My loving wife has served her time in the army, but this had to be one of her bravest missions yet. The toilet hadn’t been cleaned for over 20 years and was blocked. The smell as you can imagine was rather unpleasant. There was furry mould almost an inch thick on the walls and floor. […]
Blog
Spring Water Conversion to Mains
On our land is at least one well. There is a large pond 20m x 18m and possibly two more springs. We have been told the water to our house comes from a larger spring in a neighbouring field. However, nobody seems to know for sure as it was installed over 130 years ago by […]
Cherry Wood Wardrobe and WW2
Whilst trying to move an incredibly heavy cherry wood wardrobe and wash stand we made a few discoveries. We needed to move the wardrobe to strip wallpaper and lift lino from the floors. The wardrobe unfortunately weighed the best part of 50 stone. Every panel was made at least 1 inch thick including the back […]
Rusty Sewing Machines and Old Photos
In Dec 1910 as an engagement present to his son, Monsieur Guillard was gifted this house. In Jan 1912 he married. On the 14th July 1914 The Great War Broke out and Monsieur Guillard was called to duty. The property was inherited from Madame Guillard in 1947 by her daughters. Left behind in this house […]
Broken Window
After signing with the notaire, the first priority was fix a broken window in the attic. Rain was pouring in and had already caused damp problems but had encouraged woodworm. The window had probably been missing for many years, if not decades. The house had been unoccupied since the late 90’s. At 600m above sea […]
Remembrance Bench – Je t’aime
Mandy recently lost her father Tony and I recently lost my mum. As a tribute to their lives and as a tranquil place to sit, we began creating a remembrance bench. For years, my mum ‘Diane Rose’, used to sit on this garden bench in the Lake District, feeding the birds. Since then however, it […]
Acte Authentique De Vente
An Authentic Deed of Sale or ‘Acte Authentique De Vente’ is an official document drawn up by a public official (notary clerk or ‘notaire’) during the purchase of a property. Typically on the day the ‘Acte Authentique De Vente’ is signed, the full purchase funds are transferred. Once capital gains tax and notaires fees paid, […]
Compromis de Vente
Many would think that would be a notaire that draws up the preliminary sales contract or Compromis de Vente. but in most cases it is in fact the agent immoblier. The notary or notaire will not become involved until this very important contract is in place. The Compromis de Vente is a legally binding contract […]
France’s SAFER (Société d’aménagement foncier et d’établissement rural)
If you are a first time buyer in France then you probably haven’t heard of ‘right of pre-emption’ (droit de préemption), or France’s SAFER (Société d’aménagement Foncier Et d’établissement Rural). SAFER Right of Pre-emption SAFER are a rural agency that have the right of pre-emption (droit de préemption) on most rural property that comes onto […]
First Right of Refusal – ‘pacte de préférence’
When we bought our house we enquired whether we could exercise a ‘pacte de préférence‘ or first right of refusal on a neighbouring plot of land. The neighbouring plot of land was also owned by the vendor. Without that plot of land we would affectively be trespassing every time we used the door to the […]