2002, actually

Yesterday I posted about our first December (2003) in this house in the Loire Valley region of France. Well, it then dawned on me that the first time we ever saw the house was in December 2002, in the middle of week in which we also saw and considered about a dozen other houses. Walt and I agreed almost immediately that this house was "the one" and it was affordable. We ended becoming its owners in April 2003, and moved here from California in June that year. What did we see in this house that we liked?

     
 (1) A big level yard for a vegetable garden, and surrounded by a hedge that meant privacy.
(2) A rickety car port, as well as a full-size garage. These days, with two cars, we use both.
(3) A big bathroom with a tub, a sink, and a bidet. When in France...

(4) A large balcony, a sort of patio or terrasse, for summertime outdoor living — even though it obviously needed work...

     
(5) A wide, not very steep indoor staircase leading from the entryway up to the main living space.
(6) An interesting fireplace... which ended up not working until be had a wood stove put into it.
(7) A WC (water closet, loo, half-bath) with this old-fashioned look? Again, when in France...

We liked the fact that the house was on a dead-end road and on the edge of a vineyard. We also liked the big windows all around, and the fact that there was actually a working kitchen needing only appliances (stove, dishwasher, microwave, and refrigerator). A lot of the houses we were shown that week had just an empty room with no sink, no cabinets, an no counters in it. And we liked the fact that it had central heat (an oil-fired boiler and radiators), as well as a big attic that could be converted into living space. We had the conversion done in 2010.