the East Devon coast in 2022, enjoying the garden and the beach, and this contributed to our decision to sell. Plus, we had spent an idyllic weekend at a beautiful Landmark Trust lock-keeper’s cottage, without any responsibility for maintaining the building. The speed at which it all
moved forward was quite a shock. We were there during our September holiday for all the statutory diagnostic checks – we knew, once sold, it would need a new septic tank and rewiring, so it was priced accordingly. It went live online and in the agency window
Ian and Jenny on their last day at their Brittany holiday home, with estate agent Franck
Saying goodbye to our Breton bolthole
A milestone birthday prompted Ian and Jenny Wasson to bid a fond farewell to their happy place in Brittany
W
ell, just one week short of 19 years of ownership,
we completed the sale of our pretty holiday home near the lovely town of Josselin in Morbihan. We’re full of mixed emotions as it fi nally dawns on us that we won’t be going there anymore. We’d talked about selling
up a couple of times over the past few years, but when the time came to actually put our words into practice, it almost felt like a spur-of-the-moment thing. In 2022, we had by September already enjoyed two three-week breaks at the house in April and June. We’d had great times, even travelling down to Provence
for my 70th birthday in April. In fact, we arrived at our house in September looking forward, as usual, to a leisurely stay, with a planned short trip to the Île de Ré. But after we arrived, for some reason, the enormity of having the responsibility of a property the other side of the Channel hit me. I was sure the feeling would pass as we settled in, but the next day I went on my daily walk up to the local boulangerie for our usual baguette and croissants to discover that it was closing down a couple of weeks later. I felt devastated! I walked home and just said
to my wife: “You know, I think it might be time to sell up.” We talked about it over breakfast, and during the rest of the day,
52 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: July/August 2023
and agreed to call in at our local immobilier, BPS, in Josselin – the same agency we had bought the house from in 2004. Franck still worked there, and so we started the whole process.
TIME TO LEAVE? The responsibility of having a rural house in France was, without doubt, aff ecting me more. A brilliant couple looked after the place when we were not there, Fiona and Tristen Hartery from Helléan, and they did a superb job, even in the fi nal year, cleaning the place before we arrived. But I always worried when I read the area was going to be hit by a storm or heavy rain. We had spent a lovely
summer at our UK house on
“If we could turn the clock back 18 years, would we still have bought our place? Yes!”
on the Saturday; we had two viewings on the Monday, and received a full asking price off er to include all the furniture and fi ttings – our dream scenario – on the Wednesday. It was from a lovely French couple from near Bordeaux looking for a holiday home in the north, away from the searing summer heat. We accepted it! Bertrand Guillemot of BPS
was superb all the way through the process, keeping us fully informed about everything by email in English. We decided not to go to France for the signing as we’d popped over for a short break at the end of November to bring back some personal eff ects and we’d said our goodbyes then. This meant having to fi nd a local notary in the UK to witness our signature and initials on the contract, which we sent back by courier due to the industrial action with postal services in the UK. We asked Fiona to do a fi nal clean and tidy up in the garden, sent a ‘welcome to your new home’ card to the agent to give to the new owner at the signing, and that was that! The process was smooth with one exception – it
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