The ultimate teamwork begins
Based on our decision to go to France for our ‘mission’, the obvious choice was to look for a house in the Cathar region, near Rennes-le-Chateau and Carcassonne. No sooner said than done.
We soon found a house we liked: big enough, in a residential area, so no tractor needed. We made an offer, but there were more interested people and the party didn’t go ahead. Were we frustrated, sad or angry? Yes, and it lasted 5 minutes! But we know that if it did not go ahead, there was a reason for it, which we will find out later. It also means that we think about what we will do differently next time. Lesson 1: Sell our own house first.
We went back to the region twice more, but the contacts with estate agents were awkward, as if they preferred not to sell, or the houses did not fit our dream image. We felt we had explored all the places by now, so what next?
Camino
In 2018, I walked a section of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella in France. Meanwhile, I also know that there is a connection between Mary Magdalene and Santiago de Compostella. Maybe we should shift our search area to a place along the camino route? Good idea! And so we visited the Dordogne twice. Also a beautiful region, but we didn’t find our home. By now it was September 2023, our house in Hapert had been sold and we had moved to a rented house in Horst. Where to go from here?
Game-changer
Daughter Manon came to visit us with her boyfriend with whom she had been living near Grenoble for two months. They brought us great news: baby on the way! Wow, how quickly things evolve! This new fact was a welcome game-changer! To be able to be a grandmother, then a 2-hour drive is the max, I thought. We have so much freedom: restricting, or rather putting focus on, helps us and feels liberating. Lesson 2: redefine the search area.
The third area to investigate then becomes the Ardèche: another beautiful region where so many Dutch people have second homes for a reason. The name Vogüé came up and was reason to investigate this area twice and visit houses. We made an offer on a house, but were not prepared to pay the asking price. The sellers also maintained their position. Then this house too passed us by. Did we have any regrets? No, we don’t do any of that. Vogüé had made us feel the energy we were looking for, the tranquillity. But it also turned out that our dreams and demands were not yet aligned, so we ourselves sabotaged the denouement. Lesson 3: put into words what you envision and talk to each other.
Meanwhile, all this searching had cost a lot of money, time and energy. So we took another break before continuing. The roads in the Ardèche are relatively narrow and winding. That’s fine for a fortnight’s holiday, but is it all year round?
Out of scope
Rob started to look outside the box: we already knew all the houses in our price range, so what if we went up? One house popped up on the screen where we both experienced ‘love at first sight’ for the first time. The asking price was unattainable for us and the sellers had already reduced their asking price significantly, but as the house was not letting go of us, we went to visit it anyway. We had faith in a solution if it was meant to be for us. On site we found the energy and space we had been looking for, but in a different form. The house of my dreams had been a new build on 5,000 square metres of land, but this one seemed to be the co-creation of Rob and I together: a fully modernised farmhouse. To reach a compromise with the sellers, we had to go all the way financially for this project and invest our last savings. Lesson 4: Overcoming the fear of losing: trust & letting go.
Welcome to Le Charaix!
Blogs are short, with a maximum of 800 words. Do you have any related questions, including the ones that are not written, or do you recognise a situation that you would like to talk about? Feel free to send a message to contact@lecharaix.fr