Moissac, Midi-Pyrénées 82200

A 19th-century bourgeois house with a separate cottage, surrounded by 2 hectares of grounds, 30 minutes outside of Montauban. Framed by two white square columns, a large double gate, with elegant scrolls surrounding the gilded initials of the original owner's wife, marks the entrance to the property.Built on the side of a hill that overlooks the neighbouring orchards, the three-storey pleasure palace is located in the middle of verdant grounds with centenary trees. Sheltered from view, only its ancient watchtower and roof are visible above the canopy.A tarmac driveway weaves its way through the wooded hillside before reaching the main villa, which includes three storeys over a basement level and is topped with a gabled slate roof, itself crowned with two dormer windows and three pink brick chimneys.To the northwest, the watchtower's spire culminates at approximately 25 metres, while to the south, it overlooks a 10 x 4-metre swimming pool, from which a double flight of front steps ascend to a large patio that surrounds the villa on three sides. A white stone balustrade with an oval motif, innovative for the time period, safeguards the patio and the two flights of symmetrical stairs that straddle two interior greenhouses.The main faade, in stone and brick, covered in roughcast dusky pink-coloured plaster, is topped with an open pediment bordered by a lacy white wooden cornice board. Each of the villa's two upper floors includes a wooden balcony at the centre of the building's main faade, protected by guardrails decorated with a scroll motif.Lastly, the driveway, which descends towards the south-western part of the grounds, leads to an annexe with two garages and a barn, also accessible via an independent gate.