Flixecourt, Picardie 80420

A rural neo-Norman house at the end of a forest drive, 30 minutes from the city of Amiens and the River Somme's beautiful bay in northern France. The house is a former outbuilding that once belonged to a nearby chateau. It was built in the late 19th century. The dwelling offers 295m² of liveable floor area. It used to be a storehouse for carriages used by the chateau owners. You can still see this former purpose in its facade, which is punctuated with three large glazed archways - old carriage entrances. Above the facade, in the middle, there is a half-timbered gable end that emphasises the neo-Norman influence on architecture of the time. A large timber overhang, supported by a framework of exposed wooden beams, shelters the terrace, which lies immediately in front of the old archways. Indeed, this terrace is like an extra room outside. On the right, there is an adjoining round tower - a former dovecote - made of brick. This tower is crowned with a cone roof of flat tiles from the local town of Phalempin. On the left, a former caretaker's dwelling completes the facade symmetrically.