7-Bed Stone House in Cerdon Hills, Rhône-Alpes — Vacation Home with Solar Panels & Studio



Cerdon, Rhone-Alpes, 01450, France, Saint-Alban (France)
7 Bedrooms · 4 Bathrooms · 288m² Floor area
€359,000
House
No parking
7 Bedrooms
4 Bathrooms
288m²
Garden
No pool
Not furnished
Description
Stand on the kitchen terrace on a Tuesday morning and you can already smell the bread from the boulangerie two streets down in Cerdon. The hills of the Ain department roll away in front of you — forested ridges, limestone cliffs, the faint shimmer of the Rhône valley glinting somewhere between the trees. This isn't a postcard. It's Tuesday. This is just what it looks like from your terrace.
Set in the hills above the small town of Cerdon in the Ain department of Rhône-Alpes, this seven-bedroom stone house sits on 2,408 square metres of land and spreads across 288 square metres of living space. At 359,000 euros, that works out to considerably less per square metre than comparable properties in the Dordogne or Provence — and the lifestyle on offer here is arguably richer. The Ain has a way of flying under the radar, which suits its residents just fine.
The house itself is built in the sturdy local style — thick stone walls that keep rooms cool in July and hold heat through the sharp November nights. Step inside and the layout reveals a property that has been genuinely thought through for real life, not just for a sales brochure. The ground floor holds the main living quarters: a 26-square-metre sitting room, a generous dining room just over 20 square metres, a fitted kitchen with direct access to the terrace, a bedroom, a dressing room, and a shower room. The entrance hall alone runs to nearly 29 square metres, which sets the tone — this is not a house where you're squeezing past each other.
Upstairs, six more bedrooms fan out across the landing, ranging from a cosy 10 square metres to a proper 19.5-square-metre room that could easily become a guest suite with its own character. There's a second shower room and a separate WC on this floor, so six people can get through a morning without negotiating a bathroom rota.
Down at garden level, the house gets more interesting still. A self-contained studio apartment — 30 square metres with its own shower room and WC — sits independently from the main house. Run it as a rental unit, house a teenager who thinks they need their own space, or use it for guests who prefer a degree of privacy. Alongside this, there's a showroom space with restrooms (useful for anyone with a home business or workshop ideas), a full garage with a boiler room, a covered carport, and a vaulted cellar that looks like it was designed specifically for laying down a few cases of Bugey Cerdon, the local sparkling wine the area is quietly famous for.
And that wine deserves a moment. Cerdon has its own appellation — Cerdon de Bugey — producing a pale, lightly sparkling rosé from Poulsard and Gamay grapes that locals drink chilled on warm evenings. The vineyards wrap around the hillsides on the drive into town, and if you time a visit for the local wine festival in late spring, you'll understand very quickly why people here don't particularly feel the need to leave.
Practically speaking, the house is in good condition and ready to move into. The heat pump handles central heating efficiently, the solar panels contribute meaningfully to energy costs, and PVC double-glazed windows throughout mean the bills stay manageable even in a property of this scale. For a house buying process that often involves hidden infrastructure costs, this one arrives well-equipped.
Cerdon sits in the Bugey natural region, a stretch of the Ain that most French people outside the region couldn't place on a map — which means the hiking trails through the Forêt de Serrières and along the Gorges de l'Ain are uncrowded. The GR9 long-distance trail passes nearby. In winter, the Jura ski stations at Hauteville-Lompnes are under an hour away. In summer, the Lac de Nantua — a turquoise glacial lake thirteen kilometres north — is where locals swim, kayak, and eat crayfish at the waterside restaurants on Rue du Lac.
Lyon is 70 kilometres south. Geneva is 90 kilometres east. Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport handles direct flights across Europe and beyond, making this a realistic base for international buyers who want to fly in on a Friday afternoon and be sitting on that terrace with a glass of Bugey Cerdon by early evening. The A40 motorway connects the region cleanly to both cities.
The property's sheer size opens up strong options for supplementary rental income, particularly through the independent studio and the showroom space. The Ain receives significant tourist traffic in summer from French families and cycling groups following the Voie Bleue along the Rhône, and seven-bedroom properties in this price range with independent accommodation units are rare. A well-managed rental arrangement during peak season could offset a meaningful share of annual ownership costs.
For international buyers, French property purchases follow a transparent legal process through a notaire, with fees typically around 7%. EU and non-EU buyers alike can purchase property in France with no restrictions, and the country's double taxation treaties with most of Europe and beyond make the tax picture relatively straightforward. The Ain is also one of the more affordable departments in Rhône-Alpes, meaning price appreciation here tends to lag slightly behind Haute-Savoie and the Savoie — but that gap has been closing steadily over the past decade as remote workers and second-home buyers discover the region.
Key features at a glance:
— Seven bedrooms across two floors, with room sizes ranging from 10 to 19.5 square metres
— Four shower rooms and multiple WCs across all levels
— Self-contained garden-level studio apartment with independent access, ideal for rental or guests
— 288 square metres of interior space on a 2,408-square-metre plot
— Heat pump central heating and solar panels already installed
— Double-glazed PVC windows throughout
— Vaulted cellar — perfect for wine storage
— Garage, boiler room, and covered carport
— Kitchen with direct terrace access overlooking the hills
— Showroom/workshop space with restrooms at garden level
— 70km from Lyon, 90km from Geneva, under an hour from Jura ski resorts
— Set above Cerdon, home of the Bugey Cerdon AOC sparkling rosé appellation
— Immediate proximity to Gorges de l'Ain hiking trails and Lac de Nantua
Properties like this one — seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, independent rental unit, solar-equipped, in a named AOC wine village, with Lyon and Geneva both within easy reach — don't stay on the market long when serious buyers find them. If you're looking for a second home in France that can grow with a family, generate rental income between visits, and place you in one of the country's most underappreciated corners of the Alps foothills, this house in Cerdon deserves a serious look.
Get in touch through Homestra today to arrange a viewing or to ask any questions about buying a vacation home in the Rhône-Alpes region. The terrace is waiting.
Details
- Amount of bedrooms
- 7
- Size
- 288m²
- Price per m²
- €1,247
- Garden size
- 2390m²
- Has Garden
- Yes
- Has Parking
- No
- Has Basement
- Yes
- Condition
- good
- Amount of Bathrooms
- 4
- Has swimming pool
- No
- Property type
- House
- Energy label
Unknown
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