• making this better a blog to help those with a broken heart
  • Our Etsy shop
  • Painting & Decorating Services in France

RosiesFrenchadventure.com

~ Living life as if someone left the gate open! Taking the chance and seeing what happens

RosiesFrenchadventure.com

Tag Archives: house hunting in France

The ‘Mad’ summer has begun…

22 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, People, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The good life

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

BBQ's, Dogs, Estate Agents, French houses, house hunting in France, Piscines, rivers, Rural France, sanctuary, Sept forges, Summer adventurs, Summer in France, Swimming pools, Toads, tranquility, Welsh Terriers, Welshies, Winding lanes

It has been a mad week!! Literally our feet have not touched the ground. We have viewed six houses, some weird, some lovely, some overpriced and some in deep rural parts of France, some too deep and rural!! Some viewings have been weird, some have been lovely, some of them have been shocking when it comes to price, and one has been a second viewing, but more of that to come in upcoming posts.

Karen and Dylan hit Ambrieres last Thursday night at 11.30pm. I had cooked a chilli and rice in advance which gave us time to catch up, drink wine and chat before eating at 2am!! The next day we were out house hunting by 10.30am and did not get back until after 5pm, it was a long day with a  lot to take in; and this has pretty much been the pattern for the week, adding to that some shopping, drinking wine in the summer evening sun, and drawing up lists of costs and pro’s and cons with regard to the houses we have viewed.

Because of the house hunting we have found small villages  in neighbouring villages to us that we did not know existed, including a stunning village called Sept Forge which is situated  on the river Mayenne and is truly idyllic. There is a tiny lane that winds down beside the river  with steep steps cut up through the forest that lead into the village square and it’s medievil church. Another two words come to mind when walking down this lane looking for one of the houses we were going to view, and they were tranquility and  sanctuary.

Image result for river at sept forges

The Welshie’s have not disappointed, in fact it is fair to say that they are now a pack, with Dylan being well and truly accepted by our two, with Wiglet as Dylan’s surrogate mummy (she even pulls her along by the back of her neck!). To watch these two together is a delight as they bounce around the garden talking to each other in Welshie, with Dylan virtually permantly attached to Wiglet’s side.

Harley has had his work cut out as the alpha, but has done a good job and Dylan know’s when to behave when Harley tells her – it is what he says that’s it!! He is totally worn out and whilst I was drafting blogs in bed today he stayed firmly attached to my leg asleep, and dreaming.

But the funniest one of all was yesterday when this stubborn little ten month old Welshie finally gave up, half way across the sofa she was climbing, and this is how she fell asleep…

Karen and Dylan finally moved into the house they had rented on Tuesday – simply because we had been too busy, and having too much fun in the garden to check the perimeter and move her in. The house she is renting is beautiful, massive, and really pretty.

But most of all this week we have laughed, we have planned (as much as you can for three people who really try and live each day as the only moment!) We have sat in the dark by candlelight listening to the owl in the tree (I still like to think it was the one whose life we saved two years ago, as it hoots at us) and Karen has screamed as she moved a bag in the kitchen only to find a huge toad hiding under the bag having been chased there by the dogs – This is one of the things we have to look out for as they are poisonous to them. But it made Rich and I laugh whenran off down the kitchen – all part of the adventure my friend, all part of the adventure!!

common-toad-bufo-bufo-crapaud-commun-france

The weather has been mostly sunny, with no real rain, and it is now  finally coming into it’s own with temperatures averaging between twenty three degrees and twenty five degrees. The forecast is for a steady increase and next week it will be up in the 30s again. So we have finally gone mad and a pool has been purchased *after about an hour and a half in the shop trying to work out the size and how big a cover we needed, base we needed and what cleaner we had to buy – Karen and I are writers, mathematicians we ain’t!! Bet you can guess whose job that is going to be tomorrow – and it’s not going to be me or Karen!!! It is so big it should be full by about Tuesday!!

But now I must go folks we have a BBQ at Karen’s house and a sleepover – how weird is that!! I think it is fair to say that we all feel young again, and excited at what life has to hold.

Katch up soon – promise- more blogs to come.

Moisy

If you think others will like my blog please share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • More
  • WhatsApp

Like this:

Like Loading...

