From your reply it comes across that the most important thing to you is somewhere to escape to…so I wonder whether you should also look at an option of buying a place that is already renovated, and is just in need of adapting to your taste? You can find quite a few properties with a ready made gîte attached.
We actually wanted a project, but it was hard work and took several years. We enjoyed it, and made friends doing it as well as getting to know the local area (and a great plumber who now drops everything and comes running if we have a problem in the gîte-which is priceless). However adding it up afterwards it would have cost about the same amount to buy something ready finished.
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What a difference a bit of information makes. If you had mentioned that you had an Irish passport earlier it would have been so much better. If your partner also has one then you can ignore the B word altogether. What as shame you missed out that vital information and resorted to unpleasantness when other posters were trying to help by pointing out the problems and uncertainties. You posted that home was in Wiltshire, having Irish citizenship is something else.
It’s worth doing some research into the way that partners can be treated differently in France than they are in the UK. Being married or being in a civil partnership can make a big difference at times.
All of the people I know who run gites use the money generated to supplement their main income, none of them could live off their gites.
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I love renovating… it is a hobby of mine Jane… done all me own houses.
Glad to have been of some help. Being Irish is fabulous, lucky you! My sister’s 3 children have all applied for Irish Passports as their Dad is Irish, made me smile!
We have had rental properties in the U.K. and always done well with them - we had long term tenants, mainly from overseas on a 1 or 2 year contract, and the rental return was very good. With long term rentals in France you make very low returns, and take a huge risk as the rights of the tenant are extreme, everything is stacked against the nasty landlord. Take my advice (and that of the avocation we had to use in the end when we had an issue here) and don’t be tempted to go down that route, Stick to short term holiday let’s and you are reasonably safe.
In terms of overall return for your money, you would be best advised to get another property in the U.K. - you will make more on your investment and sleep easier at night. With the enhanced profits you can rent in France yourself whenever you wish. Only go the French route if you are going to use the place a LOT yourself and prepared to spend your own holidays there doing maintenance. The quality of the housing stock here is poor, so be very careful what you buy and where. Simple things, not next to a river (floods) not in the woods (fire) not in a dip (like a little Siberia in winter as cold air goes to the lowest place) … South side of the hill, not North facing etc. You will be surprised how many people get this wrong. Buy in winter in the rain, if you love it then, it can only get better in the summer!
Enough now, don’t want to put you off France all together (we love it here and no plans to move, been here nearly 17 years) but as finance is my ‘metier’, decide if this is a ‘heart project’ or a ‘financial investment’. Unlikely to be both, sadly…
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Jane… send by private message… 
Well in which case…off you go!
We too have done up several houses, which is why we wanted a project like this. However it was certainly more complicated doing it in France…administration and public services are not there to help you, and simple things like sorting our new electricity connection took months. There seems to be less of a culture of renovating houses (building a new one is much more popular) so a lot of things I took for granted are not available.
Final thought, garden maintenance services are phenomenally expensive, so be careful about the amount and complexity of land you buy. There is a reason why many french people had dead flat, square gardens with not much in them as most economical to mow with a ride on mower.
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It was a mistake! Trouble with iPads that they can be too sensitive so sent my signature as I brushed over the screen…
Wise words to check French sources. They appear to be more transparent than those from UK.For example at the moment they are discussing a large percentage rise in Taxes on second homes ( No it is not just for Brits as reported in some UK papers ) as Macron is hoping to reduce Taxes on primary residences.
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We are looking at property in France and have found the house taxes to be extremely variable and certainly not necessarily cheaper than the uk. Some are definitely much higher.
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The UK has also heavily taxed second homes, and councils no longer give discounts when they are empty, for even one month - full council tax is charged regardless. You are then charged more when you purchase another home if you already own one, with stamp duty, and also your mortgage is counted as profit not an expense , if you rent the property out. Clearly this is a tax against landlords, which is foolish as the councils are not providing enough social housing, … swings and roundabouts but hey ho
I live here and due to moving and then kids leaving home I have a couple of spare houses now that I’m considering either long term letting or using as holiday lets. I already let my ex family home in the UK There are so many complications letting in France I’ve been procrastinating over doing it for a while now and that’s with me living here, with a spare house next door and the other 18km away. Though being an overseas landlord of a UK house hasn’t been too bad (it’s a pain organising repairs, especially when the tenant doesn’t get on with the person doing them), I really wouldn’t want to be an overseas landlord in France from the UK and that’s for long term lettings. Short term lettings would be even more difficult.
I don’t understand why all that mention of brexit when it doesn’t affect you? It would have been better to say from the start that brexit is irrelevant since you’re Irish and so will retain EU Citizenship. However, though it may be irrelevant for most of the things we Brits with no EU Citizenship worry about, it’s still worth keeping an eye on developments because there are still things that could affect you just because you’ll be buying from the UK - whether free movement of capital is agreed to continue being a major one.
The planned increased taxes on second homes are for habitation tax and will affect you once the property you buy is furnished. It’s not going to affect all areas - only certains areas with a population of more than 50k which are having housing problems - but it’s certainly worth checking if the area you plan to buy is one of those as this can mean up to 60% extra on the tax d’habitation bill.
Finally, check whether you actually need to set up a French business structure to do it as it’s probably cheaper just to declare the earnings on your tax return and you don’t necessarily need to be paying cotisations which include pension cover, healthcare, sick pay etc .
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Hi Elizebeth
I haven’t read all the replies to your post, however we have a rental property in the Dordogne and our experiences over the last 30 years may be of interest, especially if your Wiltshire base is anywhere near Salisbury, our base. You both would be welcome to come round for a cup of tea and a chat.
Have a look at our website…
Www.lesbouleaux.uk
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And there’s talk of doubling some of these taxes, for non-resident owners. At the moment it will apply to cities but no guarantee they won’t roll it out later.
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You should look at the tax implications of how the group of buildings is set up. There are some regulations that work out the tax habitation and fonciere based on whether you have separate electricity and water supplies, or whether there’s a single supply. If separated, you can find yourself doubling or tripling your taxes. Definitely worth getting good advice from a tax expert before you start any work.
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Wow Paul, I live in Amesbury…lol, used to live in Salisbury near Milford Hill. How weird is that. We may take you up on that, as it would be most interested to touch base! Thank you for your offer, I shall tell my partner and let you know 
That was going to be my next question Caroline, so thanks for that. I was wondering if you had a few buildings on the same land, but used one for yourself and rented the other out, what the implications would be of that. We are planning on getting a good accountant fluent in French/Anglais tax obvs
We kept to a single supply for both house and gîte, as didn’t want to pay two lots of abonnements let alone everything else. Now we are questioning whether that was a wise long term decision as if we want to sell separately we will have to rework the supplies.
Bonjour Elizabeth
I have read through this thread … and agree with a number of comments that suggest you should think of buying into an existing gite business - a going-concern. There are very few people now renovating old properties as it just isn’t worth it any more. Local people spot white vans full of English brickies a mile away and have no qualms in denouncing ‘black’ labour. And then there are the norms, which, when it comes to electricity and plumbing, are quite different from the UK or Ireland.
You can find nice ‘big house + 2 gites’ set-ups in France … though further south than you want … for around €300k. I’ll be happy to show you a few that are on the market: there are 80 or so listed on this page.
Good luck!
Simon
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Thanks Simon, I will check your list out, and let you know when we are in a position to start looking
Simon
Do you have any further north near Bordeaux / Libourne?
Thanks