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...

The 'Voie Verte'

At the side of the property, a small path leads directly onto the local 'voie verte'. This is part of the national system of 'green routes'-which are open to walkers, cyclists, dog-walkers, horse-riders etc, but not to motorised vehicles. It's a beautiful and safe way to walk or ride into the local towns of either Sourdeval or Mortain-and Mont St Michel is about a 50 km cycle ride away by this route. Being an ex-small railway line, originally for the local small industries which formerly used the water power available in the valleys, there are no steep gradients...

...and in places, the path is raised on embankments, giving some stunning views of the surrounding countryside, which is constantly changing with the seasons. I find it a real bonus to be able to walk our dogs from here, without once taking them out onto a road.

The Big Barns

These barns are large-being by around 7 by 18 metres, and over two storeys high. Being an ex-milking parlour, there is water and electricity in situ and the building is structurally sound and in good clean condition with a good concrete floor. We have obtained full planning consent for this building to be turned into two separate three bedroomed dwellings-eg as gites. We've had architects drawings prepared for this, which includes plans for one of these dwellings to include a ground floor bedroom and bathroom suitable for use by someone with a physical disability. This would be a real bonus in this area, where there is a very limited supply of holiday accommodation for people who are wheelchair users.
At the side of the barn, we've fenced the area off for use as a dog pound/lawn mower servicing area. On the architects plans, this is shown as a possible communal laundry area...

...this view shows the interior of the upstairs part of the barns. If developed, there would be wonderful views from here-towards the forest at the front, and across to Sourdeval at the rear.

The Workshop

OK-so 'workshop' is a bit of a grand name for this space at the back of the Big Barns-and I nearly missed it out-but we've found the area really helpful and vitally useful at times...There are double rolling doors meaning vehicles and/or tools can be stored away from easy view-the grey door rolls back and is high enough to allow storage of larger vehicles...

...internally, there's electricity available, plus lighting (on an automatic movement sensitive security switch). We've had a couple of cars, a caravan, and a large trailer stored in here all together. Being dry, it's a good space if you need to do some work on a car. Currently, Martin's using it to chop our winter wood down to size.

The Cider Barn

The Cider Barn is so-called because-guess what- we've been told that this is where the cider used to be made. It's a large barn-being 62.92 m2. It faces the voie verte (and the sunshine), and the large double doors are big enough to drive a car or tractor inside-very useful for storage. This is the only one of the 5 outbuildings to have just an earth floor (the others have all been concreted). Nonetheless, we've had two very successful parties in this barn!

Internally, the barn was originally on split levels with hay stored above.

At one side, the old apple press remains in situ.

At the back, there is a further door-and this is also one of the chickens' favourite afternoon pecking areas! On the opposite wall, we've successfully grown a vine which gave a good yield of tangy grapes last year.

The Bread Oven

This little bread oven building stands close to the big barns. The little ridge at the bottom of the chimney reveals that it would once have had a thatched roof. The exterior part of the bread oven-which is in need of some TLC-can be seen to the right of the little house. I've been told that, in the past, this, like other bread ovens, would have been 'fired up' once every few days, and then all the women living close by would bring their bread to be baked communally. Perhaps social isolation is one aspect of life which has not improved in more recent times...

Flat, heavy cooking vessels and trays could have been pushed into the oven from this hearth. The next photo was taken with a flash looking inside the oven...

...and shows the brick work is still incredibly intact. There's a little access door at the side, which would be just big enough to push a child through if needs be. What a thought!!