Absolutely not what we were looking for.

That was in August 1988, by Christmas we were the proud owners of La Grande Font and wondering what on earth we would do with it. At that time we both worked full time in England and had no thoughts of living in France on a permanent basis.

Over the next few years, our thoughts turned more and more to France, we had renovated the small wine cave, which is now the Cottage and all available holidays were spent at La Grande Font, which increasingly felt like 'home'.

In 1998 the renovation of the Farmhouse was completed and the swimming pool installed, somewhere along the way we had decided to make France our permanent home and in April 1999 we sold our house in England and moved down lock stock and ginger cat.

The last five years have been spent working harder than either of us ever worked in England, 3 more barns were renovated to create a workshop/office, courtyard and summer house. Work is ongoing but reaching completion (hopefully summer 2004) on our own house, which has been created from 3 barns, one of which was found to be the original farmhouse dating back to 1776.

Work on the gardens is continuous, since we have been here we have planted over 500 trees, including avenues of walnut, cherry and hornbeam. Shrubberies and hedging provide food and shelter for the many wild birds that now visit our gardens and also give privacy to each property.

In 1999 we arrived with one ginger cat, Albert. We now have an additional cat Oscar, 2 dogs Daisy and Millie and 3 horses Gold, Chelsea and Poly. Not all intentional, Poly, Millie and Oscar were all 'rescues' but all equally loved and all with their place in our dream.

Our plans for the future include further landscaping of the immediate gardens, enlarging the small lake to provide fishing and (David's dream) a golf course.