The estate is located in the Allier, Auvergne.
It is situated in the middle of the triangle Moulins - Vichy - Montluçon. These 3 cities are each about half an hour drive.
The exact address will be provided after sending an email.
There is 1 neighbour at a distance of about 200 m, husband and wife, the children have left the house. They keep cows and chickens. You never see or hear them. They mind their own business and don't cause any nuisance (noise, garbage, intrusion, smell, ...).
The other neighbour is about 1 km away. It's a very friendly and creative Belgian couple that run a luxury b&b with delicious home cooked meals. They also offer yoga classes and sauna.
About 1,5 km away is your other neighbour, a truly kind and social farmer who runs one of the best cow farms together with his son. They are pleasant and helpful people you can always count on.
Great news for you : there is no competition in the area ! The demand for training horses is much bigger than the offer, so you will prosper.
Prices to train horses range between 400 and 650 euro per horse per month in this area, depending on your expertise and the number of training sessions per week.
You will be very successfull, as the nearest horse riding school is about half an hour drive away (Néris les Bains), the demand is high and you almost have no competition.
The previous owner ran a successfull horse riding school. He offered classes on Tuesday (1 h), Wednesday (3 h), Thursday (1 h), Friday (2 h), Saturday (3 h) and would go on group walks on Sundays. He comfortably lived of that activity with his wife and 2 children.
Horse riding schools in this area usually charge an annual fee + a fee per riding lesson that varies between 12 and 15 euro per lesson.
The region "Allier" is attracting more and more tourists each year because nature is abundant (and intact) and prices are relatively cheap. Campings have been popping up throughout the region in the past years. The local government is organising a lot of activities for tourists. In the summer time, there is always something to do somewhere with fireworks every week. Especially families with children and people loving cycling and walks visit the region.
Also, you are located on the main highway that goes to the South of France so many people are looking for a place to spend the night while traveling, especially during the summer time.
As with everything, your success will depend on the service you offer and the publicity you make for yourself.
Prices for 1 night in this region, breakfast included, range between 45 and 60 euro per night in the summer time.
Absolutely !
Your biggest asset is the SIZE of the guest house : it can easily host 15 people and that is a huge plus as most gites only offer 4 to 6, some offer 8 beds.
Families or groups of friends prefer to sleep in the same gite.
There are very few "grands gites" in this region, so demand is always high, especially on the holidays and long weekends.
You can charge up to 150 euro per night (even 200 euro per night for "special" long weekends) and make package deals for longer stays.
In the summer holidays, non profit organizations are often looking for a place to bring groups of children and organise activities. You can easily charge between 1200 and 1500 euro per week, depending on how nicely your decorate the gite.
If you don't mind living in a house that has some children's drawings on the walls here and there : zero.
Many repairs have been done over the past years (chimnies redone, roof redone, isolation redone, some windows replaced, huge dressing has been installed, ...). There are no (known) major costs necessary in the near future.
You'ld probably want to foresee a budget for repainting the walls or decorating to your liking.
The windows could use a touch of paint as well this summer, it has been 3 years since they have been painted.
Most of the kitchen equipment has been sold. The kitchen was semi-industrial, to receive big groups of children.
It was all according to standards (stainless steel) but not very "homey".
As we decided to sell, we did not install new kitchen equipment so the new owner can choose according to his or her taste.
You might like to repaint to your liking or use the gite "as is".
Much less than you would expect !
You will need a tractor-mower to mow the grass every 3 weeks in may-june (sometimes once in July and August as well, depending if it rains or not, since 2017 we only had to mow the lawn once during the summer holidays as it was very hot and dry), but apart from that you can manage the garden quite easily.
The tractor-mower (bought new in 2016 for +4.000 euro with very few hours as we have had dry summers) is sold together with the estate.
The garden has been set up functionally, and also in a way where one kind of flower starts to bloom when another kind starts fading away.
Generally 4 to 5 intensive "clean up" weekends (1 at Easter, 2 in June, 1 in October) are enough to keep the garden clean and tidy all year round.
Between March and September, you will ALWAYS enjoy a wide variety of flowers. Each year, new flowers have been added.
The prairies are quite unique, as they contain very old grass varieties that are no longer for sale. Grass seeds are now identical everywhere, a lot of "old grass" varieties can no longer be found. That is a shame because they have essential properties needed for optimal health.
Also, medicinal herbs have been added to the prairies to ensure optimal digestion for the horses all year round.
