REAL LIFE


The development is surrounded by wonderful countryside


An open-plan kitchen/living/


dining room makes great use of the ground-floor space


“The property is about 16 years old, less than half the size of our last house and needed refurbishing throughout”


and who doesn’t dream of living in Provence? The weeks flew by and


despite registering with local estate agents and spreading the word among friends, we couldn’t find anything suitable – it was either the right property in the wrong location or the wrong property in the right location. We thought about renting until the suitable property to buy came up, but as St-Rémy is so popular with tourists in the summer, this was another nightmare. We then heard, via a friend,


about a townhouse coming up for sale just 500 metres out of town. It wasn’t quite what we were looking for, but it made economic sense as we weren’t


sure how long we would need to be in a rental property before we found our ideal place with a small garden and swimming pool in this wonderful town. We didn’t hesitate viewing


the property and had our offer accepted. Having stayed in the development many times previously while visiting friends, we were familiar with it and therefore it was a no- brainer. The conveyancing was wrapped up in approximately six weeks and we moved in.


MOVING IN The property is about 16 years old, less than half the size of our last house and needed refurbishing throughout. Being an interior designer


St-Rémy has a lively market that people visit from miles around


by profession, and having remodelled our previous property, we enjoyed putting our own mark on it. The house is arranged over


three floors, with an open-plan kitchen, dining and living room and WC on the ground floor, two good-sized bedrooms and family shower room on the middle floor, and a spacious master suite comprising a living area, bedroom, walk-in dressing room and ensuite shower room. It's flooded with natural


daylight from the floor- to-ceiling windows and has beautiful views of the Alpilles mountain range on the southern side and Mont Ventoux to the north. Within a small gated development, it has beautiful communal gardens with each property benefiting from its own outside dining space, where most of our entertaining is done in the wonderful Provencal sun. With the house being


arranged over three floors, the refurbishment had to be


thought out very practically, with the ground floor needing the most work. The planning, lining up trades and ordering all the fixtures and fittings took us about three months, with the actual works taking four months. This all took place during 2021 with Covid still hanging over us – it was quite an achievement.


THE REFURBISHMENT We decided to move into another property on the same development while the work was being done; this helped ensure a speedy completion and was a sound decision economically as the tradesmen had the complete run of the property without having to worry about ensuring we had water and electricity supplies and so on. The work was carried out between December 2021 and March 2022. On the ground floor, the


original layout had a traditional fire with a deep hearth and walls enclosing the kitchen, which made it rather dark


4 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: March/April 202345


©LORRAINE GOBLE


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148