What a gem! Are you *sure* you can't make it into a cottage? ;-) Those
lovely old oak (?) lintels above doors and windows make my mouth water.
It
is just gorgeous and yes, I can see rampant vegetation is called for to
create your bower! ;-) Do you have to take the roof off for safety's
sake
or is that too dangerous in itself?


--
Sacha

It certainly has some good points, re the oak lintels and some really heavy
oak beams in parts of the inside. We made enquiries with the local authority
and in principle they have no objections to converting it into one or more
habitable properties. It is just a question of cost versus return. It would
be cheaper to demolish it and rebuild modern houses on the land, though
modern houses lack the character. If the property was situated anywhere in
the UK it would be worth a fair amount and perhaps worth the cost of
renovating. However, here in France with the lower property prices the value
of such a renovated building would be less than the expenditure restoring
it. Though the market could change in the future.

David.

On 8/9/07 17:42, in article ,
"Jennifer Sparkes" wrote:

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

Snip
What a gem! Are you *sure* you can't make it into a cottage? ;-) Those
lovely old oak (?) lintels above doors and windows make my mouth water. It
is just gorgeous and yes, I can see rampant vegetation is called for to
create your bower! ;-) Do you have to take the roof off for safety's sake
or is that too dangerous in itself?

... or plant hydrangeas in the 'drip area' of the roof
- could get some good blues/mauves.

Jennifer

Now that really *is* taking lemons and making lemonade. ;-)) Well thought
of, Jennifer.
--
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.'

I see some 'Holiday Lets' here ;-)

Wouldn't cost too much to set something up. Want a partner? ;-)

Mike

Thanks for the offer Mike, but as the housing market stands in France at the
moment it would be a money pit. There are a number of old stone properties
around Normandy that are falling into ruins, simply because it is not
usually cost effective to restore them. The French generally prefer modern
well insulated homes and are bemused by us Brits moving out here spending a
small fortune restoring their heritage. There are also some strange laws and
taxes here which hit the unwary developer, particularly those who DIY.
Believe it or not you can actually end up with a tax bill substantially
higher than any profit made on a development, converting a profit into a
loss and making you wish you'd never started in the first place! There are
aspects of the French tax system that completely kill innovation, initiative
and enterprise.

David.

"David (Normandy)" wrote in message
...
I see some 'Holiday Lets' here ;-)

Wouldn't cost too much to set something up. Want a partner? ;-)

Mike

Thanks for the offer Mike, but as the housing market stands in France at
the moment it would be a money pit. There are a number of old stone
properties around Normandy that are falling into ruins, simply because it
is not usually cost effective to restore them. The French generally prefer
modern well insulated homes and are bemused by us Brits moving out here
spending a small fortune restoring their heritage. There are also some
strange laws and taxes here which hit the unwary developer, particularly
those who DIY. Believe it or not you can actually end up with a tax bill
substantially higher than any profit made on a development, converting a
profit into a loss and making you wish you'd never started in the first
place! There are aspects of the French tax system that completely kill
innovation, initiative and enterprise.

David.


Don't want to say too much, ....... hang on in there :-))

All I 'will' say, is that it's not what you know, but 'who' you know. And
that applies all over the world

" ;-) ;-) know what I mean?"

'Some' people think me stupid. Don't make the same mistake and follow on
their coat tails.


Mike


--
www.rneba.org.uk for the latest pictures of the very first reunion and
Inaugural General Meeting. Nothing less than a fantastic success.
The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy
www.rneba.org.uk to find your ex-Greenie mess mates
www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand

"Jennifer Sparkes" wrote in message
...
The message
from Sacha contains these words:

Snip
What a gem! Are you *sure* you can't make it into a cottage? ;-) Those
lovely old oak (?) lintels above doors and windows make my mouth water.
It
is just gorgeous and yes, I can see rampant vegetation is called for to
create your bower! ;-) Do you have to take the roof off for safety's
sake
or is that too dangerous in itself?

... or plant hydrangeas in the 'drip area' of the roof
- could get some good blues/mauves.

Jennifer

I like blue hydrangeas. Do hydrangeas like wet ground? They would certainly
get a good dripping when it rains as there is no guttering. What about
Winter though - it can get a bit muddy there. Would they need to be planted
in mini raised beds to help keep their roots from drowning? That is what
I've done with the climbers.

David.

"Klara" wrote in message
...

Our next-door neighbour has a very large house and some 7 acres of
derelict orchard behind it, some of it extending behind our house and
garden. He also runs most of his heating on a wood-fired boiler. In the
past he had his wood store and saw bench halfway down the orchard, but in
the last fortnight he has built a very large woodshed out of derelict
asbestos sheeting right at the bottom of our garden, in full view of our
house (though not his). In the course of building it, he has hacked (his)
laurel hedge between us more or less to the ground and replaced it with a
few tiny saplings. We are becoming reconciled to the thought that we might
have to put up a fence to hide some of the eyesore (it's about 10-12 feet
tall), at least from the ground floor....

