France Property For Sale Biot

Real Estate Biot: Villas and Houses for Sale

Biot is a medieval jewel perched on a rocky spur amid greenery and situated just only 4 km from the Mediterranean beaches between Antibes and Nice. Its narrow streets bare witness to a rich and eventful past, Biot having been successively held by the Templars and then the Knights of Malta. The village was nearly wiped out by the plague at the end of the 14th century but in the middle of the 15th century Biot was fortified and repopulated and there remains from this period the characteristic curved arches, fortified gates and engraved stones. Although the village gets crowded with tourists during the summer one is never oppressed by their presence and it retains much of its natural charm and its feeling of antiquity.

Biot has managed to preserve a quality of life and cultural identity inherited from its history and creative crafts activity and the village is very active all year round. The arrival of artists like Fernand Leger, whose museum is situated just at the foot of Biot village, and Eloi Monod, the father of Biot blown glass, brought an artistic dynamism that you can still find in the workshops dedicated to the production of glassware, pottery, ceramics and jewellery.

Biot is also part of Sophia Antipolis, the high tech business park, which shows that the village is also resolutely turned to the future. Sophia Antipolis was an industrial site long before the present “technopole” was dreamed of . A look at the geological map of the region shows the many abandoned clay mines that once pitted the area. A quality refractory clay was dug here and taken to Biot or Vallauris and the finished product exported to the old, and later, the new world. One of the larger mines is now the site of an open air theatre but usually the mines were much smaller than this. The clay filled hollows in an earlier limestone formation and was laid down in irregular layers and colours - white, green and ochre yellow. After cleaning it throws well on the potters wheel. This same clay was used to make the large Jars that made Biot so famous.

For those interested in sporting activities Biot offers amongst other things 2 golf courses, horse riding, and tennis etc. For those interested in walking there are 11 marked circuits among which the valley of the river Brague provides a lovely shady walk between Biot and Valbonne.

Biot offers a variety of housing to suit most requirements. In Biot village itself there are numerous terraced houses available from less than 300,000 euros. Just outside there are numerous villas often situated in sought after area like the “Vallée Verte” or the ”Bois Fleuri” - some with superb sea views. If you want to live in a secure domaine behind closed gates there is the “Domaine des Clausonnes” situated to the west of Biot village. The recent programs around Sophia Antipolis offer attractive apartments as well as new houses.