Combas · Gard · South of France

The house

You come in along a cobbled lane, under the vaults. The house dates from the early 18th century and was the village school, then its town hall. On the ground floor, the kitchen, the living room and the billiard room; upstairs, six bedrooms.

The houseGround floor

Kitchen, sitting room, billiard room

The long table under the vault, in front of the stone fireplace — The long table and the fireplace, under the vault

The kitchen has a range cooker and an American-style fridge; a second large fridge and the utility room sit next to the garage, which is accessed from outside.

The sitting room and the billiard room take up the rest of the ground floor. These are the rooms where the evening can run late without disturbing anyone upstairs or the neighbours.

Vaulted kitchen with range cooker and stone sink

The kitchen dining area, green pendant lights and an old bench

The kitchen dresser and a door opening onto the garden

The sitting room under groin vaults, terracotta floor

The sitting room and its fireplace, colourful cushions

An old school desk and an orange chair by the window — A desk left over from the days when the house was the village school

The billiard table and the sitting area beside it

Barrel-vaulted corridor with a cobbled floor, a school bench along the wall and a view through to a bright doorway — The vaulted ground-floor corridor

The same vaulted run seen from further back, with a relieving arch and an embroidered shawl in the foreground

The vaulted kitchen, its stone fountain sink and the opening onto the garden — The kitchen's fountain sink

Wide view of the vaulted billiard room, red floor tiles and a glazed bay to the left

The billiard table and its alcove, small-paned window, black star and hessian cushions — The billiard room alcove

The billiard room, filmed in June

The ground floorOriginal cobbles

A lane runs through the house

A very old pedestrian lane, with its original cobbles, passes under the vaults of the ground floor. It opens onto the large sitting room, the billiard room and the kitchen.

It is how you come in, how you get out to the garden, and how you come back at night without waking anyone upstairs.

The vaulted cobbled lane running through the ground floor, open to the garden — The cobbled lane, under the ground-floor vaults

The vaulted passage and its glazed door, limewashed walls

A door opening onto the courtyard from the vaulted passage

An old desk set on the cobbles of the passage

The houseUpstairs

Six bedrooms, four bathrooms

Bedroom	Beds
Master Suite	1 king-size bed, 1 sofa, 1 cot
Parents' Suite	1 king-size bed, 1 cot
Fig Tree Suite	1 king-size bed, 1 sofa, 1 cot
Asian Room	1 double bed
Tintin Room	4 single beds
Metal Room	2 single beds

The three suites each have an en-suite bathroom with a walk-in shower. Every bedroom is air-conditioned, with its own unit.

Bright bedroom, bed facing the window, exposed beams

Bedroom with an old bench and a wall map of France

Bedroom with old posters and tall windows

Bedroom with walls of old frames, terracotta floor

Simply furnished bedroom, limewashed wall and old engravings

Bedroom with ochre walls and an old chest of drawers

Two single beds under the wall of covers

Table and chairs in front of an old door, terracotta floor

The placeCombas, Gard

A house that served the whole village

Combas is just a handful of streets. The house sits at its centre: first the village school, then the town hall. A cobbled lane still runs through it.

Behind the walls: an enclosed garden, a stone washhouse where the village women once did their laundry and where fish now swim, and a nine-metre pool heated from May to September. The high vaulted rooms keep the house cool all summer.

Ronan has been welcoming guests here for eight years. You book direct with him.

The stone façade seen from the garden, blue shutters and clipped hedges — The garden front

The garden and the pool Combas and the Pays de Sommières La Vieille Magnanerie

Book direct