For many, the move from a house to an apartment is a difficult one. You are used to space, pottering in your garden and the dogs can go in and out as they please. On the other hand, it’s high maintenance, the lawn needs cutting and swimming pool needs cleaning, and you just don’t have the time.

If you are one of those people that wants the “Best of Both Worlds” … let us introduce to you Château Thorenc.

Originally constructed for the Duchess of Bedford in 1870 the Château had a colourful history and many equally colourful characters owning it, living in it, and adding to its beauty and its charm, none more so than the great gardeners and landscape architects from the 1870’s onward. Lord Rendell, Denis Troncy and Lucien Lhotte were renowned for their skills in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and all worked on these gardens; the results of their artistry and love of nature are still there to be enjoyed today.

Today’s Château Thorenc was constructed in the 1960’s. The “domaine” has been reborn as a modern and luxurious apartment building, home to high-end residences, but it has successfully retained the character of its sumptuous original input, and its priceless botanical garden has been preserved so that owners of an apartment in the residence have complete access to the fabulous gardens, natural pond, large swimming pool, tennis courts and historical reminders of the old Chateau. It offers the space, gardens and swimming pool that you have in a house – with the convenience of an apartment.

• Facing due South, all apartments benefit from the fabulous panoramic views
• There is an entertainment area and facilities in the gardens for the use of residents.
• Extensive classic gardens with lawns, a natural spring feeding fishponds, waterfalls, and groves of trees some of them classified – including huge 200 year old cypress, a grove of ancient magnolia, a grove of ancient kaki (persimmon), a grove of bamboo, and groves of varied citrus surround the residence.
• Paved walks through the gardens, and a separate, secure and well lit “dog-walk” for those who would prefer not to venture out of the grounds with their “pooch” especially at night.
• Sections of the original architecture, crypt,  pillars, statuary and sweeping exterior staircases have been cleverly and sensitively incorporated into the relatively modern architecture of the residence.
• The building is only 4 floors and comprises less than 40 apartments. It is truly one of Cannes most prestigious residences.

 Two Bedroom Apartment For Sale

• 106m² of interior living space.
• Approx 22m² of south facing terrace.
• Garage with spacious mezzanine storage area.
• Spacious, clean, dry cellar.

The living room which incorporates the dining area is very spacious and light, opening through wide, wall-height glass doors to the terrace.

Both bedrooms are en-suite and the bathroom fittings and marble finishes are modern and beautiful. The master bedroom which opens onto the terrace with commanding views also has a very generous walk-in dressing room.

The modern and fully equipped kitchen has a breakfast nook with table and 4 chairs, and opens onto a back balcony which overlooks hillside, fountains and waterfall features – a most attractive outlook.

There are so many pleasing features to this apartment that it is difficult to enumerate them all – the marble highly polished parquet patterned floors, clever use of mirrors on sliding doors and on the terrace to maximise the dimensions, the feeling of light and space, and the views, and the quality and thought that has gone into every detail of the apartment come together to make this a very exciting yet comfortable home to be in.  Weblink: http://www.fineandcountry.fr/property/cannes/2-bedroom-apartment-for-sale-in-cannes/full_details_fandc/116012

The Residence Château  Thorenc is situated in the very up-market Cannes suburb of Oxford (bordering La Californie).

On the nearby hillsides overlooking Cannes adjacent to the equally sought after suburbs of Super Cannes and La Californie, Oxford, the little sister suburb, is a lush green haven to homes from the “belle époque” and bourgeois eras, and villas with swimming pools, with open views across the neighbourhood, and many with splendid  views of the Bay of Cannes.

The Oxford environment is very quiet, exclusive, exquisitely clean and extremely green with easy access to Cannes itself, and rapid and very easy access to the motorway too.

Little wonder it has been and remains some of the most sought after property on the Cote d’Azur.