Our plans for France

We have had various ideas about what to do with our little house.  We thought initially we might build a small extension to create a doorway into the cave ... see the mock up below.

 We ultimately decided against this idea.  Too much work/money for too little gain.  We instead are going for a new cave door done in the traditional way.

Over to the barn and very old house.....it currently looks like this with no windows

We have been contemplating the driveway area and tidying that up.  Currently we are getting a devis (quote) for the work to flatten and gravel.  Create some planted areas and tidy up the old house by putting windows and shutters .... see mock up below

Here is another idea for the shutters on the old house.  This is a very old building dating back to the 17th century.  We do not think it is worth renovating but we do love the look of it and if we put shutters and glass in the windows along with a proper door we will get the benefit of a finished looking very old place from the outside at least!  The verandah awning is rather prized too as it is so very old.  It's in good nick and the whole area (we hope) will end out looking smart and part of the property and landscaping without spending extraordinary amounts of euro.

Our little house has a south facing terrace which is a wonderful area.  But we are looking into changing it slightly.  The image below is as it appears now from the dining room.  The bottom image is what we are looking at doing.  By opening it out and creating a staircase we'd be able to see down our flat section to the field below.  We can also then pave an area at the bottom and create a landscaped space.  It would serve a few purposes.

The image below is just a photo from the dining room to the outside terrace....

This image below is a mock up of what we are thinking of doing.   We'll see what the price comes to but it's fun thinking of our various options.

We are of course mindful not to overspend.  It's a balancing act and it'll be neat looking back to these plans in the future and see where we end out!