Life is better in Brittany and Normandy

12,000 English Pounds got us this place in 1999! Though, of course it NEVER rains in Brittany! But that's probably as true as the one about how it ALWAYS rains in Manchester! The first thing to say is... we have been very, very lucky with property over the years. I'm not sure that I should carry on buying lottery tickets... because I'm certain we have had a lifetime's luck in the surprisingly few houses that have marked out our lives. In 1999 we bought, in addition to our house in West Sussex, what is known as a 'Corps de Ferme' in Brittany, in the northwest corner of France. We had been on a couple of viewing trips and seen some frightening stuff, some total ruins where a complete rebuild would be the order of the day and, on one occasion, whilst holding on to the local Immobilier's details which showed a reasonably maintained and attractive looking property we drove round and round the village for so long that the locals were gathering and commenting...

So here's a mystical blog/post from Micki... My mum never came out to our beautiful farmhouse in Brittany. She always used to say " I’ve been to France” (with the implication that she never wanted to again!) …and would sometimes follow it up with "Anyway...I don't like the French!" at which Chris would often say... "That's great - because neither do the Bretons!" And, to be honest, Brittany is not at all like the rest of France and I think she realised by denying herself trips with us that she had missed out on many things that we are certain she would have loved. We used to regale her with stories of what we were doing, places we had visited and how lovely the lakes, the seaside and all the forests are.  When I was a child we used to live in a wonderful Queen Anne cottage in West Chiltington, in Sussex, with a beautiful garden & paddock and - our house in Brittany has a similar charm, feel and character and a wonderful feeling of p...