“Rare” multi-million Alderney home put up for sale

Thursday 21 October 2021

A former Alderney politician has put his “unique” coastal home on the market for £2.6m – just over a decade after making the island’s first property sale over £1m.

Estate agent and ex-Deputy Francis Simonet sold ‘Houmet House’ – a three-bed granite cottage refurbished in the early 1990s by Laura Ashley co-founder Sir Bernard Ashley – for £1.55m in 2009.

He told the Alderney Journal at the time that the sale “sets a new level for Alderney property and we are particularly pleased that this sale has been completed in a difficult economic climate.”

But the island's real estate scene has since developed and a number of higher value homes have been put up for sale – now including Mr Simonet’s own ‘Maison de la Paix’.

Pictured: The property boasts panoramic views of the coastline and 1.45 acres of land.

Believed to be one of the most expensive currently on the market with a price tag of £2.7m, the property boasts panoramic views of the coastline and includes 1.45 acres of land.

It is also filled with wooden flooring, panelling, and other features handcrafted by Mr Simonet himself, mostly using American white oak.

But buyers wouldn’t be forced to stick with this, Mr Simonet explained.

The site has been designated a ‘Housing Character Area’ within the Alderney Land Use Plan, meaning “two things: you could further develop the site, and you could certainly build another house the same size on it if you wished. Or you could develop this house – it was designed to be extended if somebody wished to.”

Pictured: All the timber within the property was handmade by Mr Simonet and is mainly American white oak.

On the rare nature of the property, Mr Simonet added: “After being an estate agent for many years, there isn’t, to my knowledge, another property like this… I think it’s unique given that any land on the island is of a shortage just now, but certainly its position will be very hard to find.”

Another high-value property to have recently generated interest on the island was ‘Les Moriaux House’, a £3.75m 18^th century property that housed the island’s first ever President and played host to both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II.

Alderney saw a boom in property sales earlier this year, with nearly 40 properties sold within a two-month period.

Pictured: Les Moriaux House has seven reception rooms to go with its six bedrooms and five bathrooms. 

The boom also follows the repeal of a law that previously restricted foreign nationals from buying property on the island without special permission back in December 2020.

Mr Simonet, who suggested Alderney had been “somewhat undervalued”, is intending to market Maison de la Paix privately both locally and in the UK.