Our 2nd viewing (Bessines)

Today (Sunday), we had a viewing north of Limoges in a small village called Bessines sur Gartempe. This is a private sale with a sad story as the owners are being forced to sell due to ill-health and we could tell that they really didn't want to go. We met them at midday in the heart of the village square at the local bar. They pulled up in their english Jag and were very friendly, they bought us a coffee and we sat outside under the wooden veranda covered in wisteria. We sat next to another english couple who were much older. She had long silvery hair, was very slim and extremely tanned. She was dressed all in white with rips in her trousers (an attempt to appear trendy) but still mangaged an air of elegance with perfect teeth and a soft well spoken voice. He had an Irish lilt, but wore an Aston Martin team polo shirt with a pair of slacks and a Patek Phillipe watch; understated wealth. We passed the time of day and they all warned us that in a few seconds at the strike of midday the church on the opposite side of the square would sound a siren, which still sat there from the wartime and had been used post-war to call the local fire brigade etc. in an emergency. There was no emergency today, just a timely tradition that seemed to comfort the village. We sat saying nothing but with grins on our faces as the sirens went off twice and then finished our coffee and made our way to their house.

We pulled into a small hamlet past a dairy farm and took a tight left into their driveway, where in front of us stood a large barn and to our left was their very pretty and very symetrical house with blue shutters and more wisteria.

It was a little awquard as they were not estate agents and we had to be a little careful with our comments about their lovely home. But they nervously led us into the first barn and then in to the back garden, followed by their house and then the 2nd barn. The house was lovely, not finished but what they had done, had been done well. It had fabulous proportions; tall ceilings, large rooms all with solid oak floors and fireplaces with marble surrounds, it was grand. The attic was ripe for conversion and it already had 4 bedrooms. The kitchen had a simple 'country cottage' feel and was definitely to our taste. The barns had so much potential and, as usual, full of beautiful solid wood beams and so much space your imagination can just run wild.

Unfortunately though, the houses felt very on top of one another within the hamlet and that was something we couldn't overcome...on to the next one.

On the way home, we spotted a roadsign saying 'Meilhards'. On our last trip in May, we fell in a love with a house that not only could we not really afford but we also weren't in a position to buy, we found ourselves diverting off our route to sneak another peak of this lovely place. When we pulled up there was no-one there, so we drove the full length of the driveway and parked right outside the house as if it were ours. We still love it and are viewing it properly on Tuesday.