Waterfront villa rentals on the French Riviera

Three situations, to be told apart before any viewing. The first is a property whose land touches the shore and from which you go down to the water without crossing anything. That is the strict definition, and the rarest. The second is a seafront house separated from the water by a road, public or private: the view is intact, the access means crossing. The third is the house set above, very common on the rocky shores of the Alpes-Maritimes: it overhangs the water by tens of metres, with no descent. All three photograph identically from a terrace. Only the question 'from the garden, how do you reach the water' separates them.

No, and the rule applies the length of the country's coastline. The pedestrian right of way along the coast, created by the law of 31 December 1976, requires properties bordering the maritime public domain to leave a 3 m strip clear for walkers. The path so opened runs to some 1,626 km across the country's shores. On the Var coast the shape of the shoreline often makes the legal route impassable: modified alignments are then fixed after a public inquiry and a prefectural decree, and sometimes run further inland. In practice the lower part of a seafront property may be crossed by a public path, and that is checked property by property.

In four ways, and they do not suit the same group. Steps cut into the rock lead down to a platform or straight into the water: the commonest arrangement wherever the shore is rocky, and it means being steady on steps that are sometimes wet. A jetty or a ladder gives entry into deep water, which suits small children badly. A small cove of shingle or sand, rarer, gives a gradual entry and changes everything for a family. And some properties look onto a neighbouring beach without having their own access to it. Four situations, one word to describe them, and it is the make-up of the group that should decide.

Markedly, and it shows on three fronts. Everything metal ages fast: railings, ironwork, garden furniture, pool equipment. A few metres from the shore salt settles continuously, and regular rinsing costs far less than replacement. Joinery seals follow, attacked by the alternation of salt and sun, then the render on façades that spray strips back. On top comes what the autumn storms shift: steps, a jetty or a seafront wall are checked after every gale, and a repair at the water's edge needs permissions the rest of the property does not. A stay sees none of it, but it is what explains the maintenance rhythm of these houses.