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| A traditional French living room of great charm in one of the houses we saw |
As the purpose of our first foray to France was to check out the property situation, we thought it might be an idea to show the 15 properties we saw. We spent the first week in the Correze, south west of Limoges, and the second week in the Lot, near Villefranche de Rouergue. We did, though, travel quite far afield both weeks. We don't yet think we have found our dream house, but there were certainly some interesting possibilities, and perhaps one or two we will go back to. They are shown here in no particular order as so many of the details were kept secret from us by the Agents Immobiliers and we have not had time to work out where they all were yet.
This one above was a converted barn owned and lived in by an English couple which had been completely renovated (to a high standard). Its problems were that it didn't have any outbuildings (for a studio), the internal arrangements were a bit odd (two staircases and no bathrooms upstairs), the garden/terrain was just an area of rough scrubland, and it was right beside a busy main road. We dismissed this one quite quickly.
This was much more hopeful, even though the agent got lost taking us there. And as she got more and more lost, she drove faster and faster (which neither her skills nor her car were suited to). We almost collided with une biche which skipped Bambi-like across the road in front of the car. The thought of committing deericide seemed to shake her up a bit, and after that she did moderate her speed ever so slightly.
This is one we just might go back to see again. It did have a very rudimentary swimming pool which unfortunately had been put in the wrong place, also it didn't have very good out buildings. It was, though, in quite a nice spot and quite well placed in its own grounds.
This was the first house we saw, and we were suitably encouraged. It had pretty much what we wanted in terms of outbuildings and accommodation in the main house, but it had a right of way through part of the garden and some rather overly intrusive neighbours. It was also probably a bit further north than we have now (we think) decided we want to be.
This was lived in by an eccentric elderly English couple who had obviously been doing it up themselves (amateurishly) over a number of years (and they still had a way to go). It was probably too big as a house for us, and without the right type of outbuildings. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, though according to the owner, Lord Patten had a pad just over the hill . We weren't quite sure whether this was a positive or a negative selling point. As Chris Patten has been both Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Governor of Hong Kong, we felt we might end up with either the IRA or Chinese triads skulking around in our woods searching for a suitable vantage point from which to "take him out".
This ticked a lot of boxes and is one we might go back to. The house itself was a bit small but it was in a great position, with lovely grounds of several acres, and a very good barn which was partially converted into a gite.
This was the house that the (English) agent felt it was going to be too difficult to get to because of the snow. As you can see, we did make it, but the roads certainly were pretty hairy. The house apparently belonged to a Dutchman. Unfortunately the Dutchman was away and the place was all locked up, so we couldn't see it. However this is the one that was right opposite a particularly scruffy farm where we spied the dreaded slurry hose. Potentially nice house but rejected because of potentially nightmarish neighbours.
Of all the houses we saw, this had the most fabulous views. Unfortunately, that was about all that it had. The house was rather small, though there was an enormous barn and a big garden. The garden, however, did look suspiciously like the ideal habitat for adders.
The main thing about this one was that it had the most amazing array of barns. The house wasn't up to much, but it was attached to one of the barns, so you could knock through to make some spectacular spaces. The area was only quite nice, and because the barns were so big, it all would have involved an enormous amount of work and expense. Not enough boxes to tick.
This Mas had quite a lot going for it. Owned by an English couple, it had been renovated with taste, and to a high standard (this was the one with the impressive boiler). Ultimately, the house itself was probably a bit too small and the outbuildings still had to be done to create the accommodation we want. It was at the upper end of our price range and there was probably still too much to do.
This was in the middle of nowhere, but in a very beautiful spot. The house was very small, but the barn was enormous (and pretty derelict inside). Georgi decided that the sun had gone off it rather early and took a general (and instant) dislike to it. Enough said. We decided against it.
We did not like the approach to this house. It was surrounded by rather nasty little suburban boxes even though this particular property was on the edge of some very nice countryside. The garden and out buildings were good, but the house itself wasn't great. Overall, it didn't really do anything for us.
We were told that this one had tenants in, so wouldn't be available until April. It was within very easy reach of Figeac (one of our favourite towns so far), it had good outbuildings, but we weren't able to see inside the house. Probably worth going back to as it definitely ticked several of the boxes. The swimming pool had been started, but not quite finished.
A somewhat barmy Spanish lady lived here, who had apparently been brought up as a hippy. She had floaty clothes, did't seem to believe in heating, and evidently lived off the land (I shudder to think what the drainage arrangements were). It was what you might call "interesting" but didn't tick many of our boxes.
This is one of our favourites so far, mainly because it just seemed to have a very good feel (it's the one with the nice room, which led out on to a loggia, pictured at the start of this post). Again there were aspects of it which weren't perfect, but we suspect we will probably not, in the end, find complete perfection, and compromises will need to be made. It had the nicest sitting room we have yet seen, lovely out buildings grouped around a sort of courtyard, and some great views.
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| We're not quite here yet, but we'll get there in the end |
All in all a pretty good start. And we are beginning to get the measure of estate agents and their wily ways.
