La Bou Cottage is a truly amazing and unique property on Dominica and it is now offered FOR SALE
The cottage stands on 0.85 acre of gently sloping grass covered land. The view is that of the surrounding mountains
This famous house has been featured in the Maco Magazine of 2016. It was built by a Swiss Artist and his wife, who built it slowly by hand over a period of three years
La Bou has withstood the best Mother Nature could throw at her and is still standing proud with only minor damage after going through Hurricane Maria in September of 2017. The property is being sold "AS IS", with some repairs still needed, but that is reflected in the low price
Asking $185,000.00 USD
This unique property has the following features:
3 Bedrooms / 1 Bath
One bedroom is a loft, one is a screened room off the kitchen and one is a separate cottage in the garden
The bathroom is very unconventional as it consists of a brass bowl, to be used as a bathtub, and a stone sink on the top patio, a shower stall on the lower level and a separate toilet room located at the end of the house. The sewage is disposed of in a septic tank. The shower and sink drains drain into the garden to water the plants
The house features 12V power throughout and a bit of 110V in several key places, such as the kitchen and the living room. The power is generated by six new solar panels connected to a battery bank. The 110V is made by a small inverter. It also features a small back-up generator in the basement that is capable of recharging the battery bank when needed
Water is provided by Nature and is collected from the roof by way of a gutter and pipes leading to collection tanks. The water system is gravity fed, so no pumps or electricity are used in the system.The total storage capacity is approximately 800 gallons in 9 tanks
The foundation of the structure has been designed to be extra strong, because it took the islands weather into consideration. It is flood proof, hurricane proof and built to gently sway, instead of crack, during earth tremors
The house is perfectly suited for vacation rental and has been marketed as such in the past. It has attained a 5-star rating on many websites and has been rated "Excellent" on Trip Advisor several times
It has been used as a private weekend retreat for a period of 4 years, so that is also a possibility. A local person can be hired to act as the caretaker as has been done in the past
The property is totally off the grid, so it has no connections to the outside world. No cables or pipes are attached to the exterior. It is possible to be connected to all services, since the wires pass close to the cottage on their way up the hill to the neighbors property. The mountain behind the cottage has several businesses on it that attract many visitors, but there is no traffic passing by La Bou
La Bou means "The Mud" in the local French dialect, but it is misspelled if you look it up in proper French, where it is spelled as La Boue, so with an E on the end
The name is misleading, because there is no mud at La Bou. The low lying area between the town and the cottage is affectionally known as La Bou, because it is a valley area where mud forms during heavy rain. The cottage is safely located above that low lying area and away from any water sources. Even TS Erika didn't manage to flood the area
All pictures posted on this website are from before the Hurricane, so they only show potential, not actual conditions. You will need to go see the property in person if you are interested
The roof of the BBQ area flew away in the storm and most pieces of it apparently hit the main house. The rock wall with the fire place in it survived, so did the build in BBQ. A tree fell on the roof of the small guest cottage and knocked a whole in the roof that has not been fixed yet. The exterior of the main house was hit by flying debris that dented the exterior edge of the roof. It did not damage anything else on the main house, which is built out of cast concrete and lots of rebar. The shutters of the property are reinforced with steel and it doesn't have standard windows. It also locks up extremely well when not in use. It is easily the strongest cottage on Dominica
All offers given serious consideration!
Make offers to Arent Brink at Laboucottage@gmail.com