History
During the late 60’s, I had the good fortune to play rugby with my college team on three consecutive Easter tours in the Bordeaux area and played at Libourne, Langon, Gujan-Mestras and Saint-Astier. I fell in love with the South West of France particularly the weather and the hospitality of the people.
In about the year 2000, my wife Veronica and I started having frequent short break holidays, hotel hopping, effectively travelling in large circles, and started in Southern Spain. The intention was to perhaps get a small holiday pad which we could use regularly and be available for the family. We were put off by the large scale building which appeared everywhere you went in Spain.
We then turned our attention to Southern France. Having an association with Bordeaux, it seemed a good place to start so we did the same. It transpired that on almost every trip we passed through Agen and consequently got to know the place very well and liked it. On one occasion we went into the local estate agent (ORPI Europe Inter Immobilier) and met Michel Bassibe, the proprietor, with the intention of possibly buying an apartment in Agen. Whilst waiting for a delayed appointment we saw an advertisement on the wall for a ruined farm with 40 acres, 5 miles north of the city on the main road. As we had 2 hours to wait we decided to go and have a look at it much to Michel’s surprise.
We found it easily and it was a proper ruin! One large two storey house with attached barn and a detached single storey cow shed! The roofs had collapsed, trees were growing inside the building – there were just stone walls which were deteriorating with the weather. The land was both sides of the road with a small river/stream at the bottom of the flat meadow in the front.
We stood in the middle of the field beside the large oak tree and looked back at the building. It was mid-afternoon in September and the sun was shining and the site looked amazing, wildlife everywhere and two green woodpeckers flew past. We have green woodpeckers at our home in Devon. We looked at each other and agreed we had to buy it. The intention was to rebuild the cow shed into a small cottage and bulldoze the rest. The price was equivalent to a small apartment.
We immediately phoned the Agent and told him we wanted it. He was very surprised. We would need some adjacent fields to create a sensible block of land and give us a better entrance on a straight part of the road. We also would need a CU (permission to rebuild the house and cowshed for habitation). He managed to organise the whole package within a week and commissioned a local Architect for plans and permissions. The deal was conditional on these requirements.
Now the fun started.
The Purchase
Within a few months, we had everything ready and travelled to the Notaire with Michel to complete the purchase. All was completed but at the end he stated he had not received a response from the SAFER. The SAFER is a government organisation which controls the sale of land in France. It attempts to put together parcels of land that are uneconomic to farm on their own, then sell them on to farmers or new farmers at a reduced or low price. They usually insist that the new owner retains the land for typically 10 years to stop land speculation. “No problem”, the Notaire said, “They never get involved, I will chase them up and let you know”.
We were very pleased it was complete and celebrated accordingly.
About a month later, Michel telephone us and said the deal was off. The SAFER had vetoed the sale because of the contract they had with the current owner of the site. He had purchased the site 4 years previously at a reduced rate with a 10 year restriction on selling it on and was attempting to profit considerable from the sale. The Notaire sent the money back to our French bank account and we thought the dream was over.
However, we then decided to attempt to continue and Michel negotiated separately with the SAFER. Proof of farming past, plans for the future farming activity, finance etc. were required. With the help of Michel, it took us a further 18 months to get approval – we could purchase the land with no restrictions – Great. So, the purchase was on again. The Contract was signed on the Friday and money sent. They posted the contract to us in England which we got on Wednesday – pages of it! We had 7 days to back out. Reading the important bits, I established they had attempted to put a 10 year restriction on us reselling the site. This was not acceptable and I notified Michel that we would only continue as agreed – no restrictions. That day, faxes went to Michel, our Notaire, the SAFER’s Notaire, the SAFER decision makers, then all the way back to us with the revised contract with only a 5 year restriction which we accepted and signed. Phew.
The other piece of land was completed at exactly the same time without incident.
Rebuilding
We employed a French builder to renovate the cottage. It took forever and the standard of work was just about acceptable but not very good. They finished it late so the visit we had arranged with friends to coincide with the rugby world cup in France ended with us all staying in hotels. The first proper holiday was for 12 of us celebrating my 60th birthday in February 2008.
We terminated the agreement with the builders early and finished the cottage off ourselves.
All other work on the site – the house, log store, garage, new road, landscaping and barn we have completed ourselves on visits about 3 times per year with English builder friends for 3 to 4 weeks at a time with a few French contractors as required. This arrangement has worked amazingly well both from a quality and cost point of view and will continue.
As at October 2014, the site appears no longer a building site. All the outsides of the buildings are finished. The cottage and house are complete with 2 bedrooms and on-suite bathrooms each with people living or staying in them. The barn is split into 2 large houses each with 3 bedrooms (House No.3 middle and No.4 end), floors are in with room partition walls in place and both houses are ready to be fitted out inside. Target for finishing is late 2016 – early 2017
October 2016 – House No.3 finished inside and all outside pointing complete. Back and side of the barn (No.3 and No.4) finished and now just waiting for EDF to connect the electricity and for us to install a new micro station (septic tank equivalent). Started fitting out No.4. Looks amazing.
May 2017 – EDF completed the installation of a new site electricity supply for all 4 properties giving them their own independent electricity connection. Major work with monster machine for the new main supply pole connected to our pole, then underground supply to the distribution box, then underground to each property. What a job!! Also we installed a new large 5000 litre micro station in the front field to connect to the two houses (the barn) with water outlet to the bottom stream. All inspected and passed by SPANC (government body for water/sewage control). Whilst the digger was on site, I got the micro station installation contractor to dig out the footings for the garage block (1 garage for each house) which should be the last job to build in late autumn. We installed telephone lines and satellite connections to both houses. Our electrician was finishing the electrics second fix ready for inspection to get the “Attestation” (certificate) to allow EDF to activate the supply. Then back home for a rest! See pictures.
Time Scales
Trees down – September 2006
Cottage – November 2006 to January 2008
New Road – February 2008
House – March 2008 to March 2014 – Let August 2014
Log store – March 2008 to June 2009
Utility room – March 2011
Garage – July 2010
Barn – April 2009, Roof May 2011, Floors April 2014 – October 2014, Outside 2015 to 2016. Estimated finish End 2017
Final Landscaping/Entrance/Parking – September 2015
Electricity, Micro station, Telephones and Satellite Connections and second fix electrics – May 2017
Richard Friend – Saint Martin. Saint-Hilaire-de-Lusignan, 47450 France