Thought a few outside shots might be nice. As you can see it is wintery and we have lots of old farm machinery just lying around. There is also an old renault on it's side, (the lizards like this one), and part of what looks like a combine harvester. The farmer is supposed to move all this, but I am not holding my breath. Roll on several months and The three wise monkeys sit with a beer under this tree. http://www.fabulousfrance.co.uk/The_Grounds/The_Grounds.html

The Hidden Room

This was named The Hidden Room because the only way we could get in was to climb through a rotting exterior window. The trees are growing inside the building and some of them are taller than the house. The roof has gone and the floor is covered in moss. You would think we might have been put off at this stage, but it just seems mysterious and magical to me. I must be 'As mad as a box of frogs'!

We couldn't even get upstairs when we bought it....as.........there were no stairs. As you can see, this may present a bit of a challenge. Sadly there are few lovely old oak beams up here. The roof is industrial and held up by scaffolding poles. I think this could be The Master Bedroom and Ensuite. What do you reckon? Don't believe me? Well follow the link. http://www.fabulousfrance.co.uk/BedroomsandBathrooms/Bedroom%20&%20Bathrooms.html

This room is huge....Errrrr....and a bit of a dumping ground. But those windows look promising. Our first thoughts are for a massive lounge with big squashy sofas and a roaring fire. Nice to spot those plastic garden chairs in the corner, they are probably all we can afford to sit on now!

Mmmmmm! Welcome to the pantry. I wonder where that fan went? We could really do with one of those as it gets so hot here in the Summer. As for those sausages......does one contain the painting of The Fallen Madonna? I think we will be having a bit of a clear out in here, and even knock a few walls down. If you want to see what we did follow the link :-)http://www.fabulousfrance.co.uk/KitchenandLiving/Kitchen%20&%20Living.html

Here we are inside the entrance hall of our new French house. Yes...there are some people living here inside the house alongside the trees that grow there. As you can see, there is some scope to alter things here. I guess a lick of paint might cheer things up.

Well.....we have put an offer in. We are in France and so we can't take it back either. OMG! I am sure we will wake up soon and find that we haven't really agreed to buy a ruined farmhouse in the middle of nowhere complete with 45 acres of land. After all, we have a perfectly nice house in England, why do we need another one? This is soooooo reckless and soooooo exciting. Can't wait to get planning!

What are we doing? This house has trees growing on the inside, and they are taller than the house. There is something magical about nature reclaiming her territory. We feel compelled to make an offer and buy this place, what a project to have! We have obviously totally lost our marbles. We are going to buy Barrusclet!

My first post!

Barrusclet 2007

A rainy day in France, February 2007. We are on our way back to the airport having spent days trudging around the Gers department of France in the cold and wet. Our Dutch estate agent says that we have just time to look at one more property. We have twenty wet and muddy minutes at Barrusclet. As they say, "The rest is history". We have found our French farmhouse.