Celebrated Irish artists Louis le Brocquy and his wife, Anne Madden, are selling their home on the French Riviera where they have lived for the past 30 years. They plan to move full-time to Portobello in Dublin, where they have converted two adjoining houses into one.
The couple are looking for £900,000 for Domaine des Combes, a three-storey bastide built in 1839, in a beautiful location between the mountains and the sea near Nice.
It has been restored to its original style and has two south-facing terraces with stunning views over the Var Valley and the Mediterranean. The ground floor has a large livingroom with an open fireplace. Off it there is a kitchen and a wine cellar. There are three bedrooms and two bathrooms on the first floor and two more bedrooms and a bathroom at second-floor level. The rooms on the top floor open to a balcony.
Les Combes stands on almost 6.5 acres of terraced gardens packed with mature trees and flowering shrubs. There is a swimming-pool (decorated with glass mosaic chosen by Louis) and a guest house in the grounds.
Most of le Brocquy's work over the past 30 years has been produced in a contemporary studio in the grounds. It was designed by Ronnie Tallon of Scott Tallon Walker. Le Brocquy's 1940s work is especially sought after and has sold for between £100,000 and £200,000. Ann Madden is a highly acclaimed abstract painter.
Les Combes is located beside the medieval village of Carros which is now an international centre of contemporary art. The house is within 90-minutes drive of the French ski resorts and about 10 minutes from the highways leading to Monaco and Cannes.
Les Combes is on a Web site at www.riviera-villa.com
