Originally from the Midlands and the North east of England, we met at Lancaster University where we completed our degrees and had 2 babies along the way! Then we moved to Ireland where we renovated an old house, whilst living in caravans for 3 years and another baby was born there in the caravan! Then we bought 15 acres and erected a flat-pack wooden Scandinavian home. After 14 years in Ireland, when our kids were nearly grown, we were craving the sun and pastures new, so we moved to France in 2011 with our 11 year old and 15 year old girls.

I was attracted to the Charente Maritime area having worked here as an ‘au pair’ in my youth, and loved the countryside, the beaches, the outdoor life and the sun. We bought a holiday home here with the plan to move over in a few years, but I dug my heels in and never returned. After a few years, I was working as an estate agent and I came to look at a property to put on our books. I drove down the track, over the stone bridge, past the lakes and pulled up in front of the tower of “Sept Fonts” and instantly fell in love with the place. We had no idea how we would buy it but we knew we would have to work it out and by some lucky miracle, we did.

Since then we have spent as much of our time as we can bringing our dream home in the Charente Maritime to its former glory, which involved re-roofing, electrics, plumbing, flooring, basically everything. It has been a labour of love, as we really wanted to retain the character and history of the place.

History- dating back to 1070, shelter for monks and kings!

We found this information on a local historical website-

The land was gifted to the monks in 1070 to build a priory. You can find vestiges of the ancient chapel- for example the stained glass windows that date from the 17th century. There is a plaque ( created in the early 20th century) that commemorates that King Louis 13th stayed here in 1621 during the siege of Saint Jean D’Angely. Next to the old priory, sarcophaguses (stone built coffins) have been found, that were cut into stone blocks. The stone tower was built in the early 19th century. The older house, which was the priory, is yet to be fully renovated. It has a lovely old stone fireplace, a bullseye window, an old stone sink and some stone carvings on the exterior. The previous owners built the bar and are said to have had some raucous parties in there. There are no neighbours to complain after all! Outside you will find a stone built bread oven. It is beautifully crafted when you look inside, but takes several days to heat up! They would have been firing it up once a week, I would imagine and baking for a large community.

Since we moved here, we have discovered a stone cross window in the sitting room. This was not mentioned in the historical records and was completely rendered over and hidden. We loved it so much that Dave built a replica cross into an old window in the kitchen.