We bought a derelict house in the UK… and the Calor Gas man muttered… “I wish my wife would let my buy something as awful as this”… he had us in fits of laughter.
I explained some of our plans and he was obviously itching to do a project of his own.
27 years later (and after much hard graft) it was fabulous and sold to the first person who viewed it, at the price we named !
We knew ours was in need of attention, but it was rather more than we envisaged at the time!
That’s what we wanted to avoid in our French Hideaway… we ideally wanted our holidays to be complete rest, food, drink… more rest… more food… more drink… 
hic
Anyway,
it’s all worked out for the best…
My concern is always that if people care so little about the interior mess in their house, then have they cared for the electrics, plumbing, and roof etc in the same casual way? I don’t mind if they leave their knickers on the floor is there’s a full service history for the boiler…
My car is often scruffy inside and out but the important bits are cared for second to none. You can’t always judge a book…
On visits to look at properties with agents and notaires ( we had already stated quite clearly not to show us anything with a right of way, anything isolated or anything attached to another property) we were shown, yes you guessed, all of the above in the hopes that the British mugs would buy.
It’s not knickers or clothes on the floor that I minded, rather it was the tree growing up through the living room, I kid you not !
Also the house that a young couple had started to renovate (badly) they had had a huge row and decided to sell the property. Trouble is neither one had cleaned away all the dirty dishes and pots. The table was littered with mice droppings all around the plates, the sink had mould and flies everywhere and I won’t go into the state of the toilet!
The house that was in the middle of a forest, trees almost up to the edge of the property, spooky and horrid. Had to beat a path through nettles to reach the door. It had belonged to an old lady that had died, her family hadn’t even cleaned out her belongings. Again there were flies and insects everywhere.
The house we eventually bought was the first one that’ felt right’ to us. It had been empty for 50 years owing to one member of the family not wanting to sell, once he popped his sabots his family wanted it gone. There was an awful lot of rubbish, including rotten matresses and dead rats but nevertheless it still felt right and our offer was accepted 
Just noticed on one of the photos that there is a Union Jack shopping bag.
Could it belong to the family from hell that we all see from time to time in the supermarkets in Summer? 
We managed not to see any true howlers.
We did see one where access to the bedrooms needed me to duck under a beam which was at my chest height - I know I’m 187cm but that was a bit extreme.
Another proudly proclaimed “combles aménageable” but the only access was via a pull-down loft ladder. That in itself should not have been a problem but when we viewed the house it was clear within about a minute that there was nowhere in the existing footprint to add a full-sized staircase into the attic.
Another somehow managed to have no useable garden, despite quite a large sounding plot in the agent’s particulars because of the way the house had been cut into the hill and the land terraced from one plot to the next (a pity as we quite liked the house).
I’m sure house hunting in the UK produces similar tales. 
That does look quite low…
We saw a few with low beams (killer beams we call them). There was one with a beam a few inches off the floor…perhaps they had lowered the floor? So if you didn’t trip over that one there was still an opportunity to fracture your skull on the higher one 
We stayed in a wonderful old place in the Mayenne… the tower room of which, had a wonderful open-plan bedroom cum bathroom arrangement.
It had beams at both strategic heights… suitable for kneecapping or decapitating the unwary… on the way to and from the loo etc…
Some of the gang put their minds to redesigning the layout, but Madame just laughed … no major accidents so far, she reckoned, so why pay out good money… 
The beam in my bedroom is really effective in determining the sleeping area. It’s a strange room because it is a large mezzanine above the kitchen, allowing that room to be full height with an uninterrupted view of the C16/C17th chimney. The bed was on the other side of the beam for many years but by being behind the beam makes it much more cosy. It’s a stunning part of the history of the house and stooping under it a few times every day is a small price to pay.
My partners house is on different levels, to go through to what is now the music room one has to bend double under a huge beam. Upstairs to go through to the’ blue bedroom’ one has to duck while at the same time navigating 3 wooden steps. The grenier has 1 beam to duck under and 2 steps while furher in the same room is another beam that has to be ducked under with a drop down to another level.
At first I was always banging my head, finally got used to it now.
There is a wonderful large high ceiling cellar under the house with a massive granite lintel that has to be ducked under to go down 3 steps, I have had a bloody head, literally, on more than one occasion!
Jim has just cracked his head today. A good job he doesn’t live in that house.
My house is modernish and relatively uncomplicated. When I visit my partner I do at times forget that I have to duck between some of the rooms .
Can end up with a nasty headache !
What do I think … Over million euro ! Marry me
Toad
Useful info; where did you advertise your property?
