The House

The house is in a great location-being in quiet countryside, yet also only 2 kms from the local town of Sourdeval. It's easily accessible-close to main roads, and all facilities including local schools. We have stunning views from all sides-we can see across to Sourdeval, and also towards the forest. We have a fast broadband connection and also the choice of free water via the local water source, or mains water from the town (which isn't free!)...

The property also backs onto the local 'voie verte' (see separate blog entry), and has enough land (total 9,075 m2 surrounding the properties) for self-sufficiency, or horse grazing. There are a total of 5 outbuildings plus a further detached garage. Planning consent obtained to turn one of the buildings into two self-contained houses/gites.

The house is South-facing with a large utility room at the rear. There are adjoining attics which would provide easy scope for further extension. The house is presently for sale with a couple of local estate agents-we also have it available for private sale so please leave a comment if you would like me to contact you with further details.

The Kitchen (before renovation)

Hmmm...it was always going to take a fair bit of work to turn this into the lovely kitchen we both had in our minds (see next entry). Previously, it seemed most of the cooking had been done on an open fire in the large granite fireplace, so you also have to imagine the smell of old wood smoke...we actually left this room for a little while whilst we had a 'summer kitchen' in the utility room-which gave a chance to really consider the planning...

The Kitchen (after renovation)

The kitchen has been restored to a professional, modern standard-eg there's a total of 17 sockets. This is a lovely light family style room-bright and airy in summer and cosy in the winter. The woodburner/boiler makes a centrepiece here. As well as the dining table, there's also room for a small settee. We relocated the sink so that it looks out across the drive and towards Sourdeval. We kept the alcoves on either side of the hearth-they've been lined, shelved, and illuminated, and are great for storage and display. There are plenty of cupboards and drawers-which are also complemented by the walk-in larder in the hall.

The hallway (before renovation)

actually, these pics were taken after we'd removed the first lot of heavy plastic-y wallpaper which was concealing yet more yucky stuff. We had to take down the ceilings because they also (it turned out) contained pretty yucky stuff, too. Lovely! But never mind-because this gave a chance to put in some insulation, and conceal some wiring and plumbing. There is no cloud without a lining...The original flooring (the small tiles-some of the local shops are tiled with identical ones) turned out to be literally as slippery as ice if they were even slightly damp. We've replaced them with heavy duty large non-slip tiles throughout the kitchen and hallway area.

The Hallway (after renovation)

well-the cat loves sitting on the bench in the hall now, keeping an eye on the world (as he sees it). There are two cupboards under the stairs which I use for cleaning items. Not shown in these photos is the walk-in larder which also has a tiled floor and, being on the back, north-facing part of the house, is a lovely cool area to store provisions. The shelves (on your right as you come in through the back door) were fitted by Martin.

The Heating System

Our central heating is powered by this wonderful fire (a Coalbrookdale Darby) which has a back boiler to heat the water-which is then circulated via a small electric pump round a total of 7 radiators situated throughout the house. It's a poweful system easily capable of heating more radiators if required and either coal or wood can be used as fuel. There's a certain amount of work involved in cutting and carrying the wood etc, and tending to the fire, but I can honestly say that during the winter, once this fire is going, we have the cosiest and warmest house I've ever visited in Normandy. For convenience, we also have thermostatic electric heaters fitted in the bedrooms and bathroom. Our hot water is heated via an immersion tank (a 'ballon'), situated in the attic-this is wired up so that it automatically heats the water overnight, taking advantage of the low overnight electricity tariff here in France.

The Surrounding Area

The house itself is located in a quiet countryside setting, yet also within easy access of all local facilities. This part of Normandy is very popular with tourists-Mortain with it's history and waterfalls is only about 10 km away, and Mont St Michel only about 50 km away. Our nearest town, Sourdeval, can seem quiet during the week-yet it becomes very lively at weekends, market days, and at holiday times. Information on events in Sourdeval can be found at
www.Sourdeval.fr
From the house, Sourdeval is only a 2km drive-or a 25 minute walk away.
Sourdeval has a good mixture of shops, small supermarkets, a small cinema and town hall, and good schools.
Caen, with it's ferry port at Ouistreham is only 1.5 hrs drive away, and it's also only just over an hour's drive to the seaside and elegance of towns along the coast like Granville.

