22 Apr Somewhere… where dreams come true…

A place in the sun; to share with family and friends

What do you do when you love renovating houses and you see potential in places that nobody else sees but you? Yep you buy a property in need of a total makeover… or better TWO properties next to each other plus a big plot of land as you think of making your own olive oil.

The houses came with; lovely high ceilings, nice wallpaper, a modern kitchen and a nice facade….NOT!

“If you want a place in the sun, you’ve got to put up with a few blisters”

– Abigail Van Buren –

The property was part of an inheritance and had been for sale for some years already. After signing the purchase agreement the world got hit by the pandemic and we were not able to do any renovations. After that the war in the Ukraine caused a massive price increase in building materials and not to forget a shortage. Finding good reliable craftsmen in the South of France is not easy. Peter Mayle wrote about it in his book ‘ A year in Provence’ and everything about that is true and even worse. We have dealt with unreliable companies, asking for an advance on the works and then leaving the place half finished ,or not even showing up, knowing that the French court system is very slow and by the time you are in front of a judge, the company no longer exists. But we conquered it all with the help of friends and a handful of reliable companies and we will soon have both houses ready.

For now the, as we call it ‘Stone house’ will be available for holiday rental as of May 18th. This house is part of the original farm house that was the start of the hamlet. In the old days farmers gave parts of their land to their children to built houses and to work the land together. I went through the old archives and found out that the farm already existed in 1843. In a hamlet certain area’s where indicated as undivided property called ‘Patec’ for common usage. Examples are: vegetable gardens, pass ways for animals, a bread oven or a mill stone for grinding wheat or other grains. For some of our neighbours a part of their garden is still a ‘patec’ or there is a right of way across their land that used to be for the horses and carriages to cross the river. All this leading to ridiculous situations where the older inhabitants still claim their rights. Luckily we have none of that at our property, but it is something one needs to be very aware of when buying a property in France.

In our property the downstairs was a stable for the donkeys and an original vaulted  ‘ cave’ (wine cellar). A bigger house was built right next to the original farmhouse around 1900 where on one side of the house where a kitchen, living room, three further bedrooms and a bathroom spread over three floors and on the other side horse stables with a hayloft above. That house got an update in the 1970ties where the hayloft got transformed in a living room with another kitchen. And thats how we found it!

The first time we visited the property, after I found it on internet, I already said to my husband: this is it! I couldn’t get it out of my head and all I saw was it’s potential and the land that came with it including access to a river for swimming and canoeing.. 

We hope the people that reserve their holiday in one of our houses will appreciate our place in the sun as much as we do. May it be a place full of laughter and happiness and where families and friends can unwind and escape from day to day stress.

We are developing a new website that replaces the blog site this currently is into a site where you can find all information about the rental properties, our environment and our other activities. I will of course keep sharing recipes and my beautiful finds and furniture makeovers and…who knows what else lies in the future ahead.