shared live+work spaces
for people going places with purpose

Palada
property details
for a Hub House co-operative coliving project

#205 🥈85%  SOLD • €75k • typical • village • 400m² mini-hub • 8👤15👥village houses at base of impressive mountain with good climate
📍MapAdvert #1Advert #2
southern France — near Perpignan, (Figueres)
☃️4–12–20°☀️10☁️10 • 🍂16–24°☀️9☁️9
GOOD  🔨 effort
GOOD  🚌 transport
GOOD  ✈️ access
GOOD  🛒 shops
OKAY  🏙 towns
OKAY  🧗 activities
GOOD  ☀️ climate
GOOD  ⛰️ nature
GOOD  🌷 garden
OKAY  🏠 building
GOOD  🏘 hood
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Environment ✧ scrub hills and gorges along mountain valley; hikes on doorstep

Services ✧ village by minibus/20mins walk; supermarket 10mins walk

Access ✧ station 1h bus, +Barcelona 1h30 / Paris 5h; airport 40mins drive

Notes ✧ reduced from 110k then 95k so now a good candidate property with reasonable if not perfect surroundings and great weather
✦ two adjacent buildings in a quaint quiet village perched above the river having the remains of an ancient watchtower
✦ 240m2 garden at back with a big fig and cypress tree, all day exposure, catching sunsets and the tops of mountains but not having a valley view; somewhat small and narrow yet perfectly nice
✦ 25m2 deep courtyard at back with a walkway over it connecting the garden to the stairs between the 2nd and 3rd floors
an excellent microclimate with lots of sun in the last valley of France next to the Spanish border
✦ hikes from door; 4h climbs to 1500m, or 6h ascent to 2700m with 30mins drive; many huts for multi-day
✦ further up the mountain the woods give way to forest and bluffs but the immediate countryside whilst very pleasant might be considered a bit bland especially off season
✦ both sand and rocky beaches at argeles/coullioure being not entirely unreasonable distance for daytrips in 50mins drive
✦ challenging biking but also easy downstream along old railway around lower hills
✦ horse riding 15mins walk; small natural lake for SUP 25mins drive
✦ somewhat scarce water; wild swimming spot 40mins walk but small; canyoning; the river is not exceptional
✦ due to being stuck on one side of the mountain, exploring around is time consuming especially for one-way hikes; reaching the wild thermal baths takes over an hour though would be good organised as an overnighter with hikes staying in huts and stopping in the towns, thus offering more variety for activities and access to more varied nature, thus activities migth be considered better than scored
✦ nearest ski station is 2h so only possible if a seperate stay
local bus from door hourly; 10mins walk perpignan hourly bus in 1h €1, last 7:30pm
✦ 40mins drive city/station/airport; the airport has an hourly bus taking 35mins
✦ train is super for Barcelona and good for changes to the UK and northern europe through Paris (departing before 11:15am for bus, until 6:15pm with pickup, or 9:15pm overnight arriving 8:30am daily in summer, weekly in winter)
✦ airport serves Lisbon and Agadir all year (good nomad connections); with London-Stansted seasonally; Barcelona provides the best interchange with train taking 1h30 (last 4:30pm thus may require staying overnight); Girona also has a well served airport 45mins by train (last 5:15pm) 1h30 by bus
✦ Perpignan is the only town, it is however large and fairly lively; Figueres in Spain is 50mins but on motorway
✦ the village has nothing apart from a cafe/bar opposite, does get a few tourists
✦ supermarket 10mins walk across river footbridge
✦ larger village 20mins walk or local minibus though mainly hosts thermal curists, has shops, cafes, restaurants, markets, a fablab and tennis courts
✦ 25mins bike / 15mins drive is the very pretty touristic village of Ceret with great market (at night in summer)
already cleaned out and stripped, plus roof rennovated with solid base at some point
✦ front facade of first building is very good, and the second is good base for streetart; rears need tidying
✦ require refitting but no structural nor roof works, would be partly usable immediately
✦ parcel 143
✦ streets are mainly foot so quiet
✦ both buildings have 4 floors with the largest possible open space being 45m2, but spanning front and back, and connected by a shared stairwell on alternating levels
✦ both buildings have south frontage but only first has unobstructured views from top storey thus would be a lounge
✦ adequate garden space for a plunge pool, sauna, and firepit
✦ south building approx 42m2 usable plus stairwell mainly for common spaces
✦ north building approx 45m2 usable mainly for accommodations
✦ the ground-N floor has very low ceilings (2m)
✦ south building is 4.8m at front, 5.4 at rear (but houses the stairwell here) and 10.5m deep
✦ north is 5.6m front and rear as a parrallelogram 9.5m deep
✦ ground-S utility/storage/breakout?? may be narrow due to a dividing wall that appears to be load bearing, otherwise if removable could be workspace swapped with a lounge in the north building
✦ ground-N lively workspace
✦ 1st-S library workspace / 6 pods and 1 bedroom/ensuite
✦ 1st-N 4 ensuites
✦ 2nd-S kitchen and dining; down half a flight from the garden; would be supplemented with an outdoor kitchen in the new garden annexe
✦ 2nd-N 4 ensuites
✦ 3rd-S lounge
✦ 3rd-N 4 ensuites
✦ attic-S; 4 pods near floor level but standing at apex
✦ attic-N; no height
✦ triangular shed at end of garden could be greatly enlarged as an annexe giving a terrace/glasshouse atop, this would gain a view and could also be built up as a 25m2 conservatory with workspace supplementary kitchen for outdoor eating; its extension could also enable use as a mini-hub, having parking just at the back; it would adjoin a garage on one side
✦ with the annexe the 1st floor libary workspace could be changed to a proper bunk room (6 pods) plus shared bathrooms; and the 3rd lounge could have open ceilings instead of pods
✦ if access to the stairwell in the south building is problematic it could be through the north and connected around the back with a new covered section
✦ courtyard could be built up as additional room extensions for the 1st floor though would complicate light access at the back of the ground floor, which is half a floor below the courtyard; if extended at the kitchen, would provide needed pantry space and avoid unduly blocking space lower down
directly above the property with an access track seperating, is a 2-floor 160m2 unused barn (parcel 144), some works carried out around 2008 but then abandoned; part of its land has been converted to public parking thus a deal with the mairie must have been made; it would be ideal converted as a public coworking space and if owned by the commune it could be operated collectively; has 325m2 of garden around it; acquisition of this would enable removal of a common space in favour of 3 more bedrooms
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