Case Study · Still in the Running
Parsac: A £15k Stone House with Two Barns
Back in the sound granite Creuse, and the brief's shape almost exactly: a proper stone house with two barns and an outbuilding, five minutes from a dual carriageway and a short run from the county town, for about fifteen grand. The ground checks out low-clay with no subsidence history. The catches are honest — full renovation, high radon, a small plot — but the bones are right. Here's the workup.
Parsac (Blaudeix), Creuse (23) · near Guéret, 5 min from the RN145 · ≈ 600 km / 6 hrs from Calais · ≈ 560 km / 6.2 hrs from Bern
This is the belt that keeps coming up green — the same sound granite country as La Cellette and Saint-Sulpice, and for the same reason: hard rock rather than shrink-swell clay. What sets this one apart is the outbuildings and the access — two barns, and five minutes from a fast road. For why this whole belt earns its keep, see the Creuse & Haute-Vienne guide.
📸 See the photos: view the full Parsac listing on Properstar → (opens in a new tab)
The free routine that confirmed this one's ground before a single mile.
Run the checklist →🔑 Haggling a Long-Empty WreckCheap already and a full renovation — how to build a low offer that sticks.
Read the guide →🔌 Going Off-GridTwo barns and a quiet plot — how far this one could go off the mains.
Read the guide →The listing, in full
The agent (UDI Guéret) offers a stone house to renovate completely, five minutes from the RN145. On the ground floor: a kitchen, a living room, a dining room and a back kitchen; upstairs, one bedroom. There's a small garden at the back, a plot with an outbuilding 20 m away, and two barns to complete the set. It's pitched on its "quiet environment and great renovation potential," and the works are an integral renovation — heating, roof, sanitary facilities, electricity, drainage. Price £15,434 (about €18,000).
- Price£15,434 (≈ €18,000) — among the cheapest on the search
- Agency feesNot specified — confirm who pays
- Rates (taxe foncière)Not stated — confirm with the agent
- LocationParsac / Blaudeix (23140), Creuse — near Guéret
- Access5 minutes from the RN145 (the Limoges–Montluçon dual carriageway) — fast, easy access
- Drive from Calais≈ 600 km / ~6 hrs (A20 then RN145)
- Drive from Bern≈ 560 km / 6.2 hrs
- House65 m², stone — kitchen, living, dining, back kitchen; 1 bedroom up (2-bed potential)
- OutbuildingsTwo barns + an outbuilding on a plot 20 m away
- Land746 m² total — small garden at the back + the separate outbuilding plot
- Build / materialsProper stone — stone house + two stone barns ✓
- Water / electricity / drainage / heatingAll to create — integral renovation (Consuel electrics, SPANC or mains drainage)
- Energy rating (DPE)No data (normal for a full renovation)
- ConditionComplete renovation — every trade, once
- AgentUDI Guéret (Fabien Sabourdy), Guéret
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The good worth having
Two barns — the brief's shape
This is what lifts it: not one outbuilding but two barns, plus a further outbuilding on the separate plot. That's a workshop, a dry store and real expansion — the space a small house needs to grow into a liveable one, and exactly what the search is chasing.
Sound ground — low clay, no subsidence
The free check (below) comes back the way the Creuse usually does: clay “faible” (low) and no drought-subsidence declarations at all. On a stone house you're rebuilding, that's the tick that matters most — the opposite of the clay-forte places we've had to mark down.
Cheap, quiet, and genuinely easy to reach
At £15,434 it's among the cheapest here, and the access is unusually good for the Creuse: five minutes from the RN145 dual carriageway and a short run to Guéret, the county town, for shops, a hospital and a station. Quiet without being cut off.
The bad what needs doing
An integral renovation, top to bottom
"Integral renovation — heating, roof, sanitary, electricity, drainage" means the lot: budget for every trade, once. New wiring to Consuel, new plumbing and drainage, a new heating system, roof works, then insulation, floors, a kitchen and bathroom. France's renovation grants can offset the energy parts with certified trades — but this is a full project, not a tidy-up.
⚠️ Plan for it: radon, high
Granite country means radon, and here it's potential class 3 of 3 — the high band. It's a ventilate-and-seal job, not a red flag: an aired under-floor void, a sealed ground floor, and a cheap test kit once you're in — but design for it from the start.
Small, split land
At 746 m² — a back garden plus the separate outbuilding plot 20 m away — it's short on land for a smallholding. The two barns are the real asset here; the growing space is modest, so confirm the exact parcels with the agent.
DIY-er vs needs-a-builder the honest split
The usual rule: the fit-out is yours; the connections and anything structural or certified is where a pro is required — and the cost lands.
If you're hands-on — what you can do yourself
The strip-out; repointing and rendering the stone; internal walls, insulation, plasterboard and floors; joinery, windows and doors; second-fix plumbing; the kitchen and bathroom; and a wood burner. With two barns as a dry base to work and store from, a competent DIYer can take on the bulk of the labour — and on a 65 m² house, that keeps the project close to materials cost.
Where you'll need a pro (or a builder)
• Electrics — a new installation must pass Consuel before Enedis will energise it.
• Drainage / sanitation — mains connection or an off-mains system to SPANC approval, by an approved installer.
• Roof / structure — anything that's moved or opened up is a couvreur/charpentier or maçon job.
• The energy retrofit — insulation and heating to certified (RGE) trades to claim the grants.
Clearing it out — the van, and the tip
A van and a few trips
A 65 m² strip-out plus two barns to clear is real weight, but manageable in stages: a T5-style van and repeated runs, with a hired skip for the demolition phase.
The déchèterie is residents-only
Guéret-area waste runs through the local intercommunalité, with the nearest déchèterie toward Guéret. As at a British tip, you need a justificatif de domicile and often a badge — a UK- or Swiss-plated van with no French address won't get in. Until you've a local address, budget a private skip.
The ground check
The routine that killed Thollet — Géorisques, run on the commune (INSEE 23149).
⚠️ These ground figures (clay, flood, subsidence, radon) are official records for the commune — real, but commune-wide, not proof for this exact plot. Check it yourself: official Géorisques risk report (ERRIAL) → — enter the property address.
Clay Faible — low, and no subsidence
Shrink-swell clay comes back “Exposition faible” (low), and the commune has no drought-subsidence declarations at all — the sound-ground reading you want under a rubble-stone house. Its cat-nat record is light (a couple of flood/mud-flow records and one ground-movement, no clay-heave pattern).
⚠️ Plan for it: radon high, one movement record
The two things to note: radon is high (class 3) — ventilate and seal, standard for the granite Creuse — and there's a single ground-movement declaration on the commune. Neither is a stopper, but pin the exact plot on the map for an address-level read before an offer.
The score
Carried by proper stone, two barns, sound low-clay ground, a rock-bottom price and unusually good access; held back by the full renovation, the high radon and the small split plot. It sits mid-table on the rankings — a strong sound-ground shape, held down the board only because every service is still to create (no water, septic or heat installed yet).
The verdict
Still watching — a strong, easy-to-reach contender. Proper stone, two barns and sound low-clay ground, five minutes from a fast road and a short run to Guéret, for £15,434 — that's a lot of the brief for very little money. The work is a full renovation and the radon is high, but neither is unusual here, and the barns give you space and a base most cheap houses don't. Next step is the exact address, an address-level ground read, eyes on the stone and the roof, and a low offer built on the scale of the works — it's already cheap, so there's room to be firm.
See how it stacks up
Two barns on sound Creuse ground for £15k — the league table shows exactly where it lands against the rest.
See the full rankings →