Commune Shopping, Part 1
A little escapism for your Monday enjoyment
Occasionally, I like to amuse myself by searching for properties that would make cool communes or homesteads. In both cases, finding property is the easy part: it's finding the people, time, money, know-how, and energy that's hard. So this activity is firmly in the realm of daydreaming.
That said, it's a fun way to pass the time, and if it encourages people to have cool dreams, great. At the suggestion of a couple of my Twitter followers—one of whom sealed the deal by saying that sharing these daydreams could offer "an offramp for the cottagecore-cum-retvrn pipeline"—I've decided to try this out on you, my loyal newsletter subscribers.
So, whether you're actually interested in starting an intentional community or living on a homestead, or if you just want to indulge in a little escapism, here are 3 dream-worthy real estate listings to get the gears turning. Today, we're doing big properties for communes.
Note: if you have lots of money, you should buy one of these and let me run it.
A Castle in the Loire Valley
Here's a 9,687 sq ft, 14-bedroom chateau on 19.5 acres for $766,500. It's got a walled garden! A lake! A great location (26 min train ride to Nantes, just over 2 hrs via high speed rail to Paris)! This would make a truly sick commune. And who wouldn't want to sign up for a permaculture class at this place? It would make a tremendous event venue, school, and commune focused on historical building methods and restoration, regenerative agriculture, cooking, and the arts (imagine building a little stone amphitheater for performances with that chateau in the background!)
Why is it so cheap? It needs a crapload of work. But if you and 25 of your friends are the kind of people who are enthusiastic about carpentry, masonry, and plasterwork, then here's a project to keep you busy for many years to come.
"An elegant, listed, 17th century chateau awaiting restoration, with a chapel and outbuildings in almost 8 ha of parklands, in the Loire-Atlantique department. The east facade of this chateau comes into view at the end of a road, 1½ km long, bordered by lakes and woods.
The end of this road splits into two driveways that lead to the chateau. One runs alongside a former caretaker’s dwelling, followed by the stables, a vegetable garden and a chapel, whilst the other borders the outbuildings.
Parklands, a lake, meadows and several wooded plots extend around the chateau."