What are the main property types in Limousin?

Gîte businesses

Property investors from northern Europe are attracted to this area by the reasonable prices and the wide variety of beautiful properties available. Characterful old farmhouses with plenty of outbuildings can be converted into guesthouses with several separate gîtes, where paying guests can stay and experience the rural life. Expect to decorate the property interiors with plenty of original farm features and old machinery.

Manoirs

These imposing buildings, formerly occupied by French nobles, often resemble small châteaux. Constructed from granite, they may feature tiled roofs, front courtyards, outbuildings (perhaps barns or even a pigeonnier) that you may be able to convert, vegetable gardens and plenty of land.

Half-timbered houses

The lovely half-timbered houses that characterise the Limousin region make for beautiful – if rather challenging – restoration projects. In Limoges and across the Haute-Vienne département, you can find some wonderful examples of these traditional structures.

Farmhouses

In many of the regions of France that experience cold winters, farmhouses typically used to house the animals on the ground floor, while the farmer and his family occupied the first floor, where they benefited from the rising body heat of their livestock. Nowadays, most of these properties have been converted for exclusive human use and are popular with house buyers.

Properties with fishing lakes

The Limousin region is dotted with thousands of tiny, often very beautiful, lakes. Some of these will be included in the land parcels that are attached to properties. The prettier expanses of water with good fishing will add serious value to any property.