Now that the summer holidays are over, admit it, how often did you find yourself lingering in front of a local estate agent’s window, wondering how much a corner of your favourite part of the world would cost?
And since you’ve come back, how often has your mind returned, day dreaming about what it might be like to live there?
But inevitably two thoughts cloud over, like grey skies and rain, to dampen your ardour.
First, seeing as how any holiday home you buy will lie idle for most of the year, is it really worth it? Second, much as you love it, do you really want to have to go back to the same place for every vacation?
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And just like that, the holiday home dream fades with your sun tan and it’s back to reality for another year.
What if there was another way?
What if, for the same price as one modest holiday home, you could buy and own a share in five super swish ones, each located in Europe’s most sought-after locations, from the beaches of the Cote d’Azur to the rolling hills of Tuscany to the sun-dappled streets of a Mallorcan village?
That’s precisely what August Collections offers and it’s the brainchild of French interiors expert and former lawyer Mélie Dunod, its co-founder and chief executive.
Dunod was born and bred in Paris and, like any self-respecting French person, knows holidays are to be taken seriously. In France the August holiday is sacrosanct, along with “le long weekend” and the spring ski break.
With a successful family background in construction and development, she ultimately moved to London and swapped a high-flying legal career for a luxury interior design business, Rio London, which specialises in upmarket properties and hotels.
The idea for August Collections came when she and business partner Nico Watzenig discovered that each was looking to buy a holiday home at the same time.
“We started to think it makes no sense for each of us to lock all our cash into one location, when we both wanted something in Spain and also in the south of France. Then we thought, why don’t we pull a few friends together and, even though we each invest less, we will all have access to all the locations. And that’s how August started,” she explains.
Creating collections
Founded in 2018 August Collections works on the same principle today, except that it offers the same opportunity to others.
For the price of one holiday home, August Collections members buy a share in a collection of five stunning properties, each situated in a premier location.
The first property the company restored was Maison Valbonne, a Provencal villa on the Cote d’Azur. Since then the company has renovated and sold 50 properties. Its collections have hundreds of members already and a waiting list to join.
It releases just six collections a year, each of which is bought and co-owned by 21 buyers. On average, owners spend 12 weeks each year holidaying across their property portfolio.
Each collection is tailored to suit a variety of budgets, lifestyles, travel preferences and family sizes. Fancy a bijou apartment in Paris? A luxury ski chalet in Chamonix? A Tuscan farmhouse large enough to accommodate multigenerational getaways? No problem.
These aren’t just any properties. August specialises in sourcing heritage properties in need of some TLC in top locations, and then renovating them to a luxury standard.
“We want to make holiday home ownership way better so that you get more – more for your money and more options. You get access to our expertise, and access to the best locations. The best properties don’t come on the market. You only get them if you have the right networks,” explains Dunod.
Because August Collections is renovating, decorating and furnishing at scale, buyers benefit from economies of scale.
The company also takes care of the third big reason people talk themselves out of holiday home ownership – maintenance. August looks after everything, from cleaning to gardening to maintaining the pool. If your boiler breaks down in your chalet high on a mountain in Chamonix, it sorts it pronto.
Holidays designed for you
The company has a number of collection types. Signature Collection properties consist of four – or five-bedroom homes designed to meet the needs of families that love to travel, located in the South of France, Tuscany, Mallorca, the French Alps and the beautiful English Cotswolds.
It’s a lifestyle you can buy into for €435,000, even though each of the homes in this collection are worth between €1.5 and €2 million.
Its Premium Collection is an even more luxurious option that includes homes in the Cotswolds, Tuscany, Mallorca the south of France and the French Alps, starting at €700,000.
For those who love Europe’s cities, its Pied À Terre Collection comprises sumptuously appointed two-bedroom apartments in London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome and Cannes, from just €360,000.
Because you own your share outright, it is yours to sell on. To date some members have sold their share in one collection in order to buy into another. With a waiting list of members, such transactions have been speedily executed, says Dunod.
Its buyers are from around the world and the company curates the members of each collection carefully, including a mix of families with younger and older children, as well as retirees, to spread demand across the year. “The booking system is designed to help people get the weeks they want, but also to be very fair,” she explains.
Quintessential experiences
Wherever it is located, the guiding principle behind each August Collections property is that it provides the quintessential experience of the region – and its location will be second to none.
“If you are in Tuscany, for example, it will be an old farmhouse on top of a hill with magnificent views, and lots of olive trees. We want you to have a large dining space, vaulted ceilings, terracotta floors, open kitchens and a pizza oven. You will have this wonderful sense of being alone but be just 10 minutes from a gorgeous village,” she explains.
“For an apartment in Paris it’s all about ceiling mouldings and old marble fireplaces, on carefully chosen streets where everything is convenient and it’s easy to live like a local. We never buy in touristy parts of a city.”
Properties in Tuscany, Mallorca and the south of France all have a pool while ski lodges have wellness elements such as jacuzzis, saunas or a gym.
“There has been a redefinition of luxury. It used to mean marble bathrooms and bits of gold everywhere. Now luxury is much more low-key and private. It’s about uniqueness and local experiences,” says Dunod.
One other winning feature is the fact that shared ownership means the properties are used throughout the year. Having seen the impact that empty holiday homes has had across her native France, that’s important to her.
“It’s a much more sustainable way for the local communities, which is something I’m proud of,” she says, “especially as someone who loves travelling and exploring local cultures herself.”
Find out how you too could own homes in Europe’s top holiday spots