The House

A Longere

The House is a Longere. Longeres are found in rural areas. They are lengthwise houses, the name itself meaning “rectangular shape” in French.

 

 

 

The longère is traditionally oriented with the back of the house facing the dominant wind direction.  Ours faces south which is usual for a Longere. Many longères offer accommodation on only one story. Often the attic is converted into a first floor accommodation to increase the total living area available. The attic in our house has been converted at some point but the upstairs is no longer used.

 

Come inside and explore further

 

 

 

The house has a stable door and green shutters. The shutters being painted transformed the house – they give it character.

Once inside the house you are straight into the open plan living area. The woodburning stove is to your left with a cosy place to sit and watch TV or listen to music (classical music CDs and a player). The satellite gives FreeSat TV and Radio channels in English.

You will see the kitchen area opposite you as you go thorugh the front door. Diving the dining and sitting areas is a wooden divide. Beams used to make a division. This seems a typical feature of houses in the Berry area.

There is a bed settee in the sitting room area and the dining room can be curtained off to give privacy if extra space is needed.

The kitchen is simple with gas cylinder cooker, fridge and sink. The kitchen area is filled with studio pottery and blue willow china. In fitting out the kitchen a range of quirky second hand pottery and china was found. It was great fun searching out the plates, tea pot and ornaments to give the area some character. When we bought the house the wall was orange and it’s now been painted a bold, bright golden yellow.

To the right is the dining area which leads through into the bedroom. There are lots of windows on the south wall of the house and it gives it light.

In the dining area is a landline telephone for emergencies and a Wifi 4 G router which gives intermittent coverage. It is handy to use for mobile phone wi-fi as it eeks out the satellite internet quota.

The Utility area and bathroom are reached from the dining area. The washing machine is in the Utlility area. Household cleaners and washing machine detergents are either under the sink in the kitchen or on a shelf in the utility area. The vacuum cleaner is kept here.

The bathroom/toilet area has a bath and shower – all straight forward and self explanatory. The house has a fosse septique (septic tank) which means we’re resticted about use of household bleaches and cleaners and there is more about this on the Housekeeping page.

The woodburner is great in the Autumn and Spring evenings. There are infra-red plug in radiators around the houseand a towel rail in the bathroom.