Pézenas is everyone’s dream of a southern French small town- a rich and interesting history, an old town from which cars are banned with wonderful 16th, 17th, and 18th century buildings, for some time home of one of France’s great playrights, Molière, the best and most picturesque Saturday market in the area, and a connection with Clive of India who inflicted on the town his mince pies, still produced to this day! Who wouldn't want to buy property for sale in a town like Pézenas?
Some 50 km from Montpellier and thirty minutes from the sea, Pézenas was a Roman town just off the Via Domitia,but it was in the 16th century that it really came into its own when the governors of the Languedoc decided that it would be the administrative capital of the province.Many of the grand houses in the old town with its cobbled streets date from this period, hidden away behind sturdy wooden doors which often lead to magnificent courtyards and gardens, from which richly carved staircases lead to the upper floors.
The town also encourages and promotes local artisans and has been nominated as a ”Ville de Métiers et d’Arts”.Local woodcarvers,sculptors,potters,jewelers and painters, can be found exhibiting their work as you wander through the old cobbled streets from which cars are excluded. There are also two antique fairs during the year in May and October, and throughout the year antique and junk shops line one of the main streets. It is thus a lively place throughout the year and a town which forms a centre for the villages that lie amongst the vineyards surrounding the town.
Many of the houses for sale in the old historic centre have been converted into apartments which sell from €80,000 upwards although of course there are not too many available.A 60 sq.m. 2 bedroom apartment with terrace built in 1940 and entirely renovated is available for €115000 and a somewhat larger one of 116 sq.m with 3 bedrooms and a parking space,important in the centre of town,for €192,000. It is unusual to find a house to renovate in the town but there is one built in 1900 of 72 sq.m with 2 bedrooms on the market for €93,000.In the historic centre there is an apartment of 62 sq.m overlooking an internal courtyard with two bedrooms for sale for €120,000, or on three floors an apartment with a courtyard,tastefully renovated for €210,000.A typical winegrowers house in need of restoration with 3 bedrooms, a garden and barn, is for sale for €272,000.
A villa some minutes away from the centre of town with 3 bedrooms a garden,a small pool and a garage is for sale for €298,000, and 5Km from the town centre on land of 4600 sq.m is a modern 3 bedroom villa with a garage,a swimming pool and a pine wood.
Surrounding the town are the vineyards,wine of course,after tourism,being the great industry of the Languedoc, and the vineyards stretch from the coast into the foothills of the Cevennes.The history of Languedoc wines can be traced to the first vines planted along the coast near Narbonne by the Greeks in the fifth century BC. Along with parts of Provence these are the oldest planted vineyards in France. Whereas in the past the region was known for the quantity of wine produced,in recent years the emphasis has been on quality, whether sold by a “cave co-opérative” or by an independent producer.
Alignan du vent, a village of some 1300 inhabitants is 8 kilometres from Pézenas and houses one of the best “Cave Co-opératives” in the region. As the name suggests the village has a reputation for being windy and hence the XIX century windmill.
Famous as the birthplace of Léon Azéma the architect of the Palais de Chaillot in Paris and the Douaumont ossuary in Verdun, Alignan is typical of the villages in the region. The XII century church of St.Martin in the centre is surrounded by old village houses,many of them the traditional vigneron’s houses with large wooden doors to give entry to the carts bearing the grapes.Houses of this type in need of renovation sell for between €100,000 and €200,000. More modern villas built on the outskirts of the village sell for €300,000 plus.
The cave co-opérative of Alignan du Vent is linked nowadays to the Cave in Neffiès, a smaller village nestling beneath the first range of hills leading ultimately to the Cevennes,which also has a good reputation locally for excellent wine. The village also houses an excellent restaurant run by a young couple called “les Goutailles”. There are old village houses for sale similar to those in Alignan du Vent which in good condition sell for around €200,000 and modern villas on the outskirts of the village for prices similar to those in Alignan.
A short distance away is the village of Roujan, a lively village with around 1500 inhabitants. Roujan on the main road from Pézenas to Bédarieux has a relatively wide range of shops for a village of this size and a central café.The church of St.Laurent has perhaps Roman origins but it was reconstructed in the XIII the century. Some of the village houses are somewhat larger than the norm testifying to the prosperity that the vignerons enjoyed towards the end of the XIXth century. Just to the North of the village is the Olivette dam and its lake,built between 1986 and 1998 to control the waters of the river Peyne,providing a picturesque environment for fishing, lakeside walks, and and picnics in the summer.
A small 3 bedroom village house with a garden of 300sq.m and a garage is available for around €200,000.
A little nearer Pézenas but off the main Bédarieux- Pézenas road lies the village of Caux, a village of some 2000 inhabitants, built like so many of the surrounding villages on a slight hill rising up from the plain, the buildings grouped in a circle around the chateau in the centre, the so called “circulades”, so typical of the region.
There is a large house in the middle of the village currently split into two apartments on sale for €359,000,and on the outskirts a magnificent modern villa of 245 sq.m with 9 rooms and a pool for €555,000.
To summarize,Pézenas and the surrounding villages are very popular with local people and ex-pats alike and there are currently plenty of properties available to suit all pockets and tastes.
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