Nov 27

Nov 27 House hunting in the Dordogne

As many of you know, Mark and I have been thinking about moving to France for some years now. In fact, it was the secret purpose of our ten week trip in 2019 featured in previous posts.

On that trip, we almost purchased this house. Fortunately, we elected to pay for an inspection and found quite a few major issues with the house. The repairs would have pushed it well above our budget.

Leaky roof from the 1700’s. No thanks, I’ll pass on that!

We learned a lot about the French process of buying a house on that trip and decided we’d have another look this time while visiting friends in the Dordogne. With the Euro at parity with the dollar, it was looking like it might just work out this time…

I totally loved this manor house in Trémolat. It was a little bit at the top of our budget, but it was mostly renovated keeping the original details from the late 1800’s.

Lots of period details including wide plank floors and original doors with super cool hardware.

Adjacent to the house, the barns were untouched. Anybody ready for a rummage?

There were a couple of red flags on the inspection report (this time provided by the seller!) including a compromised beam in the barn pictured above. That would have had to been fixed immediately at great expense. Too bad.

Another property we visited had this gorgeous tobacco drying barn on the property. They are fairly common in this area, but this is one of the nicest ones I’ve seen.

If I had a bunch of dough, this would make a great barn house. Maybe needs a little insulation!

The house next to the barn needed a little work. Would you keep the lavender bathroom suite? You really get all sorts when it comes to interior design when looking for houses in France. I prefer a house that has not been renovated so you don’t have to pay good money for someone else’s bad decisions.

This house had some promise. Nice two story main living room that shows off the oak beams of the original barn.

But head into the kitchen and you find my least favorite kind of renovation. Why on earth would anyone put a kitchen like this in a historic barn conversion? Madness!

To end on a high note, let’s take a look at a house that was really done well. It had all the features we were looking for…

…a covered patio (look at the stone work on the floor!!!)…

… And an amazing kitchen … yes, that table is about 10 feet square!

This house really had it all. Charm for days. Period details. Modern amenities. Just one problem, the main bedroom was a dark little hole and the rest of the bedrooms and bathrooms were in a renovated, but musty, basement. Despite everything, this was really a fantastic house, just not for us.