EXPERT
€689,000
BEAUVILLE, LOT-ET-GARONNE A quiet location for this charming and characterful spacious five- bedroom, four-bathroom farmhouse with stunning views over the valley. The property sits in grounds of over two hectares and has a superb barn with summer kitchen and shower room.
€329,900
ST-COUTANT, DEUX-SÈVRES A charming three-bedroom, two-bathroom ‘longère’ set in just under 1.5 acres of private, south-facing, beautifully maintained gardens with wonderful views of the countryside. There’s even a pond, vegetable garden, barn and two greenhouses.
€318,000
AUVILLAR, TARN-ET-GARONNE A three-bedroom, two-bathroom renovated stone property, all on one level with a manageable garden. It’s on the edge of a pretty village with a restaurant and school, and just a few minutes’ drive to Auvillar. The property comes with a pretty stone barn too.
Lock-up-and-leave properties
in small villages make good holiday homes as they offer the best of both worlds: no additional cost or bother of maintaining a garden, but you’ll still be surrounded by beautiful countryside for walks, bike rides or picnics. If your move is permanent,
then really take the time to consider how big a garden you should go for. Do you really want to have to put on your hiking boots just to mow the lawn? Exactly how passionate are you about gardening? And will you still be that passionate or able in a few years’ time? I was adamant last summer that I could make some lovely
hanging baskets and keep them alive despite having watched my newly purchased spider plants and cacti whither throughout lockdown. I tottered off to my local garden centre one Saturday morning and spent a small fortune on plants I’d never heard of, pondered over which soil to get (who knew there were so many types!) and picked out some lovely wicker hanging baskets. Unfortunately, I don’t really have a knack for this sort of thing and my hanging baskets ended up much like my lockdown plants. I’m sure your gardening
skills are far better than mine, but it is still a good idea not to
€141,700
VARAIGNES, DORDOGNE A beautiful two-bedroom, two-bathroom stone-built property in the heart of a village with shops and a restaurant. It has more than a third of an acre of gardens with views over fields to the rear, plus an enclosed courtyard, garage and wood store.
take on too much. Gardening is a skill you need to dedicate time to learning. If you have lots of land, you will need to know how to deal with things such as damage by animals, for example. Wild boar and deer are plentiful in the countryside and can make quite an impact on a garden overnight!
THE OUTDOOR LIFE We find that most people tend to want a relatively big garden where they can have some outdoor living space, parking, a vegetable patch (and maybe some chickens) and a swimming pool. Gardens like this are, of course, far more manageable than acres and
acres of land, but still require time and money to keep them looking pretty all year round! What to do though if you
have fallen in love with the property of your dreams but it comes with more outdoor space than you were originally planning for? This could be the perfect opportunity to redesign the land and create a wildflower meadow. Relatively low maintenance, excellent for ecosystems, often very pretty during the summer months and likely to harbour a few surprises, a wildflower meadow might just be a wonderful addition to that dream home! While gardening knowledge
is of course important, you will FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: July/August 202335
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