Finding an old house in France

Our first vacation home in Sète was quite small but had the most marvellous view of the Mediterranean. We and all our friends loved it. One reason we bought it was to see how we liked coming back to the same place every year. We were planning to get something more permanent by the time, but were not sure in what area or what kind of location we were looking for. We will share some of our experiences with you today.
Sète is lovely – one of the favourite places for French people to go on vacation. It has fantastic seafood, one of the best beaches in France and a lot of atmosphere and culture. And maybe the best, there are relatively few Scandinavians, Germans, Englishmen or Dutch people that has found Sète. It is very genuinely French unlike some places on Côte d’Azur. It is not that we do not meet people from other countries, but never in such masses that they dominate the culture. On the contrary, there are more and more tourists coming to Sète and we enjoy meeting, talking with them. Sometimes it is nice to talk to someone who understands every word you say. We will invite you to a tour of Sète later.
Coming down for a few weeks to relax from work is perfect. We experienced a lot of things in a short time, we always had people around us – summer and winter – and it was always something going on. We were really on vacation!
We became however more aware of the fact that living in such a place all year around would be different. It was very easy to go to a restaurant instead of making your own meals. It was more attractive to take a walk along the beach than reading a good book. Shopping was always an attractive option if nothing else showed up. We felt that we would like to live in a place there we would not be on vacation all the time. I should however not be too far away from all these fantastic attractions we got used to. So, whenever we visited places around in Languedoc we kept our eyes opened and asked ourselves: How would it be to live in a place like this? We knew we were looking for an old house and we were not afraid of doing some renovation on it. We rather preferred that than a house someone else redone in away we did not like. It took us 12 years to find our house!
We were lucky to become very good friends with three most lovely cousins that owned the local restaurant, ice cream café and delicatessen shop in our neighbourhood. These three ladies had a lovely old house in a little village in the Corbières Mountains. Their house was a part of the oldest part of the village that was built on the remains of a medieval castle in turn built on the same ground as a Roman fortification.
Their neighbour house was the oldest in the village and also empty since a few years. Unfortunately in a condition that worried some of the neighbours. We were quite shocked when they suggested we should buy that building and renovate it. No way! An old building, Yes! But that was too much.
Next summer we visited our friend again and they announced on the phone beforehand that they had managed to get the keys to the building next door. All the way down to our friends we convinced ourselves NOT to by that house. We knew tat we needed all our talents to justify our lack of interest in the house to them.
It did not work out quite the way we had planned! When we entered the house it was love a first sight! We had a very good old lady friend with us from Sweden and the women were running up and down the stairs totally charmed by the lovely rooms, the old staircase, the original terracotta tiles from 18th century and how reasonably well everything was kept despite being empty for some years. I, being an architect, was more concerned about the condition of the floors, walls, roofing, plumbing and electricity.
To make a long story short – we bought the house and we will continue our story soon.

Tip of the day: If you are looking for a house for retirement. Do not rush, take your time, travel around and find out where and how you want to live and try to get French friends. It makes things much easier and nicer! They know so many things that you can never find out yourself. The way we did it, to get something small for a start, worked very well. And above all – have an open mind!