9-Bed 19th-Century Estate with Pool & Guest House in Charente-Maritime, France



17240 st-germain-du-seudre, France, Saint-Germain-du-Seudre (France)
9 Bedrooms · 0 Bathrooms · 280m² Floor area
€690,000
House
No parking
9 Bedrooms
0 Bathrooms
280m²
No garden
Pool
Not furnished
Description
On a Sunday morning in Saint-Germain-du-Seudre, you open the kitchen window and catch the smell of damp grass in the park below, still cool from the night. The heated pool catches the early light. Somewhere beyond the stone walls and the old bread oven, a church bell marks the hour. This is the pace of life the Charente-Maritime has always kept — unhurried, rooted, quietly extraordinary.
This 19th-century residence sits in a wooded, landscaped park between Gémozac and Mortagne-sur-Gironde, right in the green corridor that runs toward the Gironde Estuary. It's a proper estate: a main house of 280m² of living space, a fully independent 150m² guest house, outbuildings with barns and a workshop, a 12x6m heated swimming pool, and a tennis court. Nine bedrooms across the two buildings. A property on this scale, at this price point, in this condition — it doesn't come around often in the Saintonge region.
The main house carries its century well. On the ground floor, a grand entrance hall with cloakroom and WC opens onto two generous reception rooms and a private office. The proportions here are old-house proportions — high ceilings, thick stone walls, rooms that feel like rooms rather than corridors with furniture in them. The ground-floor suite runs to 30m² and has its own shower room, toilet, and dressing room, which makes it ideal for guests or for anyone who'd rather keep the stairs optional. The fitted kitchen connects directly to a laundry room and cellar, and opens out onto terraces that look over the park and the pool. In summer, dinner happens out there. That's just how it works.
Upstairs, the layout breathes. The master suite exceeds 30m² and has a shower room finished in mahogany and quality ceramics — a detail that tells you the renovation was done with care, not speed. Four further bedrooms share two bathrooms, one with a shower, one with both shower and bathtub. The whole upper floor has an airy quality to it, the kind that makes August afternoons feel manageable.
The guest house is its own world. Completely independent from the main residence, it runs across two floors and opens up serious possibilities. The ground floor has a fitted kitchen with its own fireplace and mezzanine, a large living room centered on a period fireplace, and a 22m² suite with a private bathroom. Upstairs, two bedrooms — one at 27m², with exposed stone walls and timber beams overhead — share a shower room. Run it as a gîte, host family for the summer, or let it generate rental income when you're not in residence. The Charente-Maritime's rental market is healthy: this is a region that draws visitors from May through September, and properties with a self-contained guest house command solid occupancy rates.
On the practical side, the renovation addressed what matters most: heating. Heat pumps with underfloor heating run independently in both buildings, so you're not paying to heat rooms you're not using, and the system is modern and efficient despite the building's age. The stone walls, original woodwork, and period fireplaces aren't just aesthetic — they retain warmth and give the property a substance that new-builds simply cannot replicate. The bread oven in the grounds still works. That's worth mentioning to dinner guests.
The surrounding area rewards curiosity. Mortagne-sur-Gironde is a short drive, and from there the estuary opens up — birdwatching at the marshes, oyster farming villages where you can buy directly from the producers, the remnants of the old Roman road that cut through Saintonge. Gémozac is your market town for daily groceries and a decent butcher. Saintes, with its Roman amphitheatre and its Saturday market on the Place du Marché, is under 30 minutes away. For beaches, the Atlantic coast at Royan is around 35 minutes — proper ocean beach, not a lake, with surf rolling in off the Bay of Biscay and beach bars serving moules-frites well into the evening.
The Cognac vineyards are your northern horizon. You're in the Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne zones of the Cognac appellation, which means cellar visits, harvest festivals in October, and the particular pleasure of buying directly from small distilleries that don't export. Pons, with its medieval keep, is a 20-minute drive and puts on a medieval market each summer that draws the whole region. The area around the Gironde Estuary also has its own AOC wines — Côtes de Bourg and Blaye are easily reachable for a day trip across the water by ferry.
Climate-wise, this is one of the better corners of France. The Charente-Maritime gets over 2,200 hours of sunshine a year — more than Bordeaux, and genuinely warm from late April through October. Winters are mild by French standards, rarely dipping below freezing, which means the property is usable year-round rather than just a summer bolt-hole.
For international buyers, France's legal framework for property purchase is well-established and accessible. The notaire system provides clear title verification, and ownership as a non-resident comes with straightforward options for both personal use and rental income structuring. The region is served by Bordeaux-Mérignac airport (roughly 90 minutes by car), with direct connections to London, Amsterdam, Dublin, Brussels, and most major European cities. La Rochelle airport is under an hour away for those coming from the UK, with seasonal Ryanair and easyJet routes. The TGV from Paris-Montparnasse to Saintes runs in around four hours.
Key features at a glance:
- 19th-century stone residence, fully renovated, 280m² of living space across two floors
- Fully independent 150m² guest house with two kitchens, three bedrooms, and period fireplaces
- 12x6m heated swimming pool overlooking landscaped, wooded park
- Full-size tennis court
- Ground-floor master suite (30m²) plus four further bedrooms on the first floor
- Master suite with mahogany and ceramic shower room
- Modern heat pump and underfloor heating system across both buildings
- Multiple outbuildings including barns, workshop, and working bread oven
- Gîte, guest house, or rental income potential from independent guest house
- Quiet, nuisance-free setting between Gémozac and Mortagne-sur-Gironde
- 35 minutes to Royan's Atlantic beaches
- Under 30 minutes to Saintes
- 90 minutes to Bordeaux-Mérignac international airport
- Strong regional rental market with high summer occupancy potential
Properties like this one — a genuine estate-scale package with multiple buildings, serious outdoor amenities, and move-in condition — at €690,000 in the Charente-Maritime represent real value by any European comparison. The guest house alone changes the ownership equation for most buyers, turning a second home into a partially self-funding asset.
If you want to see it in person, now is the time to move. Contact Homestra today to arrange a private viewing and get the full information pack, including energy ratings, cadastral maps, and rental income projections for the guest house. This is the kind of property that sells quietly, to the buyer who acts first.
Details
- Amount of bedrooms
- 9
- Size
- 280m²
- Price per m²
- €2,464
- Garden size
- 4301m²
- Has Garden
- No
- Has Parking
- No
- Has Basement
- Yes
- Condition
- good
- Amount of Bathrooms
- 0
- Has swimming pool
- Yes
- Property type
- House
- Energy label
Unknown
Images






Sign up to access location details



































