Simply sign up to the House & Home myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. The small town of Hauterives in south-eastern France is an unexpected stop on the international tourist circuit.

More than 120,000 people travel to the commune of Hauterives in southeastern France every year to see the Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval, a stunning palace constructed entirely from hand-picked ...

Of the fateful meeting with his muse Cheval wrote in his journal: “My foot had stumbled against a stone which almost made me fall: I wanted to know what it was. It was a stumbling block of such an ...

It’s the most palatial DIY project you’ll ever see. The French palace, Le Palais Idéal (“The Ideal Palace”), in Hauterives was built by a mail carrier out of the rocks he collected on his route over a ...

Atlas Obscura on Slate is a new travel blog. Like us on Facebook, Tumblr, or follow us on Twitter @atlasobscura. Walking along his mail route in Hauterives, southern France in 1879, a postman picked ...