Guingamp, Brittany 22200

Steps from Guingamp's historic centre, on the banks of the River Trieux a 19th-century mill with outbuildings on nearly 1 hectare. The property reveals itself at the end of a drive that crosses the Trieux by a stone bridge. A wrought-iron gate set between granite piers marks the entrance. The mill stands at the water's edge, within a wooded setting. The main building is constructed in granite rubble stone with an irregular course and dressed-stone window and door surrounds. The gable walls are exposed and show an even, consistent masonry. The openings vary in size and are arranged functionally some are narrow and vertical. The slate gabled roof has a pronounced pitch. It is pierced by rooflights and a larger glazed frame set into one of the slopes. Two chimney stacks rise from the ridge. The verges are in stone and the eaves overhang is minimal. At the base of the wall, a masonry structure incorporating a timber element marks part of the original hydraulic system. Nearby, a flagged passage and a gravelled area organise the immediate surrounds. The joinery, in painted timber, comprises glazed doors with solid lower panels and small-pane windows. Some openings are in segmental-arch form. A circular stone aperture, formed by a monolithic surround, is set into one of the gable walls. Beyond, a gravelled courtyard serves two outbuildings. The first, of elongated plan, is covered by a two-pitch slate roof. The second, built in the same materials, rises over two levels with converted upper space and is pierced by rooflights. The arrangement is organised around a tarmacked central area accessible from the entrance. To the rear, the grounds - partly adjoining those of the Château des Salles - extend as a broad lawn punctuated by specimen trees and copses. Tall-standard tree lines border the whole, with planted boundaries providing further structure. Timber and stone fencing encloses certain sections.