The booked viewing day has arrived
At last we'd started to drive to the estate agents office and to meet the lady estate agent that was going to change our lives,
As we walked through the shop door i noticed nothing on the walls ref any property being sold or to let "no" it was all in the shop window,
we since have seen this way of selling in lots of french estate agents windows
they dont seem to think customers want to come in from the rain to see what they are selling "but" stand outside and get wet while they view.
As ive said many times and having run my own business for years I feel the french in this part of the countryside are years behind when it comes to "selling"
even such places as garden centres are closed from 12 noon until 2pm for dinner Including weekends !!! I mean anyone wanting to go and buy any plants etc in their own dinner break are missing out big time and as for the gardencentre sales ??? A DEAD LOSS.
But back to meeting our guide for the next four hours (2pm until 6pm)
The lady was well dressed for this area and she was keen to get going, We went in her car and as we drove away from the now closed up and locked shop/office with a sign back soon swinging in the doorway window "she said i cant wait to get out of the office.
She drove like a lot of the french do "Fast" very fast and again she did something else a lot of french women do "smoke" we both dont smoke so the smell of what ever she was smoking (kamel dung was the brand) really seemed strong to us,
She said the first property was in a place called "forest templer" and it was an old farm with an annex for your old folks or a gite and it was very quiet infact the farmers wife was laid to rest in the front room when she died a few months ago its that quiet.
It was about 3 miles from the house we'd already bought but the way she went and the speed she drove it seemed closer as we landed.
She breaked the car and came to a deadly halt,
a huge dust cloud over took the now parked car and as she flung her door open dust was leaving a powderd coating on the door inside window,
We walked behind looking at the outside and trying to remember all i'd learnt ref what to look for from the outside
first, ie the roof, then walls for cracks, then windows, (and any cocks showing
) but after yesterdays viewing by a man and this being a lady i thought know chance of the same thing happening again !!!!!
As i looked at the roof and then the chimney i noticed one of those santa clause figurines hanging onto the chimney for dear life (it was august not december)
I was to learn later that once the french mount one of these "Santas" up on the room for christmas he stays there for ever & ever.
It was a nice quiet country area very few other properties to be seen and mostly farm land,
As we went inside again we noticed no preparation for selling, the place needed both cleaning and a lick of paint would'nt go amis, it needed some fresh air inside as it smelt very musty, but it was again a very french house that had not been touched up and spoilt,
The views from the windows in every direction was of fields and the sheep in the garden???? Sheep, garden?
We asked about this and was told "Oh the sheep are not part of the sale,
We looked at the annex and it was infact nice but needed a lot to bring it up to an all round year gite, ie it was in need of insulation and heating for the winter months,
no way could you live in that annex during the freezing january weather,
But we liked what we saw and it was within my skills to really make the changes needed (including lasooing santa and bringing him down)
Just as we were about to leave the farmer owner showed up,
We said hello and we we're standing in the garden "all 4 acre's " and i noticed those sheep we're fenced in a few feet from the lounge window and again fenced in was a veg patch and a double gate leading to some other fields,
My wife asked about the sheep etc and the gate.
His reply was he used that gate (through what would have been our drive to the annex) as his way of getting his cattle and sheep etc from one field to an other and the sheep and veg area was not part of the sale, so that meant we'd have sheep and who ever dug the veg area working infront of our window and infact we'd have no right to be in this area so repairs etc would be at the mercy of this farmer when we needed to be on his land.
He wouldnt budge when we said we liked the property "But" we'd want the full land and no right of way if we did buy it, but before world war three was about to start we decided this first viewing was a big NO NO.
House number two here we come.
Once again our estate agent drove like hell and smoked like she was a chimney and coughed just to show "smoking is good for you" And then she took a peppermint to try and hide the bad breath problem,
As we pulled up outside of this very high wooden fence the estate agent told us this couple had hit bad times the old lady had very bad back problems and was about to go into care and her husband has just had a stroke and his left side of his body was badly effected and he also had breathing problems (hence the peppermint).
We pulled the chain that worked this lovely old french bell and as we waited for someone to recieve us i noticed a road sign that said "JUDGE" this was infact 2 km from our own house but because of the speed and the different way we drove to get here i hadn't realized how close this house was and because it was on the track type road with a very high fence you tend not to take a lot of notice.
The large gate slowly opend and this very frail old man stood infront of us offering his hand for us to shake,
He was bent as he slowly walked towards the doorway and then i saw the dog, big old german-sherperd and like his owner he also looked like time was all he had left in life.
The cottage was a newer built property and tobe honest it looked more english than french, very boxed shaped, but we we're here now and it was only good manners to try and be interested afterall we'd had our share of time wasters when we we're selling and most of them had good manners even if they didnt have the funds to buy and this was the difference "We did have the funds".
As we entered the kitchen this old lady was actualy laying on the table, it was some form of pain relief to lay on this hard table top,
she smiled and then returned her inhayler to her mouth,
This was hell for us, to be wasting these old peoples time, to be looking in their rooms to be giving them hope of a sale that just wasn't going to happen from us.
As we left and said our goodbyes i felt really bad at what we'd just done to these people and i couldnt help thinking all we wanted to do was invest in our future,
If the banks couldn't pay us a good interest rate then buying a property could "but" we never ever thought viewing would be so cruel as this last cottage viewing had been
And later much later this same property would come back into our lives again.
Property number three here we come.
As we drove away down the track we passed our own house and then came to a stop "opposit our front gates"
The estate agent was going through some papers and then made a phone call "outside of the car"
She came back inside the car and said the fourth property would not be seen today as they've decided not to sell just now.
