Do we get our French vineyard?
It was the last day of an agonizing two months of waiting. Surely, the government wasn’t going to step in now and prevent us from buying the vineyard in France that we’d set our hearts on.
Every time the phone rang, we thought, “This must be James.”
Eventually, I picked up the phone and heard the distinctive overseas line. It was James. His first words were,” I’m afraid I’ve got bad news.”
He’d just spoken to the notaire, who had received a hand-delivered letter from SAFER. At noon, on the final day, they informed our notaire that they would be exercising their right to purchase the property. Apparently, there was a young French couple who wanted to take over the vineyard and run it as a going concern.
James philosophically said, “It was just not meant to be.”
We were very disappointed. We had been reading books about winemaking, and had told all our friends about “our vineyard.” Now we had lost the place because we were not French.
James’s final words were, “I’ll keep looking.” But we were not in the mood to consider a move to France after they had rejected us.
A couple of months later, James called again. He sounded very excited. “I’ve found the perfect place for you,” he said. “And there’ll be no problems with SAFER on this one. It’s in one of the most beautiful villages in the area and it’s cheaper than the vineyard..”
I was silent, thinking about our last adventure in the French property market.
“Hello, are you still there,” asked James.
“Yes, but I’m not sure we want to go through all that again,” I replied.
He insisted on telling me about his new find. He had stopped in a village called Ventenac-en-Minervoir, which is on the banks of the Canal du Midi. He started talking to a group of old folks sitting on a bench. Apparently, James often discovered unique properties by approaching locals and asking them if they knew of any barns or stone houses for sale. This way, he often found out about places for sale, but not listed with agents.
One of the elderly men told James he had a barn in the village, that he was thinking of selling and he took James to have a look at it.
James eyes lit up when he saw it. It was much more than a barn. It was a large stone building that was architecturally very attractive. A big arched gateway led into a huge courtyard. The owner, Monsieur Azam, told James that the building was once the stables belonging to the Chateau Ventenac, just down the street.
I was hooked, James's enthusiasm made it sound like the ideal place for us to work on and prepare for our distant retirement. James emailed some photos, and although it looked very run-down, we could see that it had great possibilities.
It looked like we would be going to France again.
Find your dream property in France at French-Property-Sale.
Every time the phone rang, we thought, “This must be James.”
Eventually, I picked up the phone and heard the distinctive overseas line. It was James. His first words were,” I’m afraid I’ve got bad news.”
He’d just spoken to the notaire, who had received a hand-delivered letter from SAFER. At noon, on the final day, they informed our notaire that they would be exercising their right to purchase the property. Apparently, there was a young French couple who wanted to take over the vineyard and run it as a going concern.
James philosophically said, “It was just not meant to be.”
We were very disappointed. We had been reading books about winemaking, and had told all our friends about “our vineyard.” Now we had lost the place because we were not French.
James’s final words were, “I’ll keep looking.” But we were not in the mood to consider a move to France after they had rejected us.
A couple of months later, James called again. He sounded very excited. “I’ve found the perfect place for you,” he said. “And there’ll be no problems with SAFER on this one. It’s in one of the most beautiful villages in the area and it’s cheaper than the vineyard..”
I was silent, thinking about our last adventure in the French property market.
“Hello, are you still there,” asked James.
“Yes, but I’m not sure we want to go through all that again,” I replied.
He insisted on telling me about his new find. He had stopped in a village called Ventenac-en-Minervoir, which is on the banks of the Canal du Midi. He started talking to a group of old folks sitting on a bench. Apparently, James often discovered unique properties by approaching locals and asking them if they knew of any barns or stone houses for sale. This way, he often found out about places for sale, but not listed with agents.
One of the elderly men told James he had a barn in the village, that he was thinking of selling and he took James to have a look at it.
James eyes lit up when he saw it. It was much more than a barn. It was a large stone building that was architecturally very attractive. A big arched gateway led into a huge courtyard. The owner, Monsieur Azam, told James that the building was once the stables belonging to the Chateau Ventenac, just down the street.
I was hooked, James's enthusiasm made it sound like the ideal place for us to work on and prepare for our distant retirement. James emailed some photos, and although it looked very run-down, we could see that it had great possibilities.
It looked like we would be going to France again.
Find your dream property in France at French-Property-Sale.
posted by FrancoFrancis at 3:48 PM
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