EXPERT Friday


a potential client at St-Cirq-Lapopie, a pretty clifop village on the Lot”


“I receive an email from


St-Cirq-Lapopie is one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France and is perched on a cliff overlooking the River Lot


to help, and while we wait for him I talk to the highways man about the access. The entrance will have to


be moved further along the frontage as it’s on a blind corner. The only problem with the new location is we will have to cross a stream, which would need approval from the rivers authority. He rings them but sadly they are not free to come along to join the party. He gives me their contact details so I can arrange to meet them another day. The second water board


guy shows up in an old white van, complete with his dog, which immediately disappears into the nearby woods. He introduces himself as the environment officer, which I find slightly ironic given the amount of blue smoke coming out of his exhaust as he arrived. Water board guy number 1


asks him where the irrigation pipe runs and he says he doesn’t know, which doesn’t improve my mood. But then out of his van he brings not an electronic detector, but a pair of divining rods. He says:


“Ne parlez pas!” and strides out into the field. Within 30 seconds, he turns and calls “le voici!”, waving his arms along the line of it as if he is bringing a plane into its parking bay. So it’s resolved. I now know


where we can and cannot put our firefighting bac, I know where we need our access and who to contact to bridge the stream. Even the dog comes back, wet and muddy and looking almost as pleased with himself as I am.


THURSDAY I receive an email from a potential client at St-Cirq- Lapopie, a pretty clifftop village on the Lot, and a place I never want to go back to. I’ve had three jobs there over the years – all memorable for the wrong reasons. The first job was a derelict


barn in a conservation area, bought for €30,000, subject to permission for conversion. I prepared a scheme and organised a meeting with the heritage department, which insisted on all excavations being done by a professional archaeologist


at a cost of €25,000 before even submitting the permis application. The clients pulled out the next day. On the second job, for the


first and last time in my career I fell through the ceiling and ended up with bruises the size of dinner plates. In the third job, the owner and maçon (mason) had a little side deal for cash that went horribly wrong. Neither were shrinking violets and each made credible threats to me that they were going to kill the other. I rang the gendarmes


Friday


to say I believed murder was imminent, and they asked me to call back when a crime had been committed. Can you blame me for the little white lie in my reply to this morning’s enquiry? I said I was booked up for the next nine months.


FRIDAY The St-Cirq-Lapopie people reply to say they can wait. ■


Neil Vesma’s architect practice is at Villeréal near Bergerac Tel: 0033 (0)6 75 84 71 76 neilvesma.com


Pretty hilltop St-Cirq-Lapopie is memorable for Neil for all the wrong reasons FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS:March/April 2023 71


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