Oh my goodness - where do I start ? I've never done anything like this before - thought about it, yes - written diaries when I was younger, and kept what we call a 'site diary' from the very start of our adventure here in Brittany, France. So - here goes............
We'd had ideas about moving abroad for a few years - me and my husband Craig that is ! Do we do it now, when the children have left home, when they've gone to University, when they've finished University, when they're settled ? You could go on making excuses forever.
We made a few tentative visits to both Spain and France. I felt Spain was a little bit too far from the family, and that with France, there was always the option of flying or driving back to UK in an emergency if need be. Looking back on miserable grey days here, then Spain seems a more positive option, climate wise !
Anyway, like I say, we had a few visits, house hunting etc. These visits were a bit of an eye opener, and not what we really expected. Of course, we'd looked on the Internet, and seen houses, but once we arrived here, we were invariably told by the Estate Agent that the house we had booked to see, had of course been sold. We'd be given a large file full of properties, and told to find something we liked, and they take us there to view - no idea of location, area etc etc.
We spent a few visits like this - not really knowing what we wanted, or where - seeing houses (if you could call them that!), with no roofs, no walls, land two miles away - some with water, some without, some with electricity.....you get the idea ?
I can remember the visit where we found this house though very clearly. It didn't start well. We were flying from Luton to Brest, and there was an accident on the M1, which held us up, and caused us to miss the flight. No ones fault - we'd left in plenty of time, but we weren't involved in the accident, so let's look at the positive aspects ! Anyway, we drove back home again, and rebooked the flights, the B and B, and the appointment with the Estate Agent. We'd seen two houses on the Internet with the same Agent, but weren't very confident that they would still be available when we got there - particularly after another delay like this !
Anyway, we arrived in France, hired a car, and drove to the B and B we'd booked in Huelgoat. Sadly, this one is no longer open for business, and the building is up For Sale. It was pleasant, clean and the couple who ran it, were very hospitable and helpful.
I'm not sure I can say we were excited - it was more a case of being resigned to the fact that either or both houses would be unavailable, so we approached the appointment with relatively little in the way of expectations and hope. We were meeting the Agent in Hotel du Lac, and we were there with our standard kit - camera, measure, pen, paper, even a small Dictaphone - all very helpful afterwards in remembering the various aspects of the houses. How organised were we ?!
The first major decision we had to make, was who's car we should travel in - we had no idea of the mileage involved, and as we had travelled up to 50 miles on previous occasions, and we had a hire car, we chose HIS car - of course !!
