Our Dream Derelict Home In The Sun had been abandoned for nearly 30 years.
It had no running water, electric, heating or septic tank. There were broken windows, holes in the roof, woodworm and black mold growing up the walls.
The only occupants for decades had been rodents, bats, bees and hoards of other creepy crawlies.
It was heaven and we were instantly in love the moment we stepped one foot inside the rotten door.
Watch every YouTube episode as we transform this derelict rural French farmhouse back to it’s former splendor.
In the garden is an ancient well dating back nearly 1,000 years. The barn is crammed full of lost treasures, yet to be discovered.
France is such a fabulous land to explore and with abandoned houses being a fraction of the cost of the UK it was always a dream to spend our retirement years renovating a house in the Sun.
Join us on our journey, as the local community welcome us in as we Escape to ‘The Good Life’ in Sun.
DIY house renovation isn’t for everyone and many locals are simply shocked and amazed that two unskilled Brits have taken up the challenge of renovating abandoned house.
With very few skills and an extremely tight budget to complete the renovation work, the only option was to roll up our sleeves and learn some new skills.
For the first few months we would essentially be wild camping.
Follow us along our journey as we get our 1860’s rural property in the Creuse back to life. This is not a renovation fixer upper, this is a full house renovation from top to bottom, with even the mortar being stripped form the remaining walls.
We had traveled to France regularly for 30 years. Mark had even cycled bottom to top, crossing the Alps in just 7 days.
Now Mark is older and his doctors have asked him whether he could ‘slow down’.
It was time to re-arrange our lives and adopt a more French lifestyle.
We had covered pretty much every corner but we limited our search to the western side, from Bretagne down to the Dordogne.
We found two properties of interest. One in the Pays De La Loire and the second in the Creuse, Limousin.
Just three years rent on our UK home, would buy this crumbling maison in the Creuse outright.
We made our choice.
Although our choice had been left unoccupied for 30 years, it was three times larger than our present house and came with loads of glorious land.
We have very limited funds to complete the restoration, but we have enthusiasm and time on our side.
Check out our Channel on YouTube @ourfrenchrenovation!