La maison triste

22 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by RosieJoseph in Reflections, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

a house once loved, Abandoned houses, Arbours, cherished gardens, clematis, Death, Ella Wheeler, house hunting in France, hydrangeas, marie celeste, memories, overgrown gardens, poetry, Sad houses, Walter de la mare

‘But only a host of phantom listeners,

who dwelt in the lone house then

stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight

to that voice from the land of men…’

The Listeners.

Walter De La Mer

On our first day of house hunting we set off in a anticipation of seeing a three story house in the middle of the French countryside, near the beautiful town of Lassay Les Chateaux.

We met up with the French estate agent, and off we went following him through the countryside at breakneck speed and found ourselves going  out of Lassay back the way we came!?

Blimey! We thought, this is a way out!

As we pulled into a quintessential tiny French village, there was no sign of any three story houses. We followed the estate agent into what can only be described as an alleyway rather than a road that ran  behind other houses, it was so small you could not drive into it, definitely no three storey houses here! The estate agent then stopped and  proudly showed us a tiny house, tucked away between other houses.

‘I am sure this is not the house I had arranged to see.’ Said Karen, but by this time she had booked so many she was starting to doubt herself! So we decided to go where life takes us, and followed the estate agent into the house.

As we walked in it was clear that the house had not had someone living in it for some months and that the person who owned the house had been a lady, and that she had clearly died. It had literally been left like the Marie Celeste, with all her belongins just where she had left them the last time she had come home. The tiny kitchen and living room looked as if she had just got up one day and left, forgetting to take her coat, that was hanging on the back of the door, or her sunglasses, in the dish on the table, with her. The canisters for her garlic, salt, pepper and coffee were all there, just waiting for her to come back and start to cook again.

And that was it, the house had an air of sadness permeating through it because it was clearly waiting for her to return; it was sad because every time the door opened it was a stranger that entered and not the person who had so clearly loved it; in fact it was if it sighed when we came in, because we were not the person that it wanted to see.

It was a strange tiny little house with only one bedroom in the main house and the kichen and living room; you had to climb some steep steps into the bedroom, the lady had clearly not been wealthy  but it was also clear that what she had she loved. Never more so in the pretty little two tier garden at the back, which could only be described as a haven, something that she had cherished once. With the lilac tree, and wisteria tangled and trailing over the little archways she had put up; there were roses, and blackcurrants, clematis and the ever popular and beautiful hydrangea, in all of the vibrant colours that you get over here in France growing in abundance.

Image result for hydrangeas in france

Related image

The lady had built a little arbour  which was now smothered  with all of the climbing plants vying for top space as they tangled amongst each other because there mistress was no longer there to bring them under control.

Related image

Outside there were more steps leading  up to a separate bedroom, come apartment where, the estate agent explained to us,  her son would sleep when he came to visit with his family. But you got the distinct impression that was not often, and it made you wonder why he had not come to collect some of his mother’s treasured posessions.

It was so sad, her family photos were everywhere, nobody had come to the house to take them and the memories that they held and cherish them, as she so clearly had. It reminded me how our cherished posessions are just things, that when we are gone they just sit there with nobody to love them anymore. That the memories that we cherish are often not memories that others cherish, even though we have those people in our memories all our lives, they do not hold those memories as dear as we do.

As we left the sad little house it was glad we were not going to buy it, it did not want us, it wanted it’s mistress to return, and, I am sure, would continue to look after her treasured things for her, because it did love her, more than others it would seem.

Cherish every moment folks, live for yourself and not just others, you come into this world alone and you go out of it alone, so live your life for you and those that love you will come along for the ride.

It’s  always the small simple things that remind me of what life is about.

Moisy

Image result for solitude poem

If you think others will like my blog please share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • More
  • WhatsApp

Like this:

Like Loading...

In the top 25 bloggers about living in France

Blog Stats

  • 29,806 hits

Categories

  • a sense of community
  • Change is a coming
  • Dream
  • Food in France
  • For the live of dogs
  • Friends
  • Galavanting
  • Gamping
  • laughter & giggles
  • Learning and Evolving
  • Making our own way
  • mental health
  • My family and other furry creatures
  • My home
  • People
  • Recipes
  • Reflections
  • renovations
  • Simple things
  • sunrises and sunsets
  • The adventures of living life in the French countryside
  • The background story
  • The continuing adventure
  • The good life
  • The good, the bad and the ugly.
  • The seasons
  • Us

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: