Gabrielle
I haven’t made myself very clear, we are dealing with the estate agent section of the local notaire - it does make it all a bit confusing. I am hassling the agent, just with not a lot of success! So no charges being racked up with the notaire himself at the moment.
The only good thing if this falls through is the other property is with a “normal” estate agent (who charges more) who has already been more proactive and speaks excellent english having lived here for a number of years.
Maria
Things do take inordinately long in France, sometimes. I can really empathise !
In France, estate agents tend to do much more of the work that in England would be done by your solicitor.
Notaires don’t usually get involved quite so early in the process. So can I suggest that you call the agents and ‘hassle’ them, which should get a much quicker result and stop you racking up charges with the notaire !
Talk to the Mairie, they should be able to help you. Either directly if they know them or by consulting the plan cadastral to identify the property and then their files to identify the owner
Aha! I should have shared my pain earlier - have now had an email from the notaire’s agent saying that he has passed the offer onto the vendor but hasn’t had a reply yet - he is going to “reach out to them” and come back to me. So at least I’ve had a response! 
Thanks Suzanne. Have already told them that we are looking at another property and have asked twice for a reponse as soon as possible. We expected to hear back earlier and were planning on putting in our third and final offer today with a time limit. We haven’t offered the full asking price as they have overvalued it in our opinion. We have been to France four times looking for property and have done loads of research so think we have a fairly realistic understanding of what the property is worth - we are not simply looking to barter them down for the sake of it.
The property has been on the market for over three years. They have reduced the price in that time but I think that their expectations we set far too high at the outset - the notaire appears to agee with this.
The agent we are dealing with at the notaire speaks english well - we’ve spoken with him in a mixture of both languages - it’s just getting through reception that may be interesting!
I know there are lots of properties out there - we have already seen alot of them! I just don’t want to spend the next few years on a continual house hunting drive…and we really love this property, even after taking off the rose tinted glasses…
Cheers!
Maria
Good idea but we don’t have the owner’s details…
Good Luck, I would have thought in the current market that the agent would bite your hand off, although it’s not the french way to rush things.
I would ask if you can get a response on your offer for the first property by end of today, ask if they have actually put the offer to the vendor (something like - Avez vous donne(ey) notre enchere vers le vendeur ou non?) If no, When will they put your offer forwards? (Quand vous penserez que vous serez parler avec le Vendeur de notre enchere?)
You could try explaining that you are looking at another property and may need to withdraw your offer if the vendor does not respond by close of today (assuming they have already given the offer to the vendor and that you didn’t offer the asking price (see notes on buying a property in france in househunters group - Guillaume posts about this).
Good Luck & don’t forget there are lots of properties out there, just keep going!
Suz
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P.S. My french isn’t perfect but I usually get understood!
Is there anything stopping you contacting the owners direct ? Or writing to the agent asking for news and copying the owner ?
Good luck
Bon courage to you both.