I asked Mme B if it would be okay, in the first instance, if Lizzie & Ali could take some photographs for me. She kindly agreed. Great friends and intrepid spies, L&A went up the hill on reconnaissance. Within three hours, I had 90 photographs! To ponder, over and over and over again.
It is here that I can begin to dispel some of the romantic notions of the first blog entry. On closer inspection, this place was in need of some serious work! I wasn't sure I liked anything on the inside. But overall, it had some real advantages. Roujan is a bigger village with more amenities where most of my friends live, which is good for a non-driving wimp like me. And very unusually, this house had a big garden with beautiful views, right in the centre of the village. Such finds are truly rare. I booked a flight.
From one side, the house has some character, with the old pigeonnier. You enter through a lush vine.
But from the other side, it looks like a trailer!
However, the potential was there. The garden would be amazing one day -- maybe even the house. With just enough money on an overdraft for a deposit, my offer was accepted. It meant I had to rush home and begin raising the rest of the dosh, which took months. Luckily Madame was in no particular hurry over the winter, and I must have been sprinkled from head to toe in some kind of house-buying fairy dust. Things worked out astonishingly well.
Houses in locations like this don't come up very often. This one never hit the open market. My heartfelt thanks to all my friends and neighbours in Roujan, who not only helped, but actively encouraged this transaction, and to my friends world-wide who supported the dream. The preliminary contract was signed on 11 December 2006. How happy am I?
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