Ripe for refurbishment and lots of TLC … derelict and boarded-up troglodyte dwelling cut into limestone cliff in Rue Victor Hugo at Amboise, Loire Valley, Centre-Val de Loire, France, offers an alternative underground lifestyle or an investment opportunity as a first or second home or holiday rental. Although some of the thousands of caves along the Loire are now disused and dilapidated like this one, new interest in troglodyte living has prompted the conversion of others to summer homes, holiday rentals, wine cellars, mushroom farms, museums and restaurants.
Amboise, Loire Valley, Centre-Val de Loire, France: ripe for refurbishment … this derelict and boarded-up troglodyte dwelling cut into a limestone cliff beside Rue Victor Hugo offers a chance to sample an alternative underground lifestyle – or to invest in a second home, holiday rental or summer bolt-hole. For at least a thousand years, people have lived in the caves they cut in the soft and easily-worked rock faces, cliffs and hills of the Loire Valley. Families would quarry the stone to sell it and then use the caves as low-cost living or working space. The caverns offered good protection from the elements and had the added advantage of staying at fairly constant temperatures around 12 degrees Celsius, making them all-year habitats providing warmth in winter but staying cool in summer. Widespread quarrying of the limestone tufa or tuffeau began in the 11th century. Most of the caves were inhabited until the early 20th century and although some such as this example are now empty and derelict, a wave of fresh interest in recent decades has sparked historical research and encouraged new generations to try the troglodyte lifestyle. Thousands of caves are now used as dwellings, summer homes, tourist rentals, wine cellars, mushroom farms, museums, restaurants and chapels. Some are a warren or small rooms while others are no more than a single cell.
Size: 2654px × 3914px
Location: Rue Victor Hugo, Amboise, Loire Valley, Centre-Val de Loire, France.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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