After the Netherlands, we went house hunting in Dordogne. Rob had been there regularly on holiday in the past, I had never been there. It is a beautiful area with hills, many forests, rivers, idyllic villages, and beautiful old houses. We especially liked the sandstone houses built by knights and other noblemen in the 15th and 16th centuries; large, stately rooms with monumental sandstone fireplaces, and a warm atmosphere.

I think we looked at more than 40 houses in the Dordogne. We made several offers on houses, but we never went through with them.

There were several houses that were very beautiful, and that we had already completely renovated in our minds. We had already made the sketches and the financial calculations; even lists of the things we would take with us. Initially, we were looking for a second house, besides the house we had in Rotterdam. But we didn’t rule out emigrating altogether – we made that depend on what we could find, and of course on the price.

One of the first houses we looked at in the Dordogne was in Leguillac-de-Cercles. A picturesque village, just northwest of Periguex. A beautiful maison de maître with a large sandstone fireplace, on a large piece of land with a beautiful pigeonier (a kind of lookout tower) on the land, and a complete woodworking shop in the barn.

The doubts: it was too much in the village (not far from the house there seemed to be a hangout for young people…), and there was a huge crack in the house. The house was on a slope, and that crack could well mean that the entire rear facade was slowly collapsing down the hill… It was also just a bit too expensive. But so beautiful!!!

Then we came across a beautiful house in the hamlet of La Barbinie near Brantome. A beautiful house with lots of atmosphere, but no view at all, and a huge collapsed barn. And behind that collapsed barn there was a large barn full of sheep or goats; in any case, it smelled quite bad. That barn belonged to a strange old man with whom it was difficult to communicate (even though I speak fluent French). So, we didn’t buy it after all.

In that same village we had also seen a small, dilapidated house with a handwritten ‘for sale’ sign in the garden. We had secretly climbed inside, and just when we were outside again someone drove up. That turned out to be the owner. Oops! We had a quick chat and went inside with the owner again. Pomtiepom, tralala! Pretending we had not seen the house before…  Afterwards we had a glass of Pernod with him in the local pub. The house was very cheap, but it had to be rebuilt completely. It was in a very nice location and had a view. There wasn’t much land, but enough for a large vegetable garden. There was also a large water storage. Something you do need in Dordogne.

Back in the Netherlands we made all sorts of plans to renovate the house, but we didn’t buy it in the end. We had been thinking about it for a long time. Why not? Well, something was obviously not right. Or we just wanted to keep looking. That could have been it!

Anyway, every time we were in Dordogne we drove past the little house; La Barbinie was still a magical place.

Eventually we came across something very special not far from Brantome. It was a whole hamlet consisting of 3 houses and several stables. One of the houses was a maison de maitre. It was beautifully situated against the edge of a forest, behind a castle. A lot of work, but it was so beautiful there!

It was all quite dilapidated, but apparently someone had lived in the maison de maitre until recently. Or so they said.

After the first visit we were lyrical: this was what we had been looking for all that time. Here we could make all our dreams come true.

We did some calculations and drawings, and we made an appointment to go and have another look. The day of the second visit it rained very hard. Inside the maison de maitre too. The entire roof was leaking. All the roofs were leaking. The water was washing over the stairs and along the walls. It was a huge disappointment. Our tears were invisible because of the rain, but we were both crying so hard!

Because we couldn’t seem to get anywhere in Dordogne, we occasionally looked in other areas in France. We looked in Normandy and Brittany, but that wasn’t a success.

That was my own fault: I had forgotten to ask the estate agents for the exact location of the houses in advance. French estate agents usually don’t give the exact location of a house in the advertisement. When selling a house in France, there is often no exclusive estate agent, so the location is worth money.

Because there were often quite a few months between our search trips, I sometimes forgot this very important tip. And then it immediately hits: a pigsty, a quarry or something else that you do not want to have close to your house!

But hey, even when fully informed, things can go wrong. One of the last houses we looked at in France was on the Gironde River, west of Bordeaux. This was also a maison de maitre with outbuildings and land. And a view of the Gironde River. Very beautiful indeed! The location was found on Google Earth and extensively researched. There were no obstacles nearby. I had called the real estate agent to find out more about the condition of the house. Given the asking price, it was important that the roof, walls, floors and windows (the grand oeuvres, so to speak) were in order. The real estate agent had sworn to me that this was the case. Hence, we travelled south, to an area completely unknown to us.

The day before the viewing we went to see the house, and it was gorgeous. A beautiful facade, and a magnificent view over the river and the floodplains. The next day came the disappointment. Once inside the house it was really a complete slum, everything was corroded and broken. It was a hopeless task unfortunately for us. Complete rebuilding did not fit into our budget, so the whole trip had been for nothing. Well, it was a nice trip of course, but still a shame.

That is how our search ended in France. We enjoyed it very much, but we did not find our house.

Read more about our house hunting adventures in the next blog. 

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