France Days 9 to 15

Friday

So we have made an offer on the house we saw yesterday.  An initial offer of E250k with permission for Dave to go as high as E260k without refering back to us.  We are hoping this works given the long time the house has been on the market.  At its peak in 2007, the house was probably worth E400k!

So with all these thoughts going on, it is off to the zoo at La Palmyre, near Royan.  This is superb, perhaps the best zoo we have ever been to.  It took us about 6 hours to walk round it in the high 30s heat.  Stupendous!  And I took some of the best photos I have ever taken, now I have worked out how to use my new camera a bit better. 

I am so pleased with the pictures that I have posted about 50 below!

But oddly enough, we don't hear back from Dave all day, though he did acknowledge the email just after we'd left this morning.  We had expected to hear from him at some point during the day.  I wonder whywe haven't?

Dinner at Saujon of pizza and pasta.  Then disaster as the little shop we expected to buy ice cream in is closed and so we drive an extra 10km to Royan after W has something of a tantrum about this.

Saturday

Today we have a planned trip to the beach near Royan, despite the forecast that temperatures might reach 40 this afternoon.  Just after we arrive there, we finally hear from Dave.  He says that he went to see the vendors last night and gave them our offer which they rejected.  Then, we he called again this morning to increase our offer, he found that we have been beaten by an offer at E270k.  This is from a ffrench family and Dave thinks it may hit problems and we should not assume we have lost yet.  So from not having had an offer in 15 months, they have received two offers on the same evening and we lose out - so close.

After more thought, we are a little suspicious about this - is this a ruse to get us to offer E270k.  But Dave does some work and finds it is an offer via another estate agent, and that the buyers saw the property on Wednesday and again on Friday.  So it does seem to be real

Needless to say, we are annoyed about this all day.  If we had seen it on Tuesday, or if our holiday had been a week earlier.  After all, this was one fo the properties from our first internet search back in June.

As promised, the temperature reaches 40 just after lunch and we retreat back to the hotel.  Later that afternoon, I found us another property at about the same price as the one we'd lost out on, and have asked Dave to arrange for us to see this and any others of similar or slightly higher price that he knows of that we can see on Monday

Dinner back at Royan at a nice restaurant on the sea front.

Sunday

Off to the nearby town of Cognac for the day so we can do the Martell tour.  This was where Daughter was back in late June.

So now we know all about how cognac is made and we have bought ourselves a bottle of the cheapest they had.  When Daughter was there, she was presented with a bottle of the E89 Cordon Blue cognac.

Back at the hotel by mid afternoon as we were having a meal there tonight - the full works.  Five courses of superb food for about E150.  As we have been eating cheaper than normal, we felt we could afford a blow out.  Two days ago, we hoped this might be a meal to celebrate our house purchase.

Dave has got appointment for tomorrow plus a couple of other ideas - we are meeting him in St Jean D'Angely tomorrow at 2:00

Monday

A lazy start as we have no other plans than seeing houses this afternoon.  I have downloaded a live recording made on the current Dead Can Dance tour.  Very pleased with this indeed.

We drove to St Jean via Pont L'Abbe where there is a market taking place.  We buy loads of local honey and get some ideas for house decoration from some of the linen stands.  Then it is off to meet Dave where we have another leisurely chat at the cafe in the centre of St Jean.

For the next hour, we are taken round at new house.  Priced the same as the previous one, this one is actually much better and at about 4:00pm our offer is accepted and we are buying a 7-bedroom Charantese farmhouse (hopefully)!!

More detail on this to follow!

So our meal out in Royan tonight is celebratory afterall.  So much so that Wife gets rather drunk on a couple of mohitos and then orders a huge plate of whitebait, which she's never eaten before but which it turns out she really likes.  Loads to talk about of course.

Tuesday

Travel back to Mousterlin

Fouesnant for dinner

Wednesday

Day by the pool,  reading

Fouesnant again

Le Forest de Fouesnant event

Thursday

Concarneau for the monring

back to Cherbourg

France days 5 to 8 - Househunting

Monday

What should have been a four hour drive to our new hotel take close to six hours as the traffic near La Rochelle is horrendous.  Our plan to follow the coastal road down was a bad idea, we should have stuck to the motorway to Saintes.  Our hotel is a former mill and we are staying in an area of reclaimed marsh.  Very flat indeed, and with lots of egrets and herons in view.

