Over 3 years ago we made a somewhat crazy and impulsive decision and bought a house in France. I had been searching for a few years, and we had had one failed attempt that was caused by lockdown, so when this house popped-up in a newsletter from an estate agent we had been working with, my interest was piqued, the listing title was "A Gentleman's Estate" well, it sounded too intriguing for me not to click! 

I was instantly in love with the place, so much so that I was on the ferry within a couple of days. It is surrounded by woodland and totally enveloped in nature, a truly magical house, the kind that doesn't come up for sale very often. One very reckless trip later and a deal was struck, the whole process took less that three months, and the keys were ours, during lockdown! We had to wait a few weeks before we were allowed to travel, and our beautiful French house was waiting for us in all its glory, ready to be transformed with our DIY skills and some willing helpers!

Now three years on, we are part-way through restoring the gite in the grounds, and fairly proficient at keeping on top of the maintenance and basic gardening required. We listed the house on airbnb last year and were mostly booked throughout the warmer summer months, even getting bookings at Christmas and New Year.

 

This helped us to use the funds generated to buy things like a tractor, new mower, roof repairs, strimmer, chipper the list goes on!

I am this year trying to get my once reasonably tamed vegetable patch or Potager, back in order, using wood chip for the paths, and cardboard and compost to do my no dig beds, it is looking promising so far, but the lack of time to spend on it will no doubt catch up with me!

So now we are about to launch a website, where we can provide updates on courses we will be running. The first will be on Bee Keeping, as we are just doing a hive share with a friend who lives locally, and planning to keep them on our land. We are just awaiting our swarms that we have ordered! I am exploring Apicentric Bee Keeping, putting the bees first, and taking little or no honey. We really want to help these pollinators out.

I would also like to run art courses, but am yet to develop this idea further as Brexit throws a few spanners in the works!

If you would like to take a good look at the house, please click this link

If you are interested in booking or signing up for emails about future courses, please email sales@hannahturner.co.uk and I will be in touch!

Hannah x