Vacation Rental Description
Enjoy French country living in the heart of the Loire Valley in this private, gated villa with 6.5 wooded acres, pool, lake, & streams. Main house, guest house, and barn are charming 200-year-old stone buildings. Near Loire Valley vineyards, chateaux, & medieval towns.
Key Features
* Stunning property with lake, pool, woods, and 6.5 acres
* Charming 19th-century stone buildings
* 2 miles from town with shops and services
* Close to chateaux, vineyards, medieval towns (Chenonceau, Tours, Chinon, Loches, Amboise, Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau, etc.)
Within minutes of the most famous castles of the Loire Valley, Moulin de Malicorne offers complete tranquility and privacy. Behind its gated entrance, the property features a swimming pool, an acre-sized lake with an island, a small boathouse and row boat, extensive gardens, woods, waterfalls, rock quarries, two houses, a barn/basketball half-court and three wine caves. Just down the quiet country road you'll find amazing troglodyte houses, a 14th Century troglodyte church, 4th Century tombs and scenic places where Joan of Arc rested in her travels.
Moulin de Malicorne is the perfect home base for touring the historic chateaux, abbeys, medieval villages and vineyards of the Loire. Several small chateaux are within biking distance and many of the famous castles including Chenonceau, Azay-le-Rideau and Chinon are just 20-45 minutes by car.
Three buildings arranged in a "U" shape form a courtyard at the end of the tree-lined driveway. The main house is two stories with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 2 toilet rooms (WCs). The second, smaller house built against the rock cliff is called the "Maison d'Ami." It has two cozy rooms with exposed beam ceilings.
The 37 x 18-foot pool is just behind and north of the house in a stone-walled, elevated garden with a view to the lake.
The lake is home to all sorts of fish, ducks, frogs and three white geese, who have a winter shed on the island to escape the occasional fox. You can fish from the banks or take the boat for a leisurely row through the water lilies.
The Grounds
While the buildings have old-world charm, the real beauty of Moulin de Malicorne is the land itself. Fortunately for us, the man who bought the place years ago planted hundreds of beautiful trees and flowers on the property and diverted the river to create an acre-sized lake with an island in the middle. A quaint little bridge takes you there, or you can hop in our little row boat and paddle around the island for the full view of the lake's flower and tree-lined banks.
Everywhere you go on the property you'll hear the sounds of birds and water. There are three tributaries that wind through the landscaped gardens creating several waterfalls. There's a small orchard behind the barn, and an enchanting forest with two rock quarries on the hillside. Every walk you take offers new discoveries. Benches and statuary are tucked into natural grottoes and perched at scenic overlooks throughout the property.
Location
2.5 hours southwest of Paris by car and just 30 minutes south of Tours. The TGV (high speed train) goes from Tours to Paris in one hour.
Moulin de Malicorne is 2 miles from Ste. Maure de Touraine, a charming town of 5,000 residents. Famous for its goat cheese and its outdoor book fairs, Ste. Maure boasts several excellent restaurants, bakeries, banks (with ATM machines), supermarkets, small shops and services, a bustling open-air market every Friday, and the ruins of a 14th-century château.
Facilities
Cooking Utensils
Dishwasher
Dryer
Garage
Heating
Kitchen
Microwave
Open Fire
Amenity Parking
Private Pool
Refrigerator
Washer
High-speed Internet access via wireless and Ethernet cable.
Activities
Biking
Boating
Fishing
Golf
Kayaking
Restaurant
Shopping
Tennis
Theme park