It would be hard for one house to stand out in Veules-les-Roses, a beautiful village on the Normandy coast popular with Parisians as a second-home destination. But La Villa Plaisance, below, casts a spell from its prominent central position, exemplifying that mixture of comfort and architectural oddity that the British love in a second home.

For sale for €588,000 (£469,000), this villa has wooden beams with delicately painted borders that brighten the flint walls; overhead is an unusual cluster of turrets. The house was built in about 1900 in the demeure bourgeoise style, and much of the original façade remains.

Annie Thuillier and her husband, Roland, acquired the 2,421sq ft property ten years ago from the local doctor. The couple, who want to move to be close to family on the Riviera, have knocked through the downstairs former surgery to create an 840sq ft living-dining room. They have also extended a first-floor terrace, from 340sq ft to 730sq ft, which created enough space for a double garage beneath. Permission has also been given to extend the terrace a further 540sq ft to connect the main house to a five-room garden-house behind it, which measures 750 sq ft.

The villa has five bedrooms, two bathrooms and several lavatories, colourful entrance hall tiles, stained-glass doors and unusual windows that have been double-glazed. An original wrought-iron fence separates the frontage from the high street. A spiral stairwell leads from the back of the house up to the terrace. The two-storey garden-house comprises five empty rooms with wooden floors and a working oven on the ground floor.

Veules, 25km from Dieppe, is one of the prettiest villages in France. There is a market each Wednesday and Saturday and, unlike much of Normandy, the butcher, baker and restaurants are open year-round. In summer, when the Parisians descend, a tennis club and a makeshift cinema open their doors.

www.cabinetalainsoudey.com

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