Product Description

This work is a charming and informative account of renovating a property in France. When you fall in love common sense flies out of the window. This is how it was for David and Doris Johnson when they found a down-at-heel mini chateau in the heartland of France. A three year restoration began - and with it a journey of discovery. French property expert Clive Kristen was drawn to the subject immediately. This is the amusing and instructional story of the Johnson's restoration, written to help others wanting to embark on their own French renovation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #284481 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 222 pages

Review
'A cautionary tale of a French renovation project with anecdotes and handy hints aplenty.' French Magazine, 1 January 2007

From the Author
I have wanted to write this book with Clive for some while. I
found; myself at 68 with time on my hands but not a lot of money. Was it
possible for Doris and I to renovate a property in France, on a limited
budget at our age?

Four years later, I'm pleased to say that it was. It has not been easy but
95% of the time it has been enjoyable and instructive. Learning new skills
and attitudes later in life gives you a new found confidence and purpose.

As I write this, Doris is cutting the grass with our petrol driven walk
behind mower. This takes her an hour and a half every six days during the
`growing season'. If your idea of retirement is day time TV and reading the
papers it may not be for you but we love it.

I hope that you don't think that we have done nothing but work for four
years. We have made more than we ever had and live a full and enjoyable
social life.

David Johnson

About the Author
This work is a charming and informative account of renovating a
property in France. When you fall in love common sense flies out of the
window. This is how it was for David and Doris Johnson when they found a
down-at-heel mini chateau in the heartland of France. A three year
restoration began - and with it a journey of discovery. French property
expert Clive Kristen was drawn to the subject immediately. This is the
amusing and instructional story of the Johnson's restoration, written to
help others wanting to embark on their own French renovation.

Customer Reviews

A good read for anyone interested in rennovating a holiday home
First off I should point out that the book is actually co-authored by David Johnson and Clive Kristen and tells the three year long tale of how David (and his wife Doris) decided to move to France, found their dream property in the Charente region, then lovingly renovated and turned it from an inhabitable shell into their family home.

The book has quite an easy style to read, each chapter (and there are lots) tells one aspect of their journey both with the house and with integrating into a rural French community - whether it's arriving to look at a property but the agent doesn't appear, knocking down walls in their house (and then needing to have an RSJ installed as the floor above started sagging), being given giant pumpkins by the neighbours or emptying their fosse for the first time, there's a good mixture of entertainment and facts mixed together.

There are many little anecdotes of David and Doris's adventures that I enjoyed throughout the book like trying to kill moles using a traditional french mole explosive device (to no effect of course).

About three-quarters of the book tells of the renovation journey itself, the remainder contains practical facts and advice about buying and living in France (water and electricity prices, how to insure a car, income tax rules, etc), with a final section being a useful vocabulary of English to French building terms (and vice versa).

I quite like the book and am happy to recommend it to others who are thinking about buying in France, or just would like a bit of bedtime entertainment about someone else's trials and tribulations abroad.

If I had one niggly little point it's that most of the chapters are (in my view) a teeny bit short. I'd have liked a bit more about in each section such as how David got the fosse emptied and tested, how much it cost, etc (sad person that I am). I guess though that putting too much details in would have risked loosing the story flow and the book may have suffered as a result.

Amusing and Informative.
I am not planning to move to France but I've just finished reading "A French Restoration"! I picked it up out of curiosity and finished out of interest. If you are planning a restoration or a move you will find this even more interesting than I.
Not only a good and amusing read but very informative.

More waffle and padding than wattle and daub!
Although it only takes a few hours to go through this book, those hours would be better spent reading something more serious on the subject. The book is poorly written and uninformative, whilst the attempts at humour are dire. If you are considering a restoration project Joe Laredo's book is far more useful, even if a few pounds more expensive. The latter is well organised and there is plenty of hard information and useful reference material. The above positive reviews of "A French Restoration" are mystifying!