Lovely Awkward: A Year of Wine, Romance and Life Among the French

Lovely Awkward: A Year of Wine, Romance and Life Among the French

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Stone houses

I have fallen in love with a house here in the South of France and I want to buy it. The problem is -- well, one of the many problems is -- that it doesn't come with a toilet. Or running water. Or any electricity.

I really didn't mean to find this house, which is actually the shell of a stone villa, steeped in history (and olive and fig trees!) but, it came up in a real estate search and now I can't get it out of my mind.

Stone houses in France are pretty amazing. In some parts of the country, you can buy these shells (I say this because other than three to four standing walls, they're often fairly empty) for under 30 000 euros. That's insane. They require a lot of work to get them up to normal living standards, but that's still a price that's low enough that you could call it a hobby. And look what you can do with these places!

Unfortunately, a stone house near Nice, even the non-flushable kind, goes for the price of a normal home -- not the hobby version. I can't afford that much and not be able to go to the bathroom.

Here's why I love this empty country house that I'm never going to be able to buy: It has a beautiful view of a perched village, has fig and olive trees already on the property, is within walking distance of a store that sells baguettes and other small necessities, and it's near a nice running path with a view over the city.

This is what it would look like out the window of that bedroom every morning: Ah!

In the meantime... we're in the middle of scheduling some viewings at a few tiny apartments downtown.

p.s. Our baby has started daycare! I'm a writer again!

1 comment:

  1. Kerry: Nice to see you writing again! What a gorgeous view from that window! But without a toilet is a serious problem!

    Carmen

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