The backstory - the house is ours!

We returned 2 weeks after putting the offer in to exchange contracts (which is done in France before the searches etc and is binding on both sides with dependancy on the searches being ok and in the case of a mortgage being required on that being granted)

We then waited for several months will the searches were done and while the S.A.F.E.R decided whether they were going to intervene or not (not in the end)

Then in December, on the weekend before Christmas, we went to complete the sale. This involved us and the seller going to the Notaire's (the solicitor's) office with the agent and signing a thousand documents. Before doing this we went to the house to check that everything was still in line with when we made the offer. We were a bit suprised to find that the seller hadn't finished moving out yet. Initially he was hoping to spend that night there but on realising we were going to stay there he decided to go and stay with his parents.

That night there was a massive storm with crazy wind and we thought our new purchase was going to collapse or at best have the new roof blown clean off before we had even owned it for 24 hours. Luckly both it and us survived intact although our nerves were a bit over wrought by morning.

Do you think it is going to fall down

Don't worry - previous picture is the barn. House doesn't have giant holes in the wall (unless they happened recently)

We were over for 4 days and we spent a lot of time with the seller (Raymond) as he showed us things like how to work the pump which brings water to the house from the spring and how to cut down a tree - I don't think we are nearly ready to qualify for his level of tree cutting yet which involved kind of dicing the tree in mid air with the chain saw when part of it got stuck on some branches above... we stood well back.

It was a very useful few days but very exhausting and it felt rather like we were visiting Raymond on his farm rather than in our own future home.

Raymond showing us around (and worrying we are incapable)

 There are more pictures here