The prairies have always been well kept, weeds are as good as non-existing.
Although the infrastructure is not "bio"labeled, there have never been pesticides or chemicals on the prairies, not by us and not by previous owners. The previous owner (1995-2010) practiced natural horsemanhip ; the owner before that was an English woman (1985-1995 ; the first to have "bio sheep" in the region) ; the owner before that was a local farming family, farming "old style" : some pigs, some chickens, some cows, some sheep, some ... Pesticides or chemicals were not common in this region in those days.
The result is superior quality grass for horses : not too rich, perfectly balanced for horses.
About 180 big ballots of hay usually come of the land, which is the equivalent of about 60 ton per year. In case of drought, this number drops to 150-160 ballots of hay (as was the case in 2018). In case of extreme and prolonged drought (like 2019), it can be even less.
The price per ton for hay in this region has been on average 120 euro / ton these past years. In case of scarcity, prices can go up to 150 euro / ton or even more.
No, not at all.
Praires are dry, summer and winter - even in case of heavy rainfal as has been the case these past few months.
Horses feet do not get infected with all kinds of bacteria or mold or ...
The soils drain well.
Our horses only "eat" 2 half bailes of hay per year ... they eat grass of the prairies all year round. They prefer it to hay. Although they have access to hay all winter, they don't touch it ... prefering the prairie grass.
You are welcome to bring your boots and visit the prairies and check for yourself at any time of the year.
And did we mention you get fresh mushrooms for free ? That's right : in October-November, you can pick a wide variety of mushrooms in the prairies.
Yes there are !
It took a couple of years of composing a qualified team to care for the horses, trying out different vets, osteopaths, hoof smiths, ... - but they are out there !
We'ld be happy to provide you with their contact information so the change of environment for your horse(s) goes as smooth as possible.
You enjoy a moderate climate, meaning it doesn't get really hot and doesn't get really cold.
Between June 15th and the end of September, you usually enjoy temperatures between 25° and 30 °. July can get hot : we have had several heat waves in 2017, 2018, 2019 where temperatures increased between 30 ° and 38 ° all month long - which is perfect for attracting tourists. Usually rain doesn't come until August, summer rain never lasts longer than a day or 2. Sometimes autumn is really warm too : in 2014 for example, I could walk outside in a t-shirt until the end of November. Now we are the end of December and it is 15 ° ...
Temperatures rarely drop under 0° in winter time. It freezes on average 1 or 2 weeks per year, temperatures generally are between 0° and - 3°. On rare occasions it gets colder, -3° to -7°, but I've only seen this twice in 9 years time and only for a day or 2.
Snow is rare, maybe 1 week per year, and doesn't last very long. Roads remain accessible when it snows.
Fields are green all year long, except in July after making the hay. Depending on rainfall, fields may remain dry in August as well. They turn back green after 2-3 days of rainfall.
We'ld be happy to show you around AFTER we have had a chance to talk to you and after a proper appointment has been set up.
It is no problem to make a last minute appointment should that be necessary - we are flexible - nevertheless our privacy does not disappear because we are putting our house up for sale.
You can reach out to us here.
You can enjoy a good and stable internet connection, meaning you can watch youtube, netflix, ... without a problem.
Superfast internet ("fibre") is being installed in the surrounding villages as we speak. It is unsure though when exactly "fibre" will be installed at the estate : it could be 2020 or 2021.
As the internet has a sufficient quality, there is no real urgency though.
You can enjoy a stable and relatively cheap landline connection (internet + unlimited calls to USA, UK, EU, ... both cell phones and land lines for a fixed rate of about 50 euro per month).
There is no danger of 5G health problems around here : depending on the cell phone operator you have, you will have little to normal cell phone coverage at the estate (eg : Free works badly - the 80 cm thick walls don't help mucht ... Orange on the other hand works just fine).
Shoot !
We will be happy to answer any question you may have.
We understand the "risk" of traveling all the way to France (we did it ourselves for 1,5 year before finding and buying this place) only to discover that a property has been presented much nicer than it really is, or that relevant information (eg highway next door, legal restrictions, awful smell from neighbors, ...) has been left out. It is frustrating and sometimes even comes close to cheating people.
Nobody likes to loose time and money, which is why we do our best to give as many details as possible so you have a clear view on the real characteristics of the property and its potential before deciding on making an appointment.
You can reach us here.