I joined my husband for a couple of days in our house earlier this week. I flew into Beziers Cap d’Agde Airport in my warm boots, having left a cold rainy Luton Airport behind just over an hour before. I was greeted by sunshine and palm trees waving: a great omen. We lingered over a glass of wine at a 17th century port at Marseillan in the late afternoon sun before heading back to our house. “I must say French plumbing is a bit of a minefield,” said my husband. However, not one to sit on his laurels, since he had been there for a few days before me, he had already installed 2 stop cocks, bought a shower unit and a water heater, not to mention finishing his drawings for our new balcony and spiral staircase outside. He had earned his glass of Minervois wine in the sun…

This would be our last time here before we come back down for several months with Eddie & Alfie. Driving from village to village, watching the hills in the background is a joy. Relying on my slightly better command of the language than his, my husband decided to wait until my arrival to sort out our bank account and telephone. So off we went to Carcassonne the next day and both of these rather important items were taken care of. It was all pretty straightforward, French bureaucracy notwithstanding, and as always I was ably assisted by my very own French Buying Guide(www.francebuyingguide.com/guide.htm)! Carcassonne is stunning, I look forward to a proper visit to the ancient city in the weeks to come.

On Wednesday the sun shone again and I sneaked over the square to take a look inside the stunning 14th century church whilst my husband was up a ladder checking out our rather archaic fuse box. The interior is so beautiful, it took my breath away. It is uplit at night, bathed in yellow and can be seen from afar as one approaches the village like a welcoming beacon. I realised that our new life in France is something I am so ready for.

Everyone we have met in our village and locality has been friendly and helpful. “Bonjour Rod,” said the chap in the plumbers’ merchants. They shook hands and I was introduced to Christophe. He welcomed us to the area and admired our sense of adventure he said. “You know, I have not encountered a single unfriendly face here” said my husband. “I just don’t want to go back to the UK.”

But back we came to be greeted by 2 wet noses and a lot of wagging. The thought of our dogs joining us in France for several months is a great one. The French are huge dog lovers and we will have no trouble finding somewhere to stay on the long journey down by car which welcomes pets. Excellent news too: Eddie & Alfie have passed their blood tests! Their passports will be issued imminently so we are free to travel with them very soon. Next time I will be writing from our house, no doubt in front of a roaring log fire, dogs at my feet.

I just cannot imagine life getting any better than this.

Thoughts for our French Home

The last few days have flown by in a flurry of fine tuning our wonderful drawings for the exterior of our house (done by my husband), French lessons for Eddie & Alfie (yes really) and most importantly, musing on the different types of wine we are about to enjoy down in the Languedoc Roussillon (the best bit).

I write with my France Buying Guide by my side, consulting my own description of this beautiful area. www.francebuyingguide.com/guide.htm

There is so much to discover down there, we are determined to make time to tootle along the Canal du Midi, stare at the wonderful old churches and marvel at the incredible ancient city of Carcassonne. “This is not an assault course”, said my husband. He is right: although we have a lot of hard graft to undertake on this property and we can’t wait to get our hands on it, we will make time to enjoy our new surroundings, welcome in the Spring and make new friends. I have a sneaking suspicion that our project may well attract some interest in our village. The charming couple in the chambre d’hote where we spent 2 nights last week told us to pass by for a welcoming aperitif when we return; the lady in the boulangerie welcomed us to the village and said if we need help of any kind, just to pop in any time….

We have found ourselves itching to get back there, so much so that my husband decided to make another short trip down there whilst I pack up here. He is there now! He wants to feel the fabric of the house, muse on how the rooms are going to work, gain some vision for our garden plan. Preparation is often the key to success and between us, I have no doubt that the renovation of this grand old house will be successful.

We make a good team, he and I. A designer by trade, he is champing at the bit to get his hands on this building and make the space work. I shall enjoy making it into a comfortable home, shopping in the local market, lighting log fires. But for now it is all hands on deck!