And so we"ve a bit further to drive to bois de vost, (house in the woods) so sit back and we'll have some music, she turned the radio on and my thoughts we're still with that old couple, "was this how one day we'd end up?"
The song playing on the radio was Gerry marsden (Gerryand the pacemakers fame) singing dont let the sun catch you crying, i was near to it i can tell you, it was only this estate agents mental driving that snapped me out of it as my knuckle's went white as she turned into blind country bend after bend not knowing or giving a toss what may be around any one of these bends.
We again drove like mad down little tracked lanes ive never seen and i hadn't a clue what direction we'd end up at or should i say land at.
Now i feel i should explain some of the weared country ways things are done so you'll understand what was about to happen next,
LIMOUSIN is famouse for their cow's like wales is for sheep (welsh lambs) and so these cows are in just about every field you come across here and these cows are moved from field to field daily so they have the best chance to feed fresh grass etc, But cow's being cow's they are not the most intelligent animal going but they are the most nosey of animals and will try to go in any direction they feel is a change and one they've not been into before
But due to the electric shock wire's used by farmers these cows will stear clear of anything that looks like one of those wires but farmers being farmers wont spend hard earned cash on electric wire's when they can use string pulled across an opening so the cow wont try and go off course when they're going from field to field
But also all the country people who have a house in such area's as these cow's live will also put up string pulled across the drive ways to stop cows walking up to the front doors and mooing the day lights out of an unsubspected house wife doing the baking etc.
We arrived at this piece of string pulled across an entrance to a very very over grown driveway,
I was in the front passenger seat and my wife was in the rear seat
As the lady estate agent finshed the last puff of her camel dung smoke she jumped out of the car and as she got infont of the engine grill she lifted her skirt up above her knees,
My wife asked what was she doing?
Having a wee i replied!!!!!!
Dont be stupid my wife replied, French ladies dont do such things !!!! just dirty french men.
Ok then i replied she's just pulled her skirt up over her knees and disapeared under the front engine grill "she's having a number two
The the lady in question appeared again holding a long line of string and putting it up onto the letter box in the corner of the opening then she returned to the car still holding her skirt above the very long grass and got into the car.
The grass is so over grown here but nobody has lived here for many years (25 in all) so what can you expect.
As we drove down the drive i felt like i was part of a giant lawn mower, i could see the grass disappear under the car bonnet as we drove over it and this went on for 60 yards until we found ourselves in the overgrown court-yard.
"We're here she announced."
It was a bit of a push to get the car doors open as the grass here again was high but it was worth the effort once we'd got out,
The old farm house just cried out at you to give us a chance (i could still be a home again)
The house joined onto the barn and on one side of the large front door was a set of steps leading down to the old wine cellar, the barn's huge doors had well had their day and in fact had fell in and we're just hanging on by a few screws before falling down completely
Next to the barn and attached was the horse stable and this went the full length of the barn 40 feet to the rear of the house and an opening out to the orchard "again well over grown"
above the barn was a floored area with a hay loft door to the front with a wheel and chain to lift the bales of hay in bygone days "but the ghostly chain just hung waiting for its next bale to be lifted into the barn loft via the now rotted door.
The roof of the house was going tobe re-slated at some time in the future but the limed brick work was in fine shape,
Some windows had fallen out of the frames,
As we pushed with might to open the front door the first site was this large fireplace and a very long room with windows at both ends and the staircase to the far end with an opening to one side leading into the farm kitchen,
the kitchen was long with an old bread oven/large sink, long cooker two windows that looked both to the driveway we'd just come up and one window that looked over part of the two acre garden and views for miles of farm land and the woods about 1/2 mile away,
a second door in the far end of the kitchen was a washing machine room and another door was to lead to the down stairs loo,
As we started to go up the stairs i noticed a line of clay birds nest fixed to the top of the fire place wall and cieling and just then a couple of "swift birds came into feed their young we could hear the chicks chirping for more food"
we climbed the stairs while the estate agent lit up another smoke but we we're in seventh heaven as we found three very large bedrooms ,
The front bedroom looked down the drive and again views for miles of fields and the rear bedroom looked over the very over grown orchard and again as far as the eye could see fields,
the third bedroom looked across the large overgrown garden and the large bathroom had the same view.
We found outside a pigsty and in the middle of the over grown courtyard was a water well,
"Now" we didnt even see this well when we drove in and it was a real surprise to find it,
In all the garden was two acre and the location was just perfect, the house did have electrics and mains water supply but this house really did need a hell of a lot of work doing to it but out of all the houses we'd seen this one had a feel about it and "NO" shared anything ie gates for cattle to pass through etc and in actual fact it was only about 3 miles from the house we now lived in so for doing the work that needed doing it was close enough to get to but far enough away to have a rest at weekends .
All this was 11 yrs ago when we bought the house and both of us have done the work that was needed and used the skilled trades people for anything we couldnt manage to do, the gardens are really nice and the pool we had put in (after getting the permission needed "more red tape") this makes for an even better garden and puts the house value up.
We still pinch ourselves when we both look at the garden and the inside of the house and think we really own this !!!!!!!!!!!:sentimental:
And the gite?
Well you must remember this isn't a tourist area except for those who really want to see the real france but its a saftey net and one we can sell if we feel the need also it was a better investment when interest rates remained low.
Well i hope you've enjoyed the story of how we came to live here and if you want to see the gite its on "holiday lets" and its called wisteria house and its in dept 23. The crues area of france.
Thanks for sharing are story.
