The House of The Devil
Paradoxically, the House of the Devil is situated in Heaven. Remote, impossible to find without detailed directions, and accessible only in a 4x4 (or on foot), Le Mas du Diable is an extraordinary site, perched on the edge of a natural amphiteatre in the Cevennes.
Laura and Rachel, two refugees from the London rat race, bought Le Mas du Diable four years ago. The estate agent who was driving them round, showing them other houses, seemed reluctant to drive them up there, and with good cause - it is a very bumpy ride.
The house sits just under the brow of the hill, facing south, a stone’s throw from the Grande Randonnee - along distance footpath which winds it’s way along the tops of the Cevennes on its journey from the Alps to the west coast of France. There are fabulous views of the Cevennes from the terraces and the house itself.
They bought the house for its sunny south facing position and its remoteness. Laura wanted land to grow vegetables and Rachel was excited by the possibilities of working with the wood and stone, available in some quantity, to create works of art, buildings, or buildings that are works of art in themselves. The house is long and large, and just along the hillside is a clede, or chestnut drying building, large enough to be converted into a separate house – on the ‘to do’ list.
Paradoxically, the House of the Devil is situated in Heaven. Remote, impossible to find without detailed directions, and accessible only in a 4x4 (or on foot), Le Mas du Diable is an extraordinary site, perched on the edge of a natural amphiteatre in the Cevennes.
Laura and Rachel, two refugees from the London rat race, bought Le Mas du Diable four years ago. The estate agent who was driving them round, showing them other houses, seemed reluctant to drive them up there, and with good cause - it is a very bumpy ride.
The house sits just under the brow of the hill, facing south, a stone’s throw from the Grande Randonnee - along distance footpath which winds it’s way along the tops of the Cevennes on its journey from the Alps to the west coast of France. There are fabulous views of the Cevennes from the terraces and the house itself.
They bought the house for its sunny south facing position and its remoteness. Laura wanted land to grow vegetables and Rachel was excited by the possibilities of working with the wood and stone, available in some quantity, to create works of art, buildings, or buildings that are works of art in themselves. The house is long and large, and just along the hillside is a clede, or chestnut drying building, large enough to be converted into a separate house – on the ‘to do’ list.
“We left London because the 90 hour working-week
was losing its appeal”, says Laura. “We both
resigned our jobs and four weeks later we were in
the car heading south. We didn’t really have any
plans. We thought maybe Italy.”
They started looking around the middle of France and came cross the Cevennes while travelling south. “We knew we wanted somewhere peaceful with some land but we didn’t really plan coming here. It was rather impulsive but we have been here four years now and that’s the longest we have lived anywhere. Rachel still works on the Internet doing web design and computer animation for people in the UK and has also designed a website for us. We use the Internet to get information and to talk to people around the world who are interested in what we are doing or can give us advice because they are doing similar things”.
Despite appearances, Rachel insists theirs isn’t a remote location. “It only takes a quarter of an hour to get to the nearest village and we have only been unable to get out of here once, two years ago when we had lots of snow”. However, sometimes they choose not to go down the mountain for a month. Then there are other times when they go every day. “We make our own bread so we don’t have to go out for that but there is still a lot of shopping to do. It would be better if we could do less”.
“It is warmer here in the winter than we expected and we don’t get too many problems with the weather”, continues Laura. “Storms are great. Sometimes we are right inside them with thunder and lightning crashing all round.”
“It isn’t really lonely”, says Rachel. “We are too busy and we keep in touch via the internet. Laura is a compulsive writer and records everything. People come and help us for a bit sometimes but we don’t get hoards of visitors. We came here with two London cats who adapted well. One has died, she was very old, but we have since domesticated two others and we have just found a litter of five kittens that we will give away when they are old enough. We have a bit of a problem with wild cats but we have just ordered some cat traps from America. We will trap them, have them neutered at the vet and let them go again”.
They started looking around the middle of France and came cross the Cevennes while travelling south. “We knew we wanted somewhere peaceful with some land but we didn’t really plan coming here. It was rather impulsive but we have been here four years now and that’s the longest we have lived anywhere. Rachel still works on the Internet doing web design and computer animation for people in the UK and has also designed a website for us. We use the Internet to get information and to talk to people around the world who are interested in what we are doing or can give us advice because they are doing similar things”.
Despite appearances, Rachel insists theirs isn’t a remote location. “It only takes a quarter of an hour to get to the nearest village and we have only been unable to get out of here once, two years ago when we had lots of snow”. However, sometimes they choose not to go down the mountain for a month. Then there are other times when they go every day. “We make our own bread so we don’t have to go out for that but there is still a lot of shopping to do. It would be better if we could do less”.
“It is warmer here in the winter than we expected and we don’t get too many problems with the weather”, continues Laura. “Storms are great. Sometimes we are right inside them with thunder and lightning crashing all round.”
“It isn’t really lonely”, says Rachel. “We are too busy and we keep in touch via the internet. Laura is a compulsive writer and records everything. People come and help us for a bit sometimes but we don’t get hoards of visitors. We came here with two London cats who adapted well. One has died, she was very old, but we have since domesticated two others and we have just found a litter of five kittens that we will give away when they are old enough. We have a bit of a problem with wild cats but we have just ordered some cat traps from America. We will trap them, have them neutered at the vet and let them go again”.
Carol
Cormack talks to two London escapees about their
decision
to
make the Cevennes
their
new home.
The reluctant estate agent also told the seller not
to accept their offer as they were not “serieuses”.
He couldn’t imagine how or why two young women
would want to live there. Once the purchase was
completed they set about clearing the long
neglected steep terraces, renovating the decrepit
polytunnel and importing tons of sheep dung to
create a wonderful and productive organic garden.
They have also rebuilt dry stone walls - no mean feat when some are over ten foot high - cut trees, coppiced woodland for fuel, rebuilt the kitchen, changed the heating system, and then in their spare time designed an excellent website where they blog, chart their gardening progress, and publish mouth-watering recipes using organic seasonal ingredients.
They have also rebuilt dry stone walls - no mean feat when some are over ten foot high - cut trees, coppiced woodland for fuel, rebuilt the kitchen, changed the heating system, and then in their spare time designed an excellent website where they blog, chart their gardening progress, and publish mouth-watering recipes using organic seasonal ingredients.