As I write, we await the results of Eddie & Alfie’s blood tests in a few days’ time. All being well, they will be issued with their passports and from then on, it will be no holds barred: we will be on our way down in our left-hand drive car. More information on both pets and cars in France can be found in the France Buying Guide, I must remember to pack my own copy…

I will not miss February here in the UK, it has been overcast and cold. Warmer weather and a whole lot more await us down in the South of France, not long to go now till we are welcoming in the sunlight.

A lot can happen in a week and this past one has been one we will remember all our lives. We became the new owners of this huge house in the Aude as the sun began to set last Friday. We are buying it from the Church and the priest shook our hands warmly as the transaction took place. Our lovely agent presented us with a bottle of local wine and the notaire thrust the large key into our hands. We were off to our new home!

I talked about life’s moments last week and next came one of those to cherish: my husband opened the huge front door and sitting in the grand tiled hallway was a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, beribboned in red white and blue along with two glasses. Yes, he had secretly arranged with the priest to have this ready and waiting for our first entrance. We drank a toast to ourselves, our new French house and our future life in France.

Our rented van stood outside, filled to the brim with many of our worldly goods. Where to start, we thought? The future months will mean a lot of hard toil but first things first, we lit a fire in one of our marble fireplaces and sat in front of it to start planning. I opened out the handy worksheets I had brought with me from my France Buying Guide and decided that the best thing is to take things in stages. We needed to make the house at least temporarily into a comfortable living space whilst we worked out our plans for renovation.

Tired but happy, we decided to leave unloading our van until the next day and made our way across the road in our little village to the lovely chambre d’hote that we had booked for one night. Bright and early the next morning my husband and super stepson Jack unloaded the van whilst I went off to the local Carrefour supermarket to buy brooms, cleaning materials and the like. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up, clearing up and swinging between thoughts of how much we have to do and great excitement at the very idea of it.

In about 3 weeks we will be driving down to our house to stay there for several months. Our puppy Cocker spaniels, Eddie & Alfie will be coming with us once they have their passports. Details of how to go about this, amongst many many other things, as well as those incredibly handy worksheets I was talking about can be found in my France Buying Guide here: www.francebuyingguide.com/guide.htm

I leave you with a picture of this grand house, the sheer scale of it really takes one’s breath away.

Watch this space for more on our progress, the work is about to begin.

We are signing the "Acte de Vente" today!

I imagine by the time you are reading this, we will be the proud owners of a large old house down in the sunny Languedoc Roussillon. Yes, we are off to the notaire’s office late afternoon today to sign the “Acte de Vente” and then, huge key in hand, we will open the door and fling open the shutters to let the light in.

I often think that life is about moments and the good ones are to be remembered. In this world so many of us tend to be constantly planning our next move, working out what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next year. There is nothing wrong with that of course, it needs to be done, but moments like this really do deserve to be cherished. My husband and I have both always adored France and for us, this really will be a dream moment.

Our agent has been marvellous: not only has she liaised magnificently with the Church regarding the contents of the house, some of which we are keeping, she has made us appointments with the local bank and a couple of builders so that we can really get our teeth into renovating this property from the start. We even have an invitation to dinner to meet some of our neighbours! A good agent is a must. You can find out more about how to go about finding decent property agents and other professionals in my France Buying Guide www.francebuyingguide.com/guide.htm

I am lucky enough to have a husband whose idea of heaven is to be in a tool shop. A film production designer by trade, his skills extend to installing bathrooms, kitchens, floors, painting – I could go on. His French language skills do not quite come into the same category however and for this he will largely be relying on me so I have a feeling we will make quite a good team and he will no longer be pointing to obscure drill bits in shops such as M. Bricolage, he will have me to translate. I love the French language and would encourage anyone to try their hand at brushing their French up before embarking on a life there. I have some tips for you on how best to go about this in my Guide.

I am so looking forward to my next blog, no doubt I will have a tale or two to tell from our first few days in our house. One of the first things I intend to do is to go and introduce myself to our “maire”. I am hopeful he will be as pleased as we are that this glorious but faded house will be breathing new life in the coming months. And who knows where that will lead? New friends, new experiences and a great deal of sunlight await us down in the South of France.

Until next week...

Alexis Goldberg

mailto:Alexis@OverseasGuidesCompany.com