A cottage in Brittany.

Following slightly in the footsteps of Magali, whose blog tells us all about the renovation of her Breton cottage, I thought I would go back in time and show you our first cottage in France.

We bought this in  Brittany in 1995 as a holiday cottage...somewhere to run during the school terms and holidays.

It did not look at all like the photo.

Poor cottage had been lived in for years by an elderly bachelor and was decidedly scruffy.

But...the most amazing thing was that it had a modern bathroom, put in, I think, by the council. That made it all possible, as we knew there would be much renovation to do.

In those days there were no programmes on 'the French Dream', no magazines full of advice, there were few solicitors who knew how to deal with a property buy in France, and we had to struggle through all sorts of hoops concerning inheritance laws, tax payments in another country, et al.

However, we bought it and in May 1995 rushed over at half term,buying two white plastic chairs from the nearest supermarket, and took possession.

The cottage was at the end of a lane in a small hamlet known as 'Le Vieux Bourg' (The old village), slightly separated from the newer village which was within 3 minutes walk. There was one tiny shop in a front room, a post office, a Dr's surgery, and naturally, five bars.

In a village of 1200 people.

When I can find some more photos I'll tell you how the 'dream' progressed.