House #3 revisted

We went back to Graham's house today. And it was exactly as we both remembered it. Funny when memory sometimes doesn't distort things a jot.

So I won't go back into the lengthy description, which remains the same; I'll just show you some better pictures. I know it's a lot of images, but I honestly wouldn't burden your screen with them unless we weren't seriously considering buying this house.

The view from the street below:

Right flanking view:

Side-on from the other side:

The remise:

Green:

View over the cemetery:

Another view from the terraces:

And we're really thinking about buying it, despite my reservations about Lodeve. The house itself was built sometime around 1500, by the way.

So here's what we'd do to the property:

First, we'd live in the house as-is, since it's perfectly habitable, and we'd focus on the remise. Either fix it up or tear it down and rebuild it, whichever seems like the best idea once we've sorted out exactly what we're gonna want. But make it into a light-filled atelier/guest house. It's got permission already to become habitable from the city, and it's got its own grassy yard. It's very private, and very independent from the house. Come and stay as long as you like.

Once that's done, we'd move into it, and start on the house. All the partition walls must go. The bathroom must be extended upward, and the stairway somehow downward. We've already discussed these things with "S" and Graham, and these shoudn't be a problem. With the walls gone, the space, especially the kitchen, will become enormously reconfigurable. We'd also want to extend the back bedroom to subsume the balcony (shown in the right flanking view above).

Meanwhile we'd work on the garden. Playground. Shisha tent. Japanese rosewood hot tub. Vegetables. Hidden benches. Tiger pits. There's so much land, with views, and it's so lush, full of pines and fig trees, almonds, peaches, quince.

I sound very optimistic, I know. We liked what we saw today. It's all the benefit of living in the coutryside outside of town, with scads of wild land, and a wondrous environment all to yourself, while being actually right in the center. And at 160,000 euros, it's a steal. There are some drawbacks, of course. There's no vehicular access to the property at all; you park out front and walk up. But it's less of a walk up than many apartment's I've lived in. The whole lot sits atop a wall rising up from street level. And I'm still a little unsure about Lodeve still. Decisions, decisions.

This is a tough one.