REAL LIFE
The 200-year-old attic floorboards were cleaned up to reveal their character
“So, absolutely, you can have a ‘petit château on a budget’ with nine months’ work”
A secondhand chandelier graces the couple’s living room
with some aspects of the French system, improving our language skills and integration into the village. We invited everyone to see the changes. They appeared to love them. We have been given gifts of lovely homegrown produce and a ready supply of my favourite sunflowers.
LOCAL LIFE We can’t speak fluent French, but are improving. From the moment we arrived, we spoke to everyone who walked past. Neil joined a local football team. We were soon recognised as the couple renovating the house with the now blue shutters. It was almost a ritual
The shower room as it is now; and before, with its natty pink colour scheme
recovered. Two barn doors from a vide-grenier cost €15. One we made into a table and has been perfect for outside entertaining. The second became our bedroom door, sanded but we left the colours of old paint visible. A cot is now a garden ornament. Abandoned window frames are now a mirror, photo frame and bathroom screen. There are certain jobs we
wouldn’t like to have to do again but they were worth our effort. I’m trying to forget the smell of the insulation and the ache in my arms holding plasterboard up while at the top
of a ladder due to its height. The new bedroom floorboards were original but had been in an attic for 200 years. We swept, hoovered and mopped multiple times to reveal the character. We may varnish but it was totally right to preserve them. The driveway was transformed with 20 tonnes of stones and under webbing we manually moved together. I wish to state that I shovelled at least one ton, despite Neil disputing this. The villagers have been
marvellous – particularly our neighbours, the previous owners, of what had been a family home. They helped
42 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: July/August 2023 HELPFUL TIPS
If you don’t speak French, learn a few words/phrases, download a translation app, it goes a long way till you can practice more.
Accept invites in your village, it may not always be easy with the language but they are fun and a few words with sign language really work. Join a local team or club – it can help with integration and language if needed.
Look at the six-month visa to stay longer if you are able, to schedule the work.
A towbar and trailer are essential if you are doing the work.
Look at secondhand items. Check out websites such as
leboncoin.fr, Facebook marketplace, brocantes, vide-greniers (house content sales) and animal charities in your area.
Take the weekends off to recharge your batteries.
Have a few jobs on the go so if you get frustrated – and you will – you can change jobs and then go back to it.
Get the store cards offered in shops for access offers.
for our elderly neighbour to call in to check our progress on the way to feed her donkeys. So, absolutely, you can have
a ‘petit château on a budget’ with nine months’ work. Our final spend including the house purchase, living expenses, renovations and this year’s fosse will be €86,000. OK it’s not really a château, but we love it and it’s ours. We wish to thank all the
people who have helped us and hope they know how much they are appreciated. I am off to sit in the sun and read a book with a glass of wine – heavenly. Or maybe not, I can hear Neil calling, he needs me to pass him the hammer. ■
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