Buying property in France and moving to the Dordogne, mortgage problems, living in the Dordogne countryside in an old property needing renovation

The events leading up to buying our property in France and subsequent life in France have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles and radio interviews. Whilst many books have been written about people buying property and moving to France, none are as interesting or event filled as what happened to my family. All I need is a film or television company to come along and buy the film rights and my life in France will be more perfect than it already is.

Start of article about property in the Dordogne France.

Previous page about buying property in France.

Various correspondence and legal papers crisscrossed the Channel needing my signature before we could finally say that our property in the Dordogne belonged to us and it was almost a year before I packed my wife and children into the car and drove them down for their first sighting of their holiday home in France.

In the meantime I had employed an English chap to contract builders to make the small living area more conducive to our standard of living and create two extra bedrooms in what had been a sheep stall and wine cave. This was just the start of turning the property into a number of Gites that would finance future developments and so make owning a property in France a profitable exercise. Remember, this was long before hundreds of thousands of Brits got the same idea and whilst I wasn't the first; in fact I wasn't the pioneer I thought I was; the idea of buying property in France and letting them out as holiday homes was still a niche market.

I knew that the property still wasn't habitable, so I booked us into a hotel in Perigueux before taking Julia and the children to explore our new estate. The following morning I drove them to the property for the first sight of their property in the Dordogne countryside. Like before, I parked at the top of the hill to allow them to take in the breathtaking views and my expectations of their gasps of delight weren't disappointing. However, on driving up to the property, it was obvious that the work on clearing the grounds that I had paid for and been assured had been taken care of had not happened.

Julia refused to get out of the car because she was scared there might be snakes, something that had not occurred to me and insisted I carry the children across to the house because they were desperate to explore the house. Ryan our youngest was too young to care, so I made the journey through the long grass and brambles with a child tucked under each arm; returning to give Julia a piggy back and set her down in the kitchen.

It was obvious that most of the work that was supposed to have been carried out and much of which I had already paid for was still outstanding. I had slight inkling that trying to manage a building project from a distance wasn't going to be as simple as I had imagined. I was used to doing business on the strength of a handshake and when I said something would be done, my word was better than any contract. As it turns out, my old fashioned idea of doing business on an ethical basis where a man's word is his bond has got me into deep water on a number of occasions since.

• Self-catering accommodation in the Dordogne
  
  
• Dordogne Estate agents
  
  
• Bed and breakfast accommodation in France
  
  
• Cheap car hire in France
  
  
• Property for sale in France
  
  
• Low cost ferries to France
  
  
• Cheap removals to France
  
  
• Furniture storage in the Dordogne
  
  
• Cheap Euro mortgages
  
  
• Discount airport parking
  
  
• Travel insurance
  
  
• Best currency exchange rates

OUR PROPERTY IN THE DORDOGNE

I was showing the children where their bedrooms were going to be when their mother who had decided not to venture any further than the kitchen let out the most appalling scream. I ran up from the wine cave to see Julia clutching our youngest son and pointing at a huge spider that seemed to be surveying the intruders in his Dordogne domain. Now I have no fear of spiders, unlike Julia but this was a big bastard. Now Julia and I had an understanding that she would never show fear of spiders to the children because we did not want them to inherit her phobia, so I stepped forward manfully and taking two hands; it took two hands; plucked it off the wall and walked over to the open door and threw it into space.

All the time I was clutching the bugger, I could feel its powerful legs trying to prise my hands apart, causing one of those bum puckering experiences and a cold shiver ran down my spine, I was tutting and telling her not to make such a fuss about such a small and harmless creature that was more scared of us than we were of it. Whilst I was making light of the whole affair and Julia was insisting we went back to the car, I was aware that my right hand was tingling. Within minutes, the palm of my hand had swollen and my fingers stiffened somewhat. I wasn't in a great deal of pain but I realised I had been bitten as a large red weald spread across my palm. On all the information I had read about the Dordogne, no one had mentioned man eating spiders and despite research since have found no reference to any spiders biting. Although the swelling had diminished within twenty fours hours, neighbours since have talked about being bitten by spiders and we have all been bitten at one time or another. Maybe they are native only to our valley.

• Buying property in France
  
  
• Moving to the Dordogne in France
  
  
• Buying property in the Dordogne
  
  
• Living in the Dordogne
  
  
• Investing in property in the Dordogne
  
  
• Setting up a Gites business

I never mentioned the bite to Julia because I knew she would never have set foot in the Dordogne again let alone our property and as it happens, a number of catastrophic events would ensure that we did not return to our property in France for another two years.

Of course we spent the rest of that holiday exploring the Dordogne but nothing would persuade Julia to return to the property and have a thorough exploration of our valley. When we finally did return, it was under completely different circumstances and we were permanently moving to the Dordogne.