I blushed. For within minutes of having met lovely Jennifer in person, she had tossed out, “You know what I love in your blog? That you and Remi are always pining after some house or another, imagining what it would be like to move to some place new.” Ooh, busted. She nailed it! The heat rose to my cheeks. We can’t help it. Remi and I are both nomads for different reasons–me from having moved around so much during my childhood, he for having travelled the world for most of his career. We are always open to the next possibility. Or at least willing to entertain it with a daydream or two.
When we explore, we wander, often aimlessly travelling down this road or that, happy to be in each other’s company with our Golden, Ben, looking out the back window. Many a time have we come screeching to a halt to better take in a happy surprise. So it was with the house for sale roadside on the outskirts of Banon.
Remi saw his plan immediately. “The garage could be transformed into a gallery with an atelier above and the rest of the house looks big enough that it could be…” “A B&B?” I interrupted (as I am too often to do). “Exactly.”
We were immediately taken by the traditional layout of the house, with its rooms sprouting off from a central stairway, as well as the deep porch off the side. Can’t you just see how lovely it could be? Oh, I would gleefully tear down those yellow plastic panels and build a tonnelle to be draped in wisteria and roses. Up would come the cement and down would be laid age-worn dalles de pierres in its stead. I would keep the lovely screen door, imagining its satisfying bang each time someone would head back into the kitchen to fetch another bottle of wine.
The view of the surrounding mountains opens out with welcome arms and an absolutely massive garden slopes down in descending terraces from the porch. My heart goes out to that forgotten land, dotted with a few scraggly accidental trees and waist high weeds. What could it be? What must it have been?
We decided that we needed a closer look and poked around until we found a dirt path that stopped just below the property’s baseline. Apparently our zooming back and forth was worrisome to one of les voisines, whom Remi noticed peaking at us from behind a partially drawn curtain. Didn’t she know we were on a dream hunt? We were well-rewarded with our new perspective as the ruin of an ancient tower or pigeonnier took shape. What could we make of that? A nap house? With a star-gazing platform? And just look how close the house is to the village. We could have unlimited access to gooey goat cheese and spiky saucisson!
From down below, we could also appreciate fully how much larger the house was than what we initially thought, including two entire floors that hadn’t been visible from the road. Definitely enough room for a B&B. I also took a long gander at the filled in arch on the lower left hand corner of the facade. Open that puppy up, put in a pool that runs half-inside the structure, half out with an infinity drop–et voila, B&B de luxe! In winter, the towering pine would whistle woefully while the chimneys billowed fragrant smoke…Maybe there is space enough for a yoga studio?
Yes, we spent a good thirty minutes, at least, entertaining this little fantasy. Not long enough for us to even call the number posted on the door but certainly plenty to restock the wishing well. Sometimes just the wondering is