf course, a casino and healing thermal spas. Beach resorts on the Côte Basque and the Landes are about 45 minutes away; ski resorts in the Pyrénées are 90 minutes away. The closest TGV station is 10 minutes away.

THE VILLA (214.5m²)

Ground floor:
- an east-facing terrace with an awning
- a small entrance hall area, which opens into a spacious open-plan main room with a sitting area, a dining area and access to the kitchen and office/study area
- a separate cosy sitting room with a fireplace, French doors out to the terrace and access to the kitchen
- a kitchen with custom-made, gold-flecked work surfaces
- a study/office area accessible from the main room and from the adjoining utility room and garage
- a utility room with a door out to the courtyard
- a garage
- a WC

First floor:
- a large landing
- two bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom
- a third bedroom with an en suite shower room
- a separate WC

Second floor:
- an attic-style bedroom/games room/office/home cinema...


THE GROUNDS

The villa is set in grounds of 5,026m² (1.25 acres) with...
- a gravel courtyard surrounding the villa
- an east-facing terrace for dining alfresco and with room for a summer kitchen, a barbecue area...
- a delightful side garden of about 650m², with plenty of flat land for installing a swimming pool (permission required)
- a raised meadow of about 3,350m², ideal to use for grazing for a pony or a vegetable garden, an orchard, a children's play area...
- a carport for three cars
- an adjoining woodstore/storage area for garden equipment


THE POTENTIAL!

Although in need of some refreshing, this lovely Landaise villa can be moved into straight away. With 214.5m² of living space, it is perfect for a spacious family home or a luxurious holiday home... and with four large bedrooms to choose from, you will have plenty of room to accommodate your friends and family when they come to visit you!

For families with children, there is a primary school in the village; for older children there are collège-lycées in Orthez and Salies-de-Béarn (Béarn), Peyrehorade (Landes) and Bidache (Pays-Basque).

If you work on the coast, Biarritz and Bayonne are about 50 minutes away. The town of Dax is just 30 minutes away; the city of Pau is 45 minutes away. For anyone who works from home or who would need an office/consulting room, the property has several ground-floor rooms which could be suitable.

The villa has great potential for setting up a Bed & Breakfast business. Tourists visit this superb area all year round, with many hoping to find upmarket B&B accommodation in peaceful, rural surroundings. The addition of a swimming pool would definitely be an added attraction!

Not only are there three first-floor bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom/shower room, but there is also the loft-style bedroom on the second floor, which would be ideal for converting into a B&B bedroom suite with adjoining shower room. A further bedroom could perhaps be created using the ground-floor office space.

If you prefer the idea of creating a gîte, it might be possible to get permission to convert the ground-floor office space and adjoining utility room and garage into a gîte, which you could then rent out to families during the holidays. You could, of course, rent out the whole villa, either to long-term tenants or for shorter stays during the summer months, the skiing season, for Christmas and New year...

During the quieter months of the year, you could also use this ground-floor space for hosting activities for your B&B guests, such as wellness and yoga retreats, or for classes in painting, photography, music, gastronomy, Jurançon wine-tasting...


SERVICES & TECHNICAL

Telephone + cable internet
Some air-conditioning
Heating: oil-fired central heating + some electric radiators + fireplace with woodburning insert
Mains water
Septic tank (confirming to regulations)


THE LOCAL AREA

The property is located near the Medieval town of Orthez (15 minutes), which has a good choice of supermarkets, bars and restaurants, along with a twice-weekly farmers' market and numerous cultural and sporting events throughout the year. There is also "La Base de Loisirs d’Orthez-Biron", which is a leisure lake with a beach, so you can swim, sunbathe and picnic just as if you are by the sea!

If you have children, the area has many excellent schools, including bilingual French/English schools in Orthez and Navarrenx; the International School of Béarn in Pau (45 minutes) follows the English National Curriculum.

The Béarn is popular with tourists all year round. The region is loved for its proximity to the mountains and the sea, along with its Jurançon vineyards and healing thermal spas in Salies-de-Béarn (20 minutes). The area is superb for hiking, mountain-biking, white-water rafting and skiing - and for those who prefer beach-based activities, the famous resorts of Biarritz and St-Jean-de-Luz are about 55 minutes away...

Airports: Pau, Biarritz, Tarbes-Lourdes
Train: Puyoô TGV (10 mins), Orthez
Coach: Pau, Bayonne
Ferry: Bilbao, Santander

Ski: Iraty, Eaux Bonnes, Gourette, Issarbe, La-Pierre-St-Martin, Val-d’Azun...
Beaches: Biarritz, St-Jean-de-Luz, Hendaye, Hossegor, Tarnos...

Attractions: Base de Loisirs d’Orthez-Biron, Golf de Salies-de-Béarn, Thermal Spas, Casino, Aqua Béarn, Le Petit Train d’Artouste, Parc'Ours, Grottes d'Isturitz et d'Oxocelhaya, Grottes de Bétharram, Chemin-de-St-Jacques-de-Compostelle...