The Search for the perfect property

Ok so a perfect property does not exist - especially with the fairly unattainable criteria we set ourselves, but we were prepared to compromise in some areas.  In January 2011 Grandma  & Grandpa kindly looked after Ben and Scarlett for 4 days whilst we flew to Toulouse to check out around 12 of the most likely properties.  As usual (and Al should know) the estate agents were either a waste of time, mildly deaf or actually lying about the suitability of properties. However on day 2 we were met by Karl on behalf of his colleague Etta who turned out to be the epitome of a good agent.  They showed us the Moulin de Faget (an 18th century water mill with 5.5 hectares (13 acres) of land) which ticked all the boxes except the distance to school (who would soon be old enough to take the school bus) - but the property appeared perfect in every other way. NB if you Google the Moulin de Faget – we haven’t chosen the naturist colony with the same name!!

We went through the motions of the other visits for the next few days but our minds were already made up so we went back to the mill on the final day and spent another few hours with the intriguing owner (comically named Mr Boubee!).  We left the area with high hopes that our property in Chamonix would sell before the mill sold to someone else but we knew we had to steel ourselves for disappointment because we knew that the chances were that the mill would have sold before we could move on it. We always knew that our visit to the region was a little premature because we hadn't sold in Chamonix so we couldn't let ourselves get too attached to any individual place.

Here is a Google Earth image of the property.  You can make out the L-shaped millhouse and barn, man-made lake and land (brown with hay-bales).  The line of trees either side of the mill show the canals (commonly known as leats in the UK) that supply the mill with water for the mill wheels.  We are already trying to find a means of building a duck-house on the lake island – anyone know any MP’s with a decent expense account?