During the Second French Empire, a slightly taller building with a slate roof was added to the original long building with seven bays and two levels. Behind this structure, there are two wings that protrude at a right angle from the main section. Here, a wall with a gate in it encloses a French formal garden. There is a round pond in the middle of this garden. On the ground floor of the house, an elegant dual-aspect entrance hall with a marble floor and wooden panelling connects to a lounge on the left and then to a second hallway, where a large solid-oak staircase leads upstairs. To the right of the entrance hall, there is a dining room with a fireplace that has a richly ornamented wooden mantel. The kitchen leads to a third hallway via an art nouveau door. In this hallway, a second staircase leads upstairs. Up on the first floor, there are two large bedrooms at the ends. One of them has a shower room. Between them, a bright, broad corridor connects to a third bedroom, an office with refined decor, a walk-in wardrobe and a bathroom dominated by wood that makes it welcoming. In the section that dates back to the Second French Empire, a vast fourth bedroom with a shower room completes this first floor. In this 19th-century section, a second floor contains a workshop and a billiard room. Opposite the 19th-century section, an elegant wing protrudes from the house. A broad basket-handle-arched entrance leads into this wing. Inside, a former saddle room now serves as a garage. All the roofing is in good condition. A geothermal heat pump operates using 10 boreholes that are 100 metres deep. The garden is worthy of the grand house. It has been developed masterfully over many years. This garden is divided into sections by hedges that create cosy spaces. It is dotted with trees of so many different varieties that it seems like an arboretum. The garden is punctuated with statues and artefacts. This magnificent outdoor space suits all tastes and minds, as do the different expanses of water: a round ornamental pond with a closed circuit, a natural pond and former fishing spots.

The house

The house is doubtless the heir to a 15th-century edifice that belonged to Jean de Dunois, the Count of Longueville, who was a Grand Chamberlain of France and Governor of Parthenay. Today’s dwelling mostly dates back to the 18th century. Its rendered facade is plain. Its oldest part has a tiled roof and is punctuated with tall windows set in granite ashlar surrounds. It has a ground floor and a first floor. Along the top, there are little openings for the loft. The entrance door stands beneath a refined canopy. An adjoining section that dates back to the Second French Empire was designed by the architect Paul-Émile Bouchet. It has twin windows on its first floor and its second floor has a large wall dormer with a triangular pediment with mouldings. There is a similar design on the other side, which faces the French formal garden. Only the start of the left-hand wing is used for living. The rest of the wings, which form a U shape, are used for storage.

The ground floor
The first entrance hall, which you enter beneath the canopy, is a dual-aspect space. The decor inside dates back to the Second French Empire. The floor is covered with red and white tiles of different marbles, laid in a checked pattern. Finely carved dado panelling, which has been masterfully restored, adorns the walls. On the left, a double door leads into the lounge, which naturally has a fireplace. It is a dual-aspect room, so it is filled with natural light. The painted ornamentation of its ceiling is a leitmotif in the home: discreet stencilled flowers or leaves linked together with thin lines. From the hallway beyond it, you can reach the French formal garden straight through a finely crafted door of wood and wrought iron. Here, there is also a door to the wine cellar and a large solid-oak staircase that leads upstairs. To the right of the entrance hall, there is a dining room with a floor of cement tiles. This dining room features a remarkable fireplace with a wooden mantel that is masterfully sculpted in a neo-Renaissance style. Past owners had their initials carved on it. Oak dado panelling runs around the room. Its height is level with the mantelpiece, above which there is a magnificent trumeau panel with a mirror. This dining room is also a dual-aspect space, so it is bathed in natural light. The section that dates back to the Second French Empire is broader: the kitchen leads to another hallway via a stylised art deco door. There is a wood-burning stove in the fireplace. The room is filled with natural light from two of the facade windows. A door leads out into the garden. A hallway from which a second staircase leads upstairs also has a door that leads out into the French formal garden. A dual-aspect hall connects to the service rooms: a former utility room, where a heating oil boiler can take over from the geothermal heating, a storeroom, and a room for the heat pump – made by a good manufacturer – and the buffer water tank.

The first floor
Each of the two staircases leads up to a vast landing with a large bedroom at each end. The east bedroom is a dual-aspect room with herringbone parquet and a fireplace beneath contemporary panels. The west bedroom, which has a shower room, also has herringbone parquet. The twin windows in the 19th-century section bring natural light into it. Between these two bedrooms, there is a long, broad corridor like a gallery. A floor of old, broad wooden strips nailed down extends across it. This corridor connects to a southern series of rooms that face the French formal garden: a bedroom, an office, a walk-in wardrobe and a bathroom with decor made entirely of wood, including the bathtub, which is encased. The office stands out for its rich decor: there is an original fireplace of poplar wood, a mantel made from a black walnut tree in the garden, dado panelling and a coffered design on the ceiling. A fourth bedroom lies in the start of the west wing. This bedroom has herringbone parquet made of Burgundy oak. Wooden panelling with mouldings adorns the walls. The room looks eastwards and westwards.

The second floor
The second floor lies only in the 19th-century section. Up here, a workshop looks down at the garden court. There is also a spacious billiard room up here, where a former pharmacy counter has been repurposed: it is now a bar that makes this room even more pleasant.