Haute-Saône is a sparsely populated department in north-east France, without any large towns and the largest, the préfecture Vesoul, having 15,300 residents.
But in spite of an average population density of 43 people per km, compared to the national average of 107 people per km, the department sees itself as having an industrial, rather than agricultural history.
Today, Vesoul has only one large car factory and a major office furniture manufacturer, but in the past, the small towns of the department thrived with salt mining and purification, coal mining, shale oil extraction, and numerous metal fabrication businesses
The industrial past has not left deep scars, and the rolling hills, and varied countryside of the department make its marketing as a green tourist destination a logical choice to try and boost rural revenues.
Cherry brandy is a particularly fine local speciality.
It has a reputation as a very peaceful place to have a holiday, although winters can be colder than people from the west of France normally expect.
A chapel, built by the architect Le Corbusier in 1955 on a hill overlooking the town of Ronchamp, is listed by UNESCO, and provides a focus for some tourist visits.
There are no autoroutes in Haute-Saône, but Vesoul, which sits in the middle of the department, has good-quality national roads converging on it from all the main points of the compass.
Just over the south-east border, the A36 runs from just south of Dijon to Mulhouse, while near the west of the department the A31 between Dijon and Nancy provides a fast north-south corridor.
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Rail travel is assured by TER trains, running east-west and by a TGV line to the south, which has a stop at Besançon Franche Compte station, built in the countryside just over the departmental border.
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The nearest airport is the transnational Franco-Swiss airport at Basel, just over an hour and a half away.
Most of the second homes in the department are in the north, and like other rural departments, it is possible to find properties to work on for under €50,000.
There are not as many of them as elsewhere, and some require a lot of work.
But others have good roofs and can be moved into straight away, with minimal “indoor camping” required.
This 18th Century, stone-built house and barn in the commune of La Vaivre in the north of the department looks a complete mess inside, but does have two rooms where the previous inhabitants lived, probably until the 1970s.
It is difficult to see from the ad, but a day’s sweeping and cleaning will likely give at least two habitable rooms.
For an asking price of €34,000, the property has a new roof over the house and barn, put in 20 years ago, and 250m2 of floor space, along with 865m2 of land, planted with fruit trees at the back.
A complete renovation will cost three times the asking price, but if you are not in a hurry, it could make a nice property to do up bit by bit.
If you do not want a large renovation project, this 134m2 stone-built house in the commune of Chauvirey-le-Châtel, in the west of the department and not far from the Jura mountain range, has been recently renovated and is on the market for €128,000.
The ground floor has a kitchen, a separate dining room, and access to a large garage and a cellar.
Upstairs there are two bedrooms, one with a fitted bathroom attached, a second bathroom, and access to a loft which could be converted into further living space.
At the back, there is a 1,500m2 garden, which is not overlooked by neighbours and which has a stone built and paved summer kitchen, as well as a lawn and orchard.
For anyone dreaming of living in a château, and who can raise €2.7million, this 10-bedroom property, where building work started in the 14th century on the ruins of an even older abbey, could do the trick.
Details are scarce in the property advertisements, but the estate agent does mention that a helicopter could easily land in the nine hectares of land that go with it.
Situated in Neuville-lès-la-Charité, to the south of Vesoul, the property has a magnificent monumental curving stone staircase to the front door, and a slightly less flashy stone staircase from the back door into the park.
