6 Le Courtil

The Main House

This old townhouse sits atop the hill that was the long ago center of the village. The house faces south, and that means sun in the winter — besides this direct light it has the added advantage of a lower heating bill! The house’s windows allow bright, interior day light to enter, plus the building’s roof skylight adds bright illumination to the central part of the house.

We have worked to create an interior that preserves the rusticity that defines this humble home, inhabited in many different guises over hundreds of years. We have slipped in modern amenities that allow our contemporary lives to unfold in comfort, but that respect the histories of the original structures as much as possible.

All interior floor and wall tiles are from Salernes’ now disappeared carrelage industry.

Of great convenience is the parking directly in front of the main house, only a few steps to the kitchen entrance carrying our suitcases, bags of food, cases of wine, etc. Parking in our garage adds the advantage of the car staying cool in the summer, and frost free in the winter.

The building facing 6 Le Courtil is 3 Le Courtil, and it is ours as well. This address includes the garage and a large cave (storage area) that was once the water cistern for the village. The cave now keeps our firewood dry and stores our bikes as well as all sorts of little used household paraphernalia. And it still leaves space that begs to be transformed into a wine cellar.

Just behind the garage on the street level is a large studio/salle de jour that we use as the home for our grand piano. Not only hosting an occasional concert, it also offers a large, warm space for winter parties.

Above the cave there is a small guest house with its own small kitchen that in the summer months spills out onto the large, travertine covered terrace as a summer kitchen. This terrace overlooking the village rooftops and the sunset is where we always have dinner, weather permitting, as well as where we host large parties for birthdays, the July 13 fireworks, and receptions for summer concerts.

This upper terrace is too hot for daytime use during the summer, though there is some morning shade that allows our guests to enjoy their breakfasts al fresco. Given the magnificence of the night sky we have never wanted to cover any portion of this terrace, thus we have constructed a lower garden terrace with intimate, shady dimensions. Covered by an arbor of wisteria and grape vines it is perfect for summer lunches and afternoon relaxation — with white and red table grapes, in season, as refreshment.

There is a small garden area which includes a small, fertile plot where we attempt to grow winter greens (arugula) and summer vegetables (zucchini and tomatoes) though we have come to prefer flowers. Mostly the garden area hosts all sorts of herbs around a prolific pomegranate tree, more table grapes, and a grand display of iris in season.

The Courtil and it Rue du Courtil hosts eight homes and parking for eight cars. It is inhabited by all sorts of people, those who live there year round, those who live here sometimes, and those who spend weekends and summer holidays here. It is a quiet enclave, though the occasional tourist passes by during the day. Come evening the Courtil is very quiet.

The entrance to 6 Le Courtil is through the street level kitchen. In the summer the door is always open while we are in the kitchen, we sometimes have chairs in the street outside while something is cooking inside.