a house to dream about - and then rebuild

Before I start I should say that this post comes with a health warning - not for the faint hearted!

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago, in a post about a beautiful house beside the river,  I showed you this photo of a small house for sale.

Well, I have received so many emails asking me more about the house and about buying old properties in France that I managed to arrange a visit of the property - just for you!

Steel yourselves dear readers - especially those of you used to slick real estate presentations, there is nothing slick about this.  This property needs a lot of work  total renovation, so what I show you today must be seen as a shell or a blank canvas, needing  a helping hand  major reconstruction to become habitable and then decorating   even more work to become beautiful.

First of all the dry facts.   The plot of land is long and narrow and measures approximately 1000 square meters.  The house is the same shape and occupies about a quarter of the space.

The photo above is taken just inside the property looking back over the gate towards the neighbours house on the other side of the road.

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 Although the façade on the road has been plastered to hide the stone work, all the rest of the property still has the stone and brick walls showing.

The outside definitely has potential charm.   Originally used as three separate cottages, the property is not short on doors.  I think I counted nine!  Three or four of those are two-part stable doors.

Sadly this sweet dog isn't included in the sale!

Beyond this last part of the house the garden continues into what was once a potager, and could be turned into a charming jardin de curé.  On one side of the property there is a large house, on the other a brick barn.  It is very quiet and peaceful.

I liked the water pump and the decorative moulding above a couple of the windows.

 Inside there are a large number of small rooms.  The estate agent told me five bedrooms, he's probably right - I lost count.  I definitely saw three former fireplaces including this one used as a bedhead!

 There are several tiny bathrooms, a workshop, a laundry room, a wood shed, two staircases

..... two or three living rooms, a kitchen and some interesting wooden beams  ......

and even the former owners checking out who comes visiting!

Please don't think I'm making fun or criticising.  It's neither.  I simply wanted to show that renovating an old property here is not always a soft option.  It can require time, vision, good taste and considerable energy.  If someone had enough of the above they'd be rewarded with a beautiful and good sized house with loads of character.

So now I can repeat my question of a few weeks back  "Any takers?"