4/Lac
property details
for a Hub House co-operative coliving project

Environment ✧ unadventurous but pleasant agricultural and wooded hilly river valleys; paths 15mins

Services ✧ bakery, pizza; supermarket 5mins walk; town 15mins (bus)

Access ✧ station 15mins walk, 3h15 Toulouse (+45mins airport, +3h30 Barcelona), ~6h30 Paris, direct night train

Dedicated units likely for part-time use only.

Area ✧ with station, supermarket, small lake and tennis all a few mins walk facilities are very good
✦ could function as a good minihub by bus, train and driving as there's a reasonable number of small villages around for which a once-a-week spot at a coworking would probably be appealing at under 30mins away; there are 2 coworkings in Decazeville but its debateable if either really are, one being in the town's incubator, the other only really having two shared 2–3 desk rooms

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climate is steady with regular showers and sun year round thus very green, low daytime average in winter but with nice orangery and the decent amount of sun it would still offer a pleasant enough retreat, with a good firepit and fireplace with comfy well let interiors, a sauna should be possible too; the roof terrace would accommodate yoga
✦ regular bus around area and to town making getting out super easy if not for anything especially worthy as the town doesn't even have a central square, but does at least have
✦ this location would be a mix of inward with nice spaces and convenience, with daytrips requiring a bigger commitment and engagement every week, and additional smaller adhoc weekly outings to villages, markets and for small hikes
✦ old mining area that also happens to have a thermal station, and even a slightly dubious casino…
✦ the village is getting a significant project that will replace the old school (previously for sale) with a development/renovation apparently offering senior and tourist accommodation, alongside making the main square prettier by replacing the tarmac with paving
✦ access is not actually too bad, just long; multiple departures from Paris 6:30am and 12:30pm (arriving 7:00pm), 5:45pm (arriving midnight), plus the 10:45pm night train, thus making all connections through Paris workable without overnighting; from the south it's passable with Toulouse at ~3h30 (+45mins for the airport) and trains at 1pm or 6pm (arriving 9:30pm), thus essentially taking all day from Barcelona (such arrivals could be coordinated with a evening out in Villefranche thus 1h45 from Toulouse last at 7pm +45mins drive; Rodez airport is 30mins drive or 1h by bus/taxi and train with only seasonal flights to London (and Dublin/Brussels); Brive airport is a bit far and awkward (3h train with a quick taxi, but long change) though has all year flights to Porto

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several weekly markets plus a few basic/hotel resturants for an escape from the house, but at 30mins walk there's two good, one with a great terrace at the fort, and of course a short bus or tain into the towns for much better variety
✦ for a quick stroll there's a pleasant little lake and the small village center park
✦ over 600ha of old mining lands including a massive open pit mine now having a lake, with (accacia) woods reaching to the upper edges of the village 10mins up a lane at the thermal station, and various circuits up to 2h, plus the town reachable in 1h30 with bus one way
✦ riding 15mins walk
✦ heated pool 20mins train at Capdenac
✦ easy outings 30mins train to the lovely little town of Figeac, with last back at 11:30pm for nights out which is unheard of in rural areas! but as this is more like 1h door to door (including the stroll at both ends), it's not quite so great for simply popping out, but is great for outings alone or in smaller groups, or the weekly saturday market and group dinners, nonetheless at 35mins drive, and 40mins for the equally nice Villefranche-de-Rouergue, driving the minivan may be a more common option
✦ several locations for kayaking, one 20mins drive, two by train at Capdendac and in Figeac itself with SUP but all seasonal though one association so arrangements may be possible
✦ under 30mins to ruins at Peyrusse (drive), tiny perched village of Capdenac hilltop medieval village and tower (train), Conques (drive), Belcastel medieval village and castle (drive), plus various other castles, abbeys, etc
✦ 50mins bus to medieval town of Villefranche from Aubin (20mins walk; last 8pm)
✦ 15 mins drive/train to the river Lot, 30 mins to the Cele river
✦ caving/canyoning/climbing around 30mins
✦ there's one neighbouring station that offers some slightly longer routes looping back for biking variety but not hiking
✦ better hiking is quite far at 50mins drive such as along the steep sides of the upper Lot valley
✦ several good day trips are possible at just over an hour
✦ Najac (drive, or 1h30–2h train/bus), combined with Villefranche and the river, or other sights on the way, and good for hikes
✦ Belcastel medieval village whilst not an outing itself, as a drop off can be combined with an all day hike to Villefranche along the small upper Aveyron valley, also possible as a half day bike starting by train in Rodez (pickup at the other end or long train)
✦ Saint-Cirq and the old river haulage route (drive) for nice walks with a stop in Villefranche or via some castles and the upper river cliffs, with hikes/biking in the wooded hills around it, kayaking, via ferrata and other activties in summer
✦ Rocamadour is 1h10 by direct train, again with the late return, but a long walk from the station thus better with shared taxi (5mins), yet can also be combined with a 3h hike or biking from the previous station along the valley
✦ town has a streetart festival which has now reached as far as buildings next door
✦ Capdenac will in future have a 64km greenway reaching to Cahors which is downhill all the way, however the return would be a bit much the same day and is 4h by train… which is essentially the same speed as riding it though a pickup could be arranged at a half way point

Property ✧ there's a whole bunch of cheap mid-size properties here
✦ this one is the most presentable and compares against #324 which is absurdly cheap but lacks the good view and garden; or #264 with a bigger garden

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whilsty it's directly on the road like the others, it's not busy, and there's direct access to the waterfront
✦ currently 6 apartments, some old requiring full refit, some haphazardly unfinished; bad option if some are still currently rented, but likely to not be renewed as property no longer meets requirements
✦ unobstructed south facing view over village lake
✦ 550m2 steep garden behind that backs into the retaining wall of the school quite high above, would be excellent with a dug-in orangerie; possibly only one parcel in which case 340m2 or 230m2
✦ main building in the region of 110m2 on each of 4 floors, the attic having 6 near vertical dormers thus fully usable
✦ there's a ~15m2 passage that's been built over on each floor extending the surface to ~125m2, this could be recaimed as shed/utility/room at ground level whilst garages would become coworking
✦ possibly also has a 25m2 rear extension on ground and first which could thus provide walkway across to garden from one of the floors
✦ the rear at ground has 25m2 of outdoors next to the retaining wall of the garden, this could be roofed as a conservatory/orangerie gaining the direct access extra space, however the orangeries would be better dug into the hill high in the garden thus potentially having a view
✦ at front/south 1st has a small balcony along length, and 2nd has two individual ones