But the second problem is, he has, in the past, spent a lot of his time
cutting logs on his bench saw, and it used to be bad enough from halfway
through the orchard. Now the woodshed is the obvious place to do it. But
we work from home, and our windows face the back....

We are on friendly terms, and I did ask about the sawing, but I didn't get
an answer and he went ahead with it anyway.

I don't suppose there is much we can do: his land is classified as
agricultural land, so sawing wood is part of the brief, and in any case we
would not like to fall out with them - but short of planting a forest
instead of our garden, is there anything we can do to hide the eyesore and
minimise the noise?


You could try writing to the "Property" section of the Saturday Telegraph
(forget your politics) and explaining your problem. They are very good
about property and legal issues. Have a look, since yours sounds like one
of the problems they may be able to help you with.

someone

In message , someone
writes
I don't suppose there is much we can do: his land is classified as
agricultural land, so sawing wood is part of the brief, and in any case we
would not like to fall out with them - but short of planting a forest
instead of our garden, is there anything we can do to hide the eyesore and
minimise the noise?


You could try writing to the "Property" section of the Saturday
Telegraph (forget your politics) and explaining your problem. They are
very good about property and legal issues. Have a look, since yours
sounds like one of the problems they may be able to help you with.

Thanks, someone: I'll have a look!

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

"Klara" wrote in message
...
I don't suppose there is much we can do: his land is classified as
agricultural land, so sawing wood is part of the brief, and in any case
we would not like to fall out with them - but short of planting a
forest instead of our garden, is there anything we can do to hide the
eyesore and minimise the noise?

At the risk of falling out with him.. Try asking the planning officer for
the area (planning department at local council offices) if you are allowed
to build such a big woodstore/workshop on agricultural land without planning
permission.

Perhaps offer to buy the land from him so he has to move it?

Noise is very hard to suppress.

"Klara" wrote in message
...
in the last fortnight he has built a very large woodshed out of derelict
asbestos sheeting

It may look like asbestos sheeting but it's more likely to be Fibre Cement
Sheeting which is similar but contains no asbestos.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...UK%7CcountryGB

On 8/9/07 17:52, in article , "David
(Normandy)" wrote:

What a gem! Are you *sure* you can't make it into a cottage? ;-) Those
lovely old oak (?) lintels above doors and windows make my mouth water.
It
is just gorgeous and yes, I can see rampant vegetation is called for to
create your bower! ;-) Do you have to take the roof off for safety's
sake
or is that too dangerous in itself?


--
Sacha

It certainly has some good points, re the oak lintels and some really heavy
oak beams in parts of the inside. We made enquiries with the local authority
and in principle they have no objections to converting it into one or more
habitable properties. It is just a question of cost versus return. It would
be cheaper to demolish it and rebuild modern houses on the land, though
modern houses lack the character. If the property was situated anywhere in
the UK it would be worth a fair amount and perhaps worth the cost of
renovating. However, here in France with the lower property prices the value
of such a renovated building would be less than the expenditure restoring
it. Though the market could change in the future.

David.


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
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.'

On 8/9/07 18:17, in article , "David
(Normandy)" wrote:


"Jennifer Sparkes" wrote in message
...
The message
from Sacha contains these words:

Snip
What a gem! Are you *sure* you can't make it into a cottage? ;-) Those
lovely old oak (?) lintels above doors and windows make my mouth water.
It
is just gorgeous and yes, I can see rampant vegetation is called for to
create your bower! ;-) Do you have to take the roof off for safety's
sake
or is that too dangerous in itself?

... or plant hydrangeas in the 'drip area' of the roof
- could get some good blues/mauves.

Jennifer

I like blue hydrangeas. Do hydrangeas like wet ground? They would certainly
get a good dripping when it rains as there is no guttering. What about
Winter though - it can get a bit muddy there. Would they need to be planted
in mini raised beds to help keep their roots from drowning? That is what
I've done with the climbers.

David.


It would be the iron stuff dripping off the roof they'd enjoy. Hydrangeas
need a lot of water but don't want to drown, no. Having said that, we have
what Hyams called "the Hydrangea walk" here and it's one of the wettest
areas of the garden. ;-)

--
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.'

It would be the iron stuff dripping off the roof they'd enjoy. Hydrangeas
need a lot of water but don't want to drown, no. Having said that, we
have
what Hyams called "the Hydrangea walk" here and it's one of the wettest
areas of the garden. ;-)

--
Sacha

I've mentioned this to the Mrs and she's going to get some Hydrangea
cuttings growing, ready to plant there next year.

David.

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.

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.


As I said in an earlier post, 'hang on in there' and if it is investment you
want ..... ;-)

Mike


--
www.rneba.org.uk for the latest pictures of the very first reunion and
Inaugural General Meeting. Nothing less than a fantastic success.
The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy
www.rneba.org.uk to find your ex-Greenie mess mates
www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand

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.'