Published in French News in August 2004

Spoilt For Choice

Tarn-et-Garonne is a rural department with a multitude of landscapes. There are dry, limestone hills, verdant greenery and woods, the vertiginous cliffs of the Aveyron gorge, and agricultural valleys. Fruit orchards are everywhere.

The prefecture is Montauban, an attractive town with some interesting architectural features including a handsome, fourteenth century bridge and seventeenth century bishop’s palace. Toulouse’s airport is only thirty minutes away.

One of the most expensive and popular areas to buy is around the medieval town of St Antonin-Noble-Val and the dramatic Aveyron gorge. British buyers are often drawn to older, character properties. One of our partners has a mid- nineteenth century property in good condition with 230m2 living space, 4 bedrooms and a pool on 18 hectares of land for 633,200 euros.

There are other options. They also have a two bedroom village house with a 300m2 garden, in need of some light work, for 107,248 euros. This is in the picturesque, hill-top village of Bruniquel, at the tail-end of the gorge.

Quercy Blanc might also have the setting and type of property you are looking for. The slopes in summer are covered with Chasselas grape vines and sunflowers. You can buy a four / five bedroom stone built house in reasonable condition with outbuildings (maybe even a gite), and several hectares for under 300,000 euros.

Prices come down again in the Lomagne, to the west of the department, an agricultural area full of undulating, cultivated fields. A three / four bedroom village house in reasonable condition can be picked up here for under 150,000 euros.

Tarn-et-Garonne offers house buyers a wide choice of landscapes and a good range of property prices.

Supplied by Linda Rano of Couleurs de France, offering free property search and support to house buyers throughout the South West. Website www.couleurs-de-france.com, e-mail info@couleurs-de-france.com, tel. English speaking staff on 05 61 09 54 39.