39 Gambetta
property details
for a Hub House co-operative coliving project

Environment ✧ river valleys, scrub woods, rolling agricultural; walks 10mins

Services ✧ all at door; nice town 10mins scoot/bike +25mins train (last 11:30pm)

Access ✧ station 10mins bus/bike; Toulouse 2h45, Paris 6h30 changing or direct nightrain; Rodez airport (seasonal for UK/Brussels) 30mins drive

Area ✧ not an ideal situation as nature is pleasant but not notable, and the town is only adequate with no public spaces, yet potentially balances as a larger very attractive town is close plus there's others and opportunities to get a bit further afield for exploring
✦ alternate route, leave Toulouse 6pm, change Villefranche immediate bus 9pm arrival
✦ several fairly tame walks, including circuits over 3h to the river; good for biking but better with half by train; can climb 400m from door; kayaking/riding 35mins
✦ 10mins walk to a huge public greenspace with lake covering a rehabilitated open pit mine easily gives a 1h30 walk climbing 200m; tennis courts close; several recent town centre improvements, there's also a massive (4,000m2) building hosting events, but no town square(!)
✦ small streetart festival which could potentially be expanded with some support (i.e. hosting artists)
✦ a package free local food shop, several restaurants and an organic microbrewery but not much else otherwise, have to go to the towns, of which theres 3 in 30–40mins including by bus
✦ the very nice local town of Figeac is practically a 45min journey thus most likely by car in 30mins, in this respect properties in Cransac have the train station very close making all the towns much easier (bit smaller with better gardens)
✦ station 10mins bike/scoot which may be required as local bus is not well coordinated without a 30min+ wait, it's a 5min drive so pickups even regularly wouldn't be an issue and a minivan would be essential for exploring; however regional busses to other towns (a little further) are from door
✦ busses to Villefranche (1h; last 7pm, 9pm Sundays) and Rodez (40mins; last 6:30pm) both 40mins drive
✦ Paris nightrain arrives 6am, return 11:30pmom €40;
✦ the climate is subject to a lot of rain, only diminishing somewhat during the summer, on the plus side this means the regions is always green, but does mean the sunny days need to be taken advantage of; seasonality would likely be 3-3-6; streetview (Jan) demonstrates that the garden is pleasant all year with good sunny days though when the sun isn't out is pretty drab (Mar) thus indoor and covered outdoor spaces would play a very important role

Property ✧ usable with only basic decoration, however needs new windows, isolation, etc, plus adaption to coliving
✦ main building ~120m2 inside with 85m2 courtyard and 70m2*2 annexe backing into hillside onto rear track for private access as cohousing; part of the courtyard is a 20m2 ruin which would be better as an orangerie seperating the courtyard from the neighbour's half and having better south exposure, leaving a 50m2 courtyard; alternatively and to get better sun, part of the courtyard could be built over, giving an excellent first floor terrace and raised orangerie
✦ the annexe has upper floor windows onto the rear lane and part of the main building footprint is a covered outdoor staircase and terraces which would be sealed
✦ 3 cohousing units, each having two doors onto the courtyard, plus part could be converted into a roof terrace with lane access; if courtyard is built over, this would be inverted with bed and bath on ground and upper living space having door onto terrace with front window and skylight, though this would require new lintels, would be better just to leave a gap
✦ at the end of the (private) track behind a garage building, almost opposite is an abandoned probably 120–150m2*2 building with 350m2 higher garden and 200m2 trackfront