Les Breuleux - Farm house buy

Restored 17th-century Jura farmhouse

Built in the 17th century, this restored old Jura farmhouse, which has been meticulously restored, offers today a rare alliance between historic character and contemporary comfort. Distinguished by the Neuchâtel Prize for Heimatschutz, the property bears witness to a rehabilitation work carried out with respect for the original architecture, while integrating amenities designed for current living standards.The living area unfolds around generous and carefully highlighted volumes. The living spaces are located in the old agricultural volumes, transformed into a large, bright living room, a convivial dining room, and an open kitchen, where exposed stone, solid wood, and traditional beamwork create a warm and authentic atmosphere. The circulation between the rooms is natural, in a harmonious continuity between the old elements and the contemporary interventions.The sleeping areas are distributed over several levels, offering calm and intimacy. The bedrooms, with comfortable proportions, preserve the charm of period constructions while benefiting from a sober and elegant layout. The bathrooms, integrated with discretion, combine functionality and quality materials. Additional spaces, such as offices, multipurpose rooms, or storage areas, enrich the distribution and allow the place to be adapted to different uses, whether for daily life or extended stays.Outside, the property is set in a preserved natural environment, offering unobstructed views of the rolling landscapes. The setting, peaceful and without nuisance, reinforces the feeling of intimacy and serenity that emanates from the whole, making this home a place as pleasant to live in all year round as to invest in as a secondary residence.More than a residence, this home is an invitation to live a living heritage, designed to last and be passed on. A rare property, intended for lovers of authentic places, sensitive to history as well as the art of living.

Magnificent renovated farm. Entered into the history of watchmaking

IN 1985, THIS RESTORED OLD FARM HAD RECEIVED THE NEUCHÂTEL HEIMATSCHUTZ PRIZE.THE PAST TO THE PRESENTWhen architecture is combined with the past, or how to bridge three and a half centuries of history.Between the "beautiful room" original and the modern living room installed in the old barn, there is only a simple wooden door. And a leap of three centuries and a half. But no shock: just life continuing, in the gentle hills of this northern end of the Val-de-Ruz.It is a Jurassic farm, like some still remaining in the region. Built in 1652, it had belonged, throughout the last century, to the same family of modest peasants, the Scheideggers. When the father died in the sixties, the mother and daughter continued to live here, as in the last century, with just electricity and water to be drawn from the cistern. The tiny habitable part consisted of the hearth (the kitchen), the "beautiful room" where one only entered on holidays, and above, a small room: the "grandfather's room", which was accessed by a trapdoor climbing onto the stove. All the rest was the barn and the empty stable. The house was abandoned in the mid-seventies when, the mother having died, the daughter had to be placed in a home.For ten years, Henri and Paule Schneider had been searching the region for a farm to renovate. They must have passed by this place ten times without noticing it: cracked walls, a roof about to collapse, a rotten structure... What prompted them, on this summer day in 1979, to take a look inside? And there, in what remained of the kitchen, a column supported a blackened fireplace, where a small wood stove sat, and they stopped in front of the column: a masterpiece of a corner column in cut stone, carved, intact, beautiful as on the first day, supporting a fireplace with a straight lintel. They bought the column... with the ruin around it. After having to buy out an investor who wanted to install vacation apartments here. Purchase price: 50,000 francs. The Heimatschutz then stepped in and immediately classified the facade. For the rest... began for the brave owners an adventure similar to the one told by Katharina von Arx in Ma Folie Romainmôtier.Henri Schneider, engineer at ETS in the watchmaking industry, and his wife Paule - "no training but passions" - worked with craftsmen from the region, rediscovering old techniques, relearning traditional gestures, transforming themselves, from weekend to weekend, into craftsmen, masons, carpenters, draftsmen, historians. First objective: the rough construction. Jean-Louis Geiser, carpenter from La Ferrière, built the new structure, calculated according to modern norms but using the techniques of the old building: six columns, roof beams cut from fir tree trunks, beams and posts adjusted and fixed with wooden pegs. The 305 m² of roofing were covered, as originally, with 66 cm long wooden shingles, cut from white fir wood, which Henri Schneider had chosen in the forest with Denis Sauser from La Chaux-du-Milieu, one of the last specialists in this art (he received the Heimatschutz prize in 1981).

Magnificent renovated farm. Entered into the history of watchmaking

IN 1985, THIS RESTORED OLD FARM HAD RECEIVED THE NEUCHÂTEL HEIMATSCHUTZ PRIZE.THE PAST TO THE PRESENTWhen architecture is combined with the past, or how to bridge three and a half centuries of history.Between the original "beautiful room" and the modern living room installed in the old barn, there is only a simple wooden door. And a leap of three hundred and fifty years. But no shock: just life continuing, in the gentle hills of this northern end of the Val-de-Ruz.It is a Jurassic farm, like some still remaining in the region. Built in 1652, it had belonged, throughout the last century, to the same family of modest peasants, the Scheideggers. When the father died in the sixties, the mother and daughter continued to live there, as in the previous century, with just electricity and water to be drawn from the cistern. The tiny habitable part consisted of the hearth (the kitchen), the "beautiful room" where one only entered on holidays, and above, a small room: the "grandfather's room", which was accessed by a hatch by climbing onto the stove. Everything else was the barn and the empty stable. The house was abandoned in the mid-seventies when, the mother having died, the daughter had to be placed in a home.For ten years, Henri and Paule Schneider had been searching the region for a farm to renovate. They had passed by the wreck ten times: cracked walls, a roof ready to collapse, a rotten structure... What prompted them, on that summer day in 1979, to take a look inside? And there, in what remained of the kitchen, a column supported a blackened hearth where a small wooden stove sat, they stopped in front of the column: a masterpiece of a stone corner column, carved, intact, beautiful as on the first day, supporting a chimney with a straight lintel. They bought the column... with the wreck around it. Not without having to convince an investor who wanted to install vacation apartments there. Purchase price: 50,000 francs. The Heimatschutz then stepped in and immediately classified the facade. For the rest... the brave owners began an adventure similar to the one told by Katharina von Arx in Ma Folie Romainmôtier.Henri Schneider, an engineer at ETS in the watchmaking industry, and his wife Paule - "no training but passions" - worked with craftsmen from the region, rediscovering techniques, relearning traditional gestures, transforming themselves, from weekend to weekend, into laborers, masons, carpenters, draftsmen, historians. First objective: the rough construction. Jean-Louis Geiser, a carpenter from La Ferrière, built the new structure, calculated according to modern norms but using the techniques of the old building: six columns, roof beams cut from fir tree trunks, beams and posts adjusted and fixed with wooden pegs. The 305 m² of roofing were covered, as originally, with 66 cm long wooden shingles made from white fir wood, which Henri Schneider had chosen in the forest with Denis Sauser from La Chaux-du-Milieu, one of the last specialists in this art (he received the Heimatschutz prize in 1981).