Au Cœur des Vignes
We married in 2009, retirement was approaching, and one of our first priorities was to find a new home capable of accomodating ourselves and our five adult children along with their growing families. We listed “essential” criteria (such as climate, distance to the sea, transport accessibility) for the location of the house, and then began the search for a suitable property where all these criteria coincided. After many months of searching and driving hundreds of kilometers we came across our farmhouse. At the time it was in a terrible state: 75% derelict, 25% revolting!  To make things worse there was a large wood-working factory attached to the back of the house, but we felt it had potential … Our initial plan was to use local craftsmen and have it ready both to live in, and in part use as a gite by 2011. Unfortunately the first two builders changed our minds! The first builder employed undeclared workers and consequently we had visits from the Social Security and Police both trying to get their hands on him... The second builder ran away with a lot of our money, leaving us with no roof!  We then had to wait a year for the building to dry out.  Although we had no experience in D.I.Y. projects we decided to go it alone. It has no doubt been slower, and we have probably made mistakes, but it has been very satisfying and we have learnt a lot !  We had the roof finished professionally but all the plumbing, plastering, welding, brick laying, tiling, masonry, plaster-boarding, and 90% of the electricity are our own efforts.  You can get an idea of the project from this slideshow. Beware: it is not for the squeamish!
We married in 2009, retirement was approaching, and one of our first priorities was to find a new home capable of accomodating ourselves and our five adult children along with their growing families. We listed “essential” criteria (such as climate, distance to the sea, transport accessibility) for the location of the house, and then began the search for a suitable property where all these criteria coincided. After many months of searching and driving hundreds of kilometers we came across our farmhouse. At the time it was in a terrible state: 75% derelict, 25% revolting!  To make things worse there was a large wood-working factory attached to the back of the house, but we felt it had potential … Our initial plan was to use local craftsmen and have it ready both to live in, and in part use as a gite by 2011. Unfortunately the first two builders changed our minds! The first builder employed undeclared workers and consequently we had visits from the Social Security and Police both trying to get their hands on him... The second builder ran away with a lot of our money, leaving us with no roof!  We then had to wait a year for the building to dry out.  Although we had no experience in D.I.Y. projects we decided to go it alone. It has no doubt been slower, and we have probably made mistakes, but it has been very satisfying and we have learnt a lot !  We had the roof finished professionally but all the plumbing, plastering, welding, brick laying, tiling, masonry, plaster-boarding, and 90% of the electricity are our own efforts.  You can get an idea of the project from this slideshow. Beware: it is not for the squeamish!
Au Cœur des Vignes
Au Cœur des Vignes