On 9/9/07 09:05, in article , "David
(Normandy)" wrote:
All my instincts are to preserve it. I do admit that I'm an advocate of
old
houses, investing in property etc. but....I really, really do think that
to
lose something of that age and so beautiful might be a financial loss to
you
in the fullness of time. If that was here, in this village, it would be
worth a lot of money even as it stands.
Britons are fleeing abroad, more and more by the year. One day in the not
too distant future merely shoring that up and keeping a better roof on it
might be worth a lot to you and your heirs. Just my two cents but I fell
in
love with it! ;-)
--
Sacha
Maybe one day it will be financially viable to repair. I think parts of the
roof have been missing for a number of years. It is just the sheer cost of
doing anything with it. The main house is a money pit in itself, and that is
in better condition than the barn, but still needs a lot of time and money
spending on it. It will take me many years and everything I earn to get the
entire property into order.
David.
Well, the nice thing is that it's not going anywhere. Some friends of mine
who were school teachers in UK, moved to France about 18 years ago and
literally bought a small hamlet. It was in very poor shape but consisted of
three houses. They restored two of them, one for them to live in and one in
which they taught English children doing A levels, French and did
translation work for local businesses etc. They spent years gradually doing
up these places, concentrating first on the boarding house/teaching
building, before really getting on with their own house. They have turned
the whole thing into something very successful. One of my more surreal
experiences was locking into the Rance only to have my god daughter's head
appear above us shouting hello. She was studying with them, quite unknown
to me and hearing from them that we were on our way up to Le Chatelier, had
come down to see us come in. ;-) One of these days, you might find it
handy to have building waiting to be renovated and used for visiting
children/grandchildren etc. and it's just sitting there. Lovely, lovely
place you have.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'