Sourdeval's town band turns out for all the regular festivals such as the town's annual flower festival when floats covered in paper flowers go through the town, and are then illuminated for the evening, and followed by a firework display.

The Dining Room (before renovation)

Out of all the rooms in the house, the dining room was probably in the worst state due to problems with damp which were remedied with treatment, installation of a double damp course membrane, lots of concrete, and good insulation. We had hoped to preserve the original oak flooring-but on examination, it turned out these boards were resting on beams which were in turn rotten, and resting on a few lumps of granite. So now the walls, floor, and ceiling have all been insulated...As had been the case throughout the house, the patterned wallpaper had also been papered over the doors. Lovely!

The Dining Room

Currently, we use this room as a dining room when we've a largish number of guests...and I use it as a craft room where I can make jewellery (hence the rather messy table). We have also used this in the past as a downstairs bedroom for guests.

The Landing

We decided to keep the same shape of window on the landing when the window was replaced-since we loved the view through it-which looks across to Sourdeval-the town lights can be seen twinkling away at night-and we've watched the Bastille day fireworks from here. There is a traditional oak stair case which we've polished and waxed.

The Toilets

Hmmm...it seems a little odd to be posting pictures of one's toilets...but still, here they are-we've re-decorated them, but they're in the traditional French style, being in separate little rooms-one upstairs, one downstairs.

The Shower Room

The original downstairs bathroom was in need of complete renovation. We have fitted a walk-in shower, put in insulation, proper ventilation, and heating via a heated towel rail, or radiator warmed by the wood-burning stove/boiler. This shower room has also been useful with guests in the past, when we've used the dining room as an extra bedroom, and so been able to offer all facilities on the ground floor.

The Bathroom

Originally, this room had just a hand-basin in it, but we decided to move the bath upstairs, and create a separate shower room downstairs. As with the bedrooms, this room also has heating via either an electric radiator, or a radiator warmed via the wood-burning boiler.

The Attics

At the side of the house, (accessed via an external door, or a connecting door in the dining room), there is a barn which we use for spare coats,shoe/boot storage, table tennis games, and storage of firewood in winter. Above this, is an attic which we use for storage. If either of these were adapted for living accommodation, they would have fantastic views across the adjoining countryside.

Two more attics go above the domestic part of the house. As you can see, they are all in good, dry order. There are many possibilities as to what could be done with these attics if there was a need to increase living space-e.g. the smallest attic could be accessed directly from the main house, and could make a very exciting bedroom for children.

The Bedrooms

Upstairs, there is a single and double bedroom. They were in need of what someone described as "heavy decoration!"Since we moved the bathroom upstairs, we also created space in the main bedroom at the same time for a large fitted wardrobe. In each bedroom, we have electric thermostatically controlled radiators fitted as well as the radiators heated by the wood burning stove with back boiler which is in the kitchen. These are not big bedrooms-but they are cosy-which is something you appreciate after you've lived in Normandy for a while! they both have good wood floors.

The small bedroom looks out across the garden...

...whilst the main bedroom has a lovely view...you can see across to the forest whilst still in bed.

The Utility Room-before renovation

Between us, Martin and I can lack common sense sometimes-and we both got excited at seeing this 'utility room' which was built onto the back of the house. It was probably used for animal feed storage originally. At the time of these photos, all we'd done was to jet wash it, and take out the original window, ready for it's replacement...

The Utility Room-after renovation

...Just for once, we were right-and we've used this as much more than just a utility room-it was our kitchen for some months whilst the proper kitchen was being renovated. The view looks straight down the drive-so this is still a good place to sit in the summer time.

When it's winter time, it's a great place to be able to dry the dogs off before they come back into the house, and handy too to be able to clean things up, and store pet food, things for recycling, and to do the laundry,and keep the freezer etc...