Houses for sale in France: French property and house sales, properties in France 

 

 

 

 

 

The following pictures are representative of our first views of, what was to be, our new home in France.  We knew straight away that we wanted to own this lovely old property.

This was the first view of our new house.  The house is semi-detached and has a small garden, which is easy to maintain and is a rarity in a Medieval village setting.

The house, situated in a quiet backwater of the village, two hundred yards from the river Lot.  It was built in the 1730's and its primary function for many years was as a carpenters workshop.  This was on the ground floor level, with all living accommodation above. On the first floor there was a kitchen and four bedrooms, no bathrooms or toilet.The whole front render would need removing, windows and doors replacing along with a new zinc gutter.

 

 

The stairs lead from the old carpenters shop, up to the first floor living accommodation. The room is 27' x 25' and it is intended that this will be the lounge.  The walls will be left natural stone and some parts rendered. The floor was somewhat uneven, showing signs of ancient cobbles. Once the floor is levelled the beams will be pressure cleaned and left natural.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kitchen area is fairly spacious and at present a little basic. The wood burning stove will be kept in situ.  Although the walls are plastered and a little uneven (probably applied by hand) , we intend to keep this type of finish to retain the character.  There was only one electrical socket in the kitchen until the rewiring could be done. Almost all older French properties (especially rural) will have a wood burning stove (mains gas is not very common in France).

A traditional old French kitchen is simple but practical, with the emphasis on it being the hub of the house and a comfortable place to sit, chat and of course eat!!   

 

 

 

The following picture is of  one of the four bedrooms.  This is how we found the rooms (most of the upstairs living accommodation was painted in the same colour).  The dark paint and wear and tear, made all the rooms seem smaller than they really are.

Picture right. The window was only visible from the outside of the house, it had been covered up inside and plastered over.  Although there was another larger window within this room, by revealing it inside it would add some more light and character.