La chasse commence, part deux

We have looked at a number of houses since my last post.  I won’t spend too much time on the “unplanned viewings”…let’s just say that every time (literally) we mention we are house hunting, someone says “I have a friend who has a great house for sale…”  So far we’ve seen 3 of these and none of them are worth mentioning. But there have been some “interesting adventures!”But the 3 places that are shown here are all from our “short list.”  The first is/was near Le Buege, which is a quite lovely village.  And the house was quite lovely too. Old…very old, with many amazing details (like the stair case, the yellow stone, the courtyard, the hectares of forest that are included with the house; many architectural gems, etc.).  The owner was quite charming and wonderful as well.  We had coffee and tea, lots of conversation and long walk through the forest with Bert and Beulah.  A grand time was had by all!! AND…it is not the house for us.  Too isolated (way up in the hills down a long, winding road (been there, done that), too big, too much work to do, and despite the great vibes and personality…not right for us.  The next place is located “a cote” (next to) a church in a small near close the medieval town of Issigeac.  Another old…VERY old place, with a charming owner, who gave us a great tour of her place.   The house has been a B&B (chambre d’hotes) and has WAY too many bedrooms for our needs.  And many of them have “themes” (use your own imagination).  It also has a crew of laborers staying there right now (they are working at another property down the road) which gave the house showing extra “character(s)” and olfactory delights (they made and ate lunch while we were touring). Again, fantastic architectural details, lovely grounds   (including a walled garden) and outbuildings…a lot to love.  AND, not right for us.  Way too many bedrooms and way too much deferred maintenance.  But if you know anyone who wants to run a B&B in Southwest France, this IS the place for them.  Finally, we visited a mill house near a town called Lamonzie St. Martin.  The big selling point was that this property has a “cascade”…a waterfall(!). Sadly, it is located right next to a very busy highway and it shares a common driveway with a B&B that also does   camping…which means there will be lots of strangers running around hiking and fishing.  Can you say “not right for us”?  I think you can.  Not to worry, we still have 27 more on the list…and we’re still looking… Know anyone with a cool place for sale in Southwest France, preferably on the banks of the Lot River? Send ’em our way.