Before we started our search for a house in France, we determined that we had a few requirements: the house should be within the village of Le Grand-Pressigny, it should have at least three bedrooms and two baths, and it should have some character and charm. However, because we had only been inside a couple houses there before our decision to move, we told the local realtor we wanted to see every house available, regardless of location, price, or size, in order to get a better idea of what kinds of houses are in the area. We ended up seeing 13 houses that were for sale, and visited several homes of new friends there and learned that, for us, the most attractive homes were the ones that had been renovated from a barn or other old structure. We loved the beautifully restored stone houses and observed the various ways to restore the old walls.

While visiting the home of friends in town, we were so impressed with this wall. When they were removing the old plaster, they unearthed a very old method of construction, and instead of covering it up, they framed a piece with glass so you can see how it looks inside the wall. A brilliant idea, and it’s such a beautiful wall now.

Back to the house search.

We still had not found the one house that spoke to us. But, one day our realtor took us to this gorgeous house in the nearby village of Abilly (i.e. not where we wanted to be), and it was so impressive that we briefly considered throwing out all our requirements and buying it right then and there. It’s right on the River Claise, in absolutely move-in condition, with large living spaces, and even had a refrigerated wine cellar room that I had visions of enjoying when the summer temperatures became unbearable. We finally came to our senses, got over our house lust and back on track with our search.

And the search goes on.