We travelled down to the coastal town of Royan tonight for dinner - huge plates of mussels, calimari and chips followed by ice cream

Tuesday

Across to Jarnac to meet Matt, our first estate agent.  We pass Saintes and Cognac on the way, where Daughter was the other week.  Matt drives to a small village to see property 1.  This is actually a very promising house - big and quirky, with an outdoors that is really wild.  The village is ok, but the overall location is quite isolated.  Nonetheless, this is a definitely possibility and is below E200k, so might be available at below E180k.

The wild garden - a feature I really liked

We liked it enough to repeat the journey in the afternoon to see some more of the local area.  So now we have a very possible candidate and the one that everything else will have to beat

Dinner in Soujon as a really nice pizzeria - a good choice after a full day out.

Wednesday

Today is our big day house viewing - 6 properties to see with Amanda from Mansle. 

Property 2 is so awful that I didn't even take any photos of it.  It hasn't been lived in for many months and is musty and damp inside.  Property 3, next door to 2, is not much better, but does have a nice garden slopping down to the beautiful River Charantes.  In fact this is the best thing about it.

Property 3's garden down to the river.

Property 4 is more promising.  Quite a nice house with a barn with great development potential.  Not as good as property 1 though.  The wife is quite ill and the owners want to return to the UK as quickly as possible.  All rather sad really.

I always quite like hangers and outbuildings.

Property 5 is very promising as a possible rival to property 1.  The house is a bit dark, but it has four marvellous outbuildings, a huge field out back with uninterrupted views over more fields , and even a large fish pond, which is a nice feature, but not for us who won't be able to look after it.

Now that is what I call an outbuilding

E10,000 worth of koi carp in the huge fish pond

Property 6 is our new favourite.  A classic four-bedroom Charantese farmhouse, with about two acres of wild garden and even a pool.  Priced at E225k, we might get it for under E200k.  The main disadvantage is that it is east of Angouleme and so too far from the coast.

Finally, Property 7, seen because it was very cheap and had a row of four cottages to convert.  But it was surrounded on three sides by a working farm, had no garden and the four cottages were derelict.  They also contained a huge amount of brandy casks - was this some sort of illegal alcohol operation?

Back to Royan for dinner tonight.  This is a big mistake as it is a national holiday and the town is packed.  It takes 30 minutes to park and all the restaurants are full and have 45 minute waiting lists.  We have ice cream for tea and retreat to the hotel. 

Lots to think about of course.

Thursday

Part of our decision making plan was based on going to see at least one more-expensve house so we could get an idea of what one could look like when we had finished renovating or decorating it.  So this morning sees us off to the tiny village of Taillant to meet Dave who is going to show us one priced at E285k.

This is the key decision of our trip and highlights what our decision really is.  Should we buy one in good condition in a good area for a higher price or one in poorer condition to do up, but much cheaper?  I had previously assumed that the answer was the second choice, but now I think it is much better to buy one that is more expensive.  Property 7 is lovely.  The furthest west of the houses we've seen, just 45 minutes from La Rochelle, and restored by the builder who owns it.  Very nice indeed.

After viewing for 45 minutes, Dave takes us into nearby St Jean d'Angely, which turns out to be exactly the classic French town that we like.  We have a couple of hours chat during which we discover that the property we now like best has been on the market for over a year and hasn't yet received an offer.  AMAZING, given how nice it is.  But the credit crunch has hit foreign house buying and locals can't afford such properties - nor do they seem to want them.

Later that afternoon, Wife and I decide to make a low-ball offer of E250k and see what happens.  We would be happy to go to E260k but above that, we'd have to see it again.

Dinner tonight is in the local town of Le Gua, when a huge number of gypsies roll up.  I have a rather nice entrecote steak with chips. 

So we have seen 8 properties now and like the most expensive best.  We aren't planning on seeing any more properties this trip but have learnt enough to significantly fine tune our wish list ready for my next visit in September.

Lots more to think about.  Will our offer be accepted?

Travelling to France and days 1 - 4

Wednesday

We arrived in Portmouth mid-afternoon and had time for a wander round the new development by the Spinnaker.  This is a surprisingly large shopping area, mainly outlet shops and restaurants.  I have acquired two new shirts and new shoes from the Timberland store.

We walked maybe 3 miles today and my knee is a little sore by the time we get back to the hotel.  But it does seem to be improving each day still.

Next time we go to France, we will try the St Malo overnight ferry.  In retrospect, it was pretty daft to stay overnight in Portmouth when we might just as well have been asleep on the boat.  Not only would we get off the ferry three hours earlier, we would be over an hour closer to our destination.

A daft decision to leave Thursday morning

Thursday

My knee is actually quite sore this morning and I had a very poor night's sleep.  It lools like I overdid it yesterday. 

It is a very smooth crossing to France this morning.  Nonetheless, Wife doesn't see well and spends some of the trip on the small open air bit at the back of the boat where all the ill people are.  So maybe a 6 hour sleeper trip might not be the best idea.

The drive from Cherbourg to Concarneau always seems to take longer than we expect.  Lunch is a pucnic at one of the aires we passed.  Such a contrast to UK service stations!

We get to our hotel later afternoon and are out for an early dinner in the small town of Fouesant nearby.  We have a favourite bar / restaurant where Wife can have a huge goat cheese salad and I can have a totally delicious disk of veal kidneys and chips

Friday

A relaxing beach day today.  I am reading Richard Wolin's book, The Wind from the East, about French Intellectuals flirtations with Maoism in the late 1960s and early 1970s

To Concarneau for dinner.  Wife seems stressed and it is not a happy evening. Hopefully not a sign of things to come this holiday.

Classic harbour view at Concarneau

An egret, if I am not mistaken

The first of many beers to be consumed this holiday

The first of many kirs to be consumed this holiday

Goat cheese salad - the second night

Moules a la creme

Saturday

To the beach again and a slightly sullen mood over the day.  I sleep lots, read lots, drink lots of water and coke.

I have started Julia Kristeva's The Samurai.  I have read two or three books by her before, but not her novel.  Most people refer to her as one of the most original modern thinkers.  That might be a polite way of saying she talks a lot of nonsense, most of the time!

Fouesnant again for dinner tonight

Sunday

A slightly overcast morning and off to Concarneau for the morning.  There is some sort of jousting event on in the old part of town.  We have a long phone call from Daughter who is not enjoying the last few weeks of her current employment before she departs for India in September.

A local band - Micamac - are playing in town.  We first saw them back in the early 1990s when we first holidayed in Brittany.  They had CD versions of the two cassettes I have by them.  While we are away at our next location, one of my all time favourite performers is playing in Concarneau - Alan Stivell.  I would have loved to have seen that show.

 
Micamac in concert.

Late afternoon, we have the preparation for our departure tomorrow - we haven't had long enough here for Wife to be fully relaxed yet and we now have a few days of househunting, which will not be relaxing either. 

Most of today has been the Mousterlin Festival of the Sea, which we attend late this evening for crepes and more beer / wine. 

Then despite planning an early start tomorrow, we stay up till 1:00am to watch the Olympics closing ceremony.

Last preparation for our holiday in France

We leave for France tomorrow.  This is a slightly different sort of holiday than we usually have as we are spending several days in the middle looking at French properties to possibly buy.  So far we have arranged to see 10 and that should be enough for us to get a really good idea of what we might be able to do.  Then I plan to fine-tune our property requirements and think carefully about all the various pros and cons, before perhaps returning to France in mid-September in order to find somewhere good enough to put in an offer on.

But we actually start our holiday in Brittany staying in a small hotel on the end of a long point near Concarneau.  Four nights there and then a few hours drive down the cost to near La Rochelle, where we have eight nights booked and where our property search will take place.  Finally, we return to Brittany for two more nights.

Last minute preparations are now taking place.  Twice in the last few days I have been to London to bring back some of Daughter's stuff, as she moves out of her flat while we are away.  I have had a really painful knee the last two weeks - viral arthritis - and this has only just started to heal properly in time for me walking up and down three flights of stairs carrying awkwardly shaped items.

Daughter will be back home at the end of August for two weeks before departing for India for nearly three months.  Despite the exciting things in her life, she wishes she was coming to France with us!  If we buy somewhere this autumn, she'll be able to spend the summer there next year.

The sort of property we are going to see.  This one borders a river and has fishing rights!