Want to start from the beginning?
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Interlude I recommend that you read this before going much further into this story.
The following morning, bright and early, we woke up, got up, padded around the apartment in stockinged feet so we didn’t wake our hosts, and made ready to drive 1 and a half hours to the house we hoped to buy.
Coffee and French Pastries for breakfast again, we crept out of the apartment, down the stairs…
These are not the stairs you're looking for... I'm afraid I couldn't wait any longer. This is the house...
Now, I mentioned that I don’t like heights. I also mentioned the stairs we used to go up to our sleeping quarters… what I didn’t really mention was the fact that they’re TERRIFYING! There was a light frost and the steps were treacherous – no, they weren’t really, but I had a bit of a ‘wobble’ up at the top. No idea why I hadn’t had the ‘wobble’ the day before, but hey, brains do the darndest things… (The stairs in the picture are not the ones I've just mentioned).
I hung onto the railing and the wall (Reina if you’re reading this, the fingerprints in the brickwork are probably mine!) and stepped very carefully, one foot onto the step, then the next foot onto the same step. To anyone watching, I would have looked like a 90-year-old making a meal of the journey.
We stepped down onto Terra Firma and Reina popped her head out of the door. “Do you want breakfast? It’s ready!” she said.
“What happened to ‘We don’t get up early, so neither do you?’” I asked.
“Oh never mind that,” she said and went into the kitchen.
We set off after a lovely breakfast and made our way toward our new adventure.
To start with, when we found the place we needed, we made our way to the centre, the town square. In the UK, a ‘Town’ is quite a lot bigger than the one we found but it was beautiful – deserted, but beautiful.
A lone cockerel wandered down the middle of the road, not a care in the world. I’ll try to get pictures of the architecture, but I don’t remember if we took any…
We had been recommended to speak with a couple who had used the estate agent before and she invited us into their home for a socially distanced chat about the area.
We were already hooked, but from what Sue said, we’d fit right in. Sue and her husband are also ex-pats, they’re bikers, and have lived in the area for years. They are planning to move, but not very far. Sue is an artist and the pictures in the kitchen (which used to be a café) and living room are beautiful. Her husband, Dave is a builder and is much-in-demand. She was a fount of knowledge and we learned so much from that visit. For example, some of the condiments we may be used to are extortionately expensive –
Salad Cream costs £2 in the UK - €12 in France!
Source: Google free to use images search
Tea, some sauces (HP etc), and many other UK-centric items are ludicrous prices, so I guess we’ll be asking friends and family to bring ‘Care Packages’ from home when they visit.
We already know that food can be more expensive in France (we went with Dani & Greg on their Honeymoon and found that out first-hand). The ‘other hand’ of course, is the benefits of weather, cheaper property and a slower, more laid-back lifestyle which we really do aspire to. Added to all that, the one piece of information that sticks in my mind – France is 2 and a half times bigger than England, with the same number of people living there. The chance of having to put up with neighbours such as we have now is minimised!
As far as the eye can see... maybe not
We said goodbye to Sue and got out to the car. Pascale, the Estate Agent we were due to meet with had just arrived and we waved hello from a distance suitable to the pandemic situation. We followed Pascale along narrow, winding roads, up, up, up… past ancient castle-like structures and farm buildings, with dogs and chickens in the middle of the road.
Sheep, ponies, donkeys and cows in the fields, and ancient, sturdy barns.
Our barn
Then we saw it. We’d spent hours on Google Earth ‘driving’ past the property and we recognised lots of landmarks. I knew we’d made up our minds to buy it when we found ourselves saying, “There’s our barn…” or “That’s where the boundary to our property starts.”
The tour of the house and grounds put the top hat on it. We met Ladis, the man who kept everything neat and tidy for the previous owners and we’ve asked if he’ll continue to do that same for us. He showed us the pool and the filter systems, the boiler etc and we wandered the property.
A wise woman once told me to ‘Live there for a year before making decisions to change anything.’ And her husband then told us the same thing, over a glass of wine. Reina, they do listen!
Trev had a go with the drone and he flew it very well. We could watch where it went via his phone, but unfortunately, he forgot to set it to record its flight.
I know it’s materialistic and they’re just things but it makes my heart sing when I imagine us living there. Even the thought of holidaying there makes me impatient! Putting our horses on the land, watching my dogs and cats playing in the sunshine, even the thought of fishing Tora or even Nimbus out of the swimming pool puts a smile on my face.
We said goodbye to Pascale, Ladis and our soon-to-be-new-property, and we made our way back to Andy & Reina’s.
On the way back, we made our plans. Say YES to buying the house and getting the process started, and then figure out exactly when we’d be able to make the return trip for our first holiday.
Because of the pandemic, we understood that was going to be more ‘play it by ear’ than firm plans, but I’m SO impatient!
Andy & Reina were surprised to see us back so soon. They both imagined we’d roll back around midnight, having strolled over the entire estate before making our return. It’s weird that we travelled all that way in order to make a decision that I know we’d already made in our hearts, but I think, if anything had gone wrong and we’d not been out to see it, we’d have regretted it.
Basically, we didn’t quite buy a house on the internet, but it’s near as dammit.
