14-Bed Former Convent in Cantal, Auvergne — 1,200m² Second Home with Income Potential



Auvergne, Cantal, Condat, France, Condat (France)
14 Bedrooms · 7 Bathrooms · 1200m² Floor area
€744,000
House
No parking
14 Bedrooms
7 Bathrooms
1200m²
Garden
No pool
Not furnished
Description
Step through a heavy iron gate on a crisp October morning and the whole world shifts. The chestnut trees lining the courtyard have gone amber and copper, a thin mist hangs over the Rhue valley below, and the stone facade of this former convent rises in front of you — three floors of dark Auvergne granite, a central pediment carved with quiet authority, and windows that have been watching this village since long before anyone alive can remember. This is Condat, Cantal, and this house does not whisper. It speaks.
At 1,200 square meters spread across three levels, this is one of those properties that arrives in a category of its own. Fourteen bedrooms. Seven bathrooms. A semi-professional kitchen running to 60 square meters. A full basement the footprint of the entire building. And a separate outbuilding already generating rental income. Numbers like these, at 744,000 euros in the heart of the Massif Central, make experienced buyers do a double-take. They should.
Condat sits at 700 meters altitude, at a geographic crossroads that the locals understand intuitively and most outsiders discover with a pleasurable shock. The Sancy massif — home to Puy de Sancy, the highest peak in the Massif Central at 1,886 meters — lies to the north. The volcanic plateau of the Cézallier rolls out to the east, vast and wind-combed and unlike anything in lowland France. The Artense plateau, dotted with glacial lakes, sits to the west. You are not near a landscape here. You are inside several of them simultaneously.
The village itself is a functioning rural community of around 1,000 people, not a preserved-for-tourists showcase. There is a market, a pharmacy, a primary school, a post office, boulangeries that produce fougasse and the dense dark rye bread specific to this part of the Massif. The restaurant at the Hôtel de France still makes truffade — the local potato and Cantal cheese dish — the way it has been made here for generations: slowly, in a wide cast-iron pan, with young tomme cantal that melts into something between cream and silk. Friday mornings in summer, the small market on the central square fills with producers selling Salers cheese, Cantal AOP at various stages of affinage, wild bilberries, and honey from hives kept on the plateau. You could live here and never feel isolated. That is rarer than it sounds at this altitude.
The building itself is constructed in the purest tradition of Auvergne vernacular architecture: thick load-bearing stone walls that keep the interior cool through July and August without any mechanical intervention, deep window reveals that frame views like paintings, and a structural solidity that communicates centuries of intention. The former convent origins give the floor plan a particular generosity — corridors wide enough to pass two people comfortably, rooms with proportions that were designed for communal living rather than minimized for efficiency. That logic translates remarkably well to contemporary hospitality use.
The garden level opens onto a 132-square-meter living space — genuinely vast, with the kind of ceiling height that makes gatherings feel celebratory rather than cramped — alongside the professional-grade kitchen that any serious catering or hospitality operation would recognize immediately as a genuine asset. Upstairs, the layout divides cleanly: a self-contained staff apartment with two bedrooms, its own bathroom, and a separate toilet on one side; five additional guest bedrooms and a bathroom on the other. The second floor delivers seven more bedrooms along a long stone-flagged corridor, plus a second bathroom. The whole configuration has the logic of a well-run maison d'hôtes or a private retreat center written into its bones.
The basement spans the full footprint of the building — substantial storage, a boiler room already in place, and genuine potential for a wine cellar or equipment room depending on how the property evolves under new ownership.
Then there is the outbuilding. Over 100 square meters, currently tenanted and producing income from day one of ownership. Keep it as-is and offset carrying costs. Or eventually convert it into private owner quarters, creating a separation between personal use and hospitality operation that smart operators prize.
For international buyers considering this as a vacation home, a second residence, or a revenue-generating hospitality project in France, the practical logistics are worth understanding clearly. Clermont-Ferrand, the regional capital, is roughly an hour's drive north on the A89. The city has a commercial airport with connections to Paris and several European hubs, and the train journey from Clermont-Ferrand to Paris Gare de Lyon runs under three hours on the intercités service. For buyers flying into Paris, the road south through the Auvergne is one of the great drives in France — the Gorges de l'Allier, the Puy-en-Velay skyline, the volcanic plateau opening out as you climb. It becomes part of the ritual of ownership.
The Cantal climate deserves honest mention. Winters here are real: cold, occasionally snowy, sometimes extended into April. The ski resort at Super-Besse is 45 minutes away, and Le Mont-Dore even closer. Summer arrives confidently in June and stays through September — warm days, cool nights, the plateau smelling of wild thyme and mountain grass. Autumn, particularly September and October, is extraordinary: clear air, low golden light, the forests around the Rhue valley turning color in long progressive waves. Spring comes late but comes hard, with wildflowers on the Cézallier in May that stop hikers mid-stride.
Outdoor recreation around Condat runs the full range. The GR400 volcanic circle trail passes through the region — a multi-day route circumnavigating the Cantal stratovolcano through some of the oldest and least-trafficked highland terrain in France. Mountain biking on the Artense plateau. Fly fishing on the Rhue and the Truyère rivers. Canoeing on the reservoirs above the Bort-les-Orgues dam. In winter, cross-country skiing on the Cézallier plateau begins almost from the doorstep.
A few key details at a glance:
- Former convent converted to residential use, built across three levels in traditional Auvergne granite construction
- 1,200 square meters of total floor area
- 14 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms across the main building
- Garden-level 132m² living area with direct outdoor access
- 60m² semi-professional kitchen, purpose-built for catering or hospitality use
- Self-contained staff or guest apartment with private bathroom on first floor
- Full basement across the entire building footprint, including boiler room
- Separate outbuilding of 100m²+, currently tenanted with immediate rental income
- Altitude of 700 meters with panoramic plateau and valley views
- Set in Condat village with full local amenities: shops, school, pharmacy, market
- 45 minutes from Super-Besse ski resort, 1 hour from Clermont-Ferrand
- Excellent access to GR400 hiking trail and Cantal volcanic circuit
- Strong conversion potential for gîte complex, maison d'hôtes, retreat center, or large family compound
- Listed in good condition — move-in ready with scope for phased renovation and expansion
For international buyers, France has well-established legal frameworks for non-EU property ownership, and Cantal in particular has seen growing interest from British, Dutch, and Belgian buyers seeking scale and value that the Dordogne and Provence markets no longer offer at this price point. The combination of immediate rental income, a building in good condition, and a floor plan designed for collective use makes this a genuinely rare proposition.
Properties of this size and history, at this price, in a location with four-season appeal and authentic village infrastructure, do not stay available in the Auvergne market for long. The window is usually short.
If you are looking for a vacation property in France with the bones to become something genuinely significant — a family legacy, a hospitality business, a private retreat — this former convent in Condat deserves your full attention. Contact us through Homestra today to arrange a viewing or request the full property dossier. The gate is worth opening.
Details
- Amount of bedrooms
- 14
- Size
- 1200m²
- Price per m²
- €620
- Garden size
- 700m²
- Has Garden
- Yes
- Has Parking
- No
- Has Basement
- Yes
- Condition
- good
- Amount of Bathrooms
- 7
- Has swimming pool
- No
- Property type
- House
- Energy label
Unknown
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