923 Days

Here's how we normally describe to people how we ended up at La Basse Cour:

"We knew we wanted to move to this part of France, we'd been to the Morbihan many times before and we did lots of research. We saw 14 properties in 6 days and this was the last of the 14. It had the best aspect and most potential of everything we saw."

We usually also add, slightly ruefully: "we were looking for a project - maybe not this big a project."

With a fair bit of experience of renovating houses in the UK we set up a budget based on what we knew, what we extracted from "knowledgeable" artisans, experience from our whirlwind renovation of the house attached to the barn, some research and a fair bit of guessing.

Timescales are always a difficult thing to estimate - when did you ever hear someone say their project came in 6 months early? So, in the words of a former colleague at work, our schedule was "perhaps more of a wish than a plan". I thought it would be 18 months, Barbara 15 - allowing for a few weeks off work for UK visits, one holiday in three years and a new hip we took 27 months.

923 days of our life.

Budget was close to our first projection thanks to Barbara's wide-ranging procurement and tight accounting, doing the work on a self-build basis meant we came in below the architect's projection.

And how has it turned out? You be the judge - here are some before and after pictures:

The Barn in July 2010

And the same view four years later in July 2014

The eastern end of the Barn - September 2011

Eastern end of the Barn July 2014

Another view of the staircase and kitchen

North-east end of the Barn - September 2011

Same view in July 2014

Looking towards the west end of the Barn - July 2014

and the same view in July 2014

North wall of the Barn - new windows, roof and pointing

Our oak dining set has returned from storage

Living area furnished by Barbara, John Lewis and Wren Living - July 2014

Staircase up to the mezzanine level

Lean-to with asbestos roof - July 2010

 In July 2014 it has become the utility room 

923 Days