To buy or not buy, that is the question.

We had had thoroughly inspected the property that we were thinking of buying in Ventenac-en-Minervoir. We had taken measurements and drawn up rough floor plans. We had walked around the village several times and were enchanted with its beauty. The house, the village, the canal, and the region — all gave us a good feeling. We had almost made up our minds. We wanted a place where we could hold large family reunions and have lots of friends to stay but was this place too large?

When we got back to James’s house, we had a delicious meal of pasta with a homemade sauce with the added touch of herbes de Provence. After dinner, each of us with a large glass of merlot, we huddled around the kitchen table and talked about the various possibilities.

By bedtime, we all agreed that we had a good plan. We thought that the main building could be divided into two. We would call one the apartment, which would have two bedrooms, and the other the main house, which would give us six bedrooms and three bathrooms. With the addition of the cottage, we would have a total of ten bedrooms. We hadn’t planned on having anything this big, but dividing it into three units seemed to make it more manageable. We were ready to make the offer.


















Our plans for remodeling in red.














A good website to find property in France: French-Property-Sale

We check out the inside of the property.

We were impressed with the outside of the property that we were viewing. The arched gateway was impressive, the courtyard was large and could accommodate a decent sized swimming pool, and the exterior of the building was sound and attractive.

When we walked through the large wooden doors and looked inside the main building we were immediately stuck with how huge it was. It was so big that the car parked inside looked tiny. The large caste iron pillar that held up a central beam was an interesting feature.












Large open area downstairs.

There was a working fireplace at one end, which the owners, who lived next door, were still using as a barbeque. The fireplace was surrounded by cages, which had once been used for rabbits and chickens. It was such a large empty space, that it would be like working with an empty canvas, almost anything was possible.












A room downstairs still had a horse trough and hay feeder on the wall.

Upstairs, there were four rooms plus another large open area that was big enough to accommodate another four rooms and some bathrooms. There were a lot of possibilities, but we wondered if the place was too big for us. We hadn’t even looked at the cottage yet.












A room upstairs had a fireplace and tiled sink.

The cottage floors were covered with 50 years worth of dust, but when we swept away the dust to reveal the tiles below, we were amazed. The tiles were original, in great condition, and were beautiful. The cottage was very cozy-two rooms and a little kitchen downstairs and two rooms upstairs. On the top floor was a small attic.












Downstairs in the cottage.

James had previously checked the place out. He found that the roof and structure were sound. It needed all new plumbing and electricity. He estimated that, depending upon what we wanted to do, it would cost from 150,000 to 200,000 euros to renovate.

We liked the place, even though the property was larger than we needed, we could imagine what it would look like when it was fixed up. We needed a little time to talk about it, and make some plans before we came to a decision.

There was no pressure as the owners did not have an agent and neither did we. They knew how much they wanted for the property and were very firm. They did not want to negotiate, so if we wanted it, it was evident that we would have to pay the asking price, which was very fair.

We arranged to return to Ventenac the next day with our decision.

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