Located just under 200 kilometers south of Paris, Perche Sarthois is more confidential than its Norman neighbor, which has been very popular for several years. But, already, urban dwellers looking for quiet weekends and holidays are taking up residence there, with family or friends, to enjoy the great outdoors, go for bike rides or glean treasures from second-hand dealers.
It is in this hilly countryside that in 2020, Marine Gabily, former ready-to-wear communicator, and Lucas Madani, co-founder of the Parisian interior design agency Hauvette & Madani, fell in love with a 2 hectare hamlet on which there is a 14th century mille century: the Moulin de Belle Queue. The couple in their thirties then set about renovating the body of four buildings, from floors to roofs including the redistribution of spaces.
The following year, their large, designer and cozy holiday home became a gîte that can be rented in part (the main building) or in its entirety, with the outbuildings (six bedrooms and thirteen beds in total). The route which leads to the town of Cogners, in the south-east of the department, follows a classic sequence: motorway, departmental, then “small roads” on which traffic is often slowed down by tractors. On the sides, it is the bocage. Herds of cows graze in fields dotted with haystacks, a few Percherons snort in enclosures.
Vintage lounge chairs and rattan loveseats
When you arrive at the village, you have to pass the castle and some abandoned farms. A bumpy, sloping path leads to the property’s parking lot, next to an apple orchard. We can hear the river, Le Tusson, flowing, which separates here into two arms. In hot weather, those less cold can swim in its cool waters, sometimes frequented by moorhens. The mill wheel has disappeared but there is talk of installing a new one one day.
A table is held under large weeping willows, at the water’s edge. You can have meals there or play board games, sheltered from the sun. A swing, suspended from a branch from which garlands of dried flowers fall, invites you to daydream. Opposite, vintage deck chairs and rattan loungers make you want to lounge around. In the large house, as in the independent dwellings, the rooms evoke retro film sets. The owners have a weakness for styles from the 1930s to the 1970s.
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