Sold - Subject to contract

Looks like we're going to be homeless again soon. The couple who'd viewed the house a few weeks ago returned on Tuesday and after a quick look round & a few questions answered they retired to the estate agents car. Within 5 minutes the agent returned with an offer & after a couple of further trips the deal was done and we agreed on a price! They're very keen to get things moving and by 3:00 the surveyor was booked for Wednesday at 10:00 and we had an appointment with the Notaire at 9:00 on Thursday. Phew, I've never known things move as fast in France. It now means that we will have to get things moving pretty quickly in the barn & visits to the Regourds, Thierry & the window manufacturer were now a priority. My aunt is visiting us for two weeks at the end of July, our buyers want to be in by the last week in June so let's hope she doesn't mind sleeping in the back of a Land Rover.

The surveyor turned up as scheduled on Wednesday morning and set to looking for asbestos, lead, woodworm, termites & damp with a device labelled 'Radioactive'. I'm pleased to report he didn't find any & also gave us a 'glowing' energy rating with his only concern being that the railings on the terrace could do with being filled in. In France the Notaire acts for buyer & seller so on Thursday morning we all sat in her office, along with the estate agent to help with translation, and went through the Compromis de Vente, a 19 page document, all pages of which require a signature. Our buyers now have 7 days to change their minds & pay a 10% deposit so it's fingers & everything else we can think of crossed. In the meantime we have a bit of admin to do getting all the artisans invoices together & matching them up with bank statements in the hope that we can minimise the amount of tax we'll have to pay. We felt we deserved a coffee after all that legal stuff and called in to the bar in Najac where we got talking to a couple from New Zealand. They were visiting their daughter who was a nanny in Paris and were taking the opportunity to visit what seemed like the whole of Europe. They'd already been to Greece, Turkey & Egypt & were scheduled to visit the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Croatia & Portugal and had managed to take over 1,500 pictures.. We exchanged email address' & were told that if we ever make it to New Zealand we were to drop in & see them. We'll have to make sure it's not on the night they're having an evening in showing their friends the holiday pic's.

Let's hope it's not a bit premature but on Saturday night we decided to celebrate the weeks progress with a meal at the 'Le Four à Pain' a new restaurant that opened in Najac last week. The village has been lacking a good eatery and we had high hopes as the chef used to work at one of the local hotels & had a good reputation. We weren't disappointed and although the menu was limited in choice the cream of nettle soup with snails in a crispy herb pastry served with a garlic velouté followed by lamb diablotin with pistachio marinade served on a bed of chickpea purée & semi dried tomatoes was a tad different to the canard & aligot which has become our staple diet when eating out. Judging by the number of people dining the restaurant is proving a great success and we look forward to returning soon.

The weather has taken a dramatic turn for the better and as I reported a couple of weeks ago the wildlife is out & about. We had a tiny lizard in the house earlier in the week & this morning I managed to snap this visitor to Chez Hill. PS; Get in touch if you need some petrol, there's plenty here!