St-Jean du Bruel
property details
for a Hub House co-operative coliving project

Environment ✧ wooded lower mountains, small gorges and scrub plateaus; hiking on doorstep

Services ✧ minimart and cafe/restos; small supermarket 20mins bike; towns 40mins drive

Access ✧ 20mins pickup and 1h30 bus to Montpellier (last 8pm): +3h30 Paris / Barcelona

Notes ✧ May–Sept is great; otherwise changeable; autumn and winters have a lot of heavy showers
✦ this location is distant from towns but has good resturants, pretty villages and lots of good empty countryside (if not exceptional); whilst the building would not permit any purpose design and would have to be adapted as best possible, it could still offer some unique features notably the vaulted basement and garden above river
✦ situated in the heart of a pretty little village at the bottom of a small gorge and the edge of the wilderness
✦ has a market hall with a covered café, a coffee shop(!), 3 resturants; another prettier little village 20mins bike has more cafes and restos and even a foodtruck doing burgers even in winter, plus two tennis courts and small supermarket; both with weekly markets
✦ 2 towns 40mins drive, the bigger (not much) being somewhat dynamic, with a school bus from the door (1h, 8am returning 5/6pm); there's a Jazz festival and various adventure sports events; and a fablab
✦ lots of walks on the doorstep, not remarkable but can reach 1350m (800m ascent); probably lots of bouldering along the gorges; good forest tracks for biking and horse riding; plenty of river swimming spots; 14km away (40mins bike) there's an old railway being converted into greenway, this has some magnificent views traversing tunnels and viaducts
✦ loads of places to explore within 45mins including the Cirque de Navacelles; the peak of Aigoual which also has a (cross-country/racket) ski station with mechanical tows (so maybe some winetr appeal)
✦ because the autoroute is close, the completely different environment of Salagou is 45mins and coast at Agde 1h15
✦ quiet and private despite being in the heart of the village, with a small 100m2 garden ending above the river (streetview) which could probably be extended with a balcony terrace hanging over the river next to the bridge, perhaps also a small conservatory and hottub; there's also a big village garden a few seconds walk away
✦ is north-facing but end of garden gets sun, and there's 8 streetside south-facing windows to create a sunny workspace and lounge
✦ could maybe give 8 rooms plus dorm; note that all rooms wull need double or triple glazed windows as the church bells right next door ring all night
✦ essentially a streetside building with an extension built on the back; extension has 2 floors of 35m2 (105m2); main building 3 floors of 130m2 (390m2); plus a 145m2 vaulted basement onto garden; attics totalling a further 130m2 however these would probably become mezzanines or open
✦ the basement would probably be kitchen/dining as even with large glass doors (2x 3.5m vaulted openings) it would have limited light given it stretches back at least 10m (would however require a waste water tank and pump as is below the sewer, but minor for kitchen/washing); could possibly also have a cinema/night lounge adjoing and integrated with the kitchen as use wouldn't overlap, keeping the upstairs quiet or vice-versa cadastral data, parcel 201
✦ some parts could be renovated quickly, seemingly 2 floors (some collapsed cielings to plastboard); however the attics and third floor needs quite significant work including new floors (support and finish) though may suit mezzanine rooms
✦ extension roof in good condition; half of main roof needs repairs (slate) as is leaking
✦ would have to use a 4-season basis (off: dec-feb; low: oct, nov, mar, apr; regular: may, june, sept; peak: jul-aug)
✦ the adjacent western property is with the same agent and probably owner, expensive but includes an additional 75m2 of garden; the extension is actually split and part is owned by the eastern neighbour but is abandoned and they've garden too
✦ fibre by late 2021; already in next village; VDSL2 is in any case very good 50/8Mbps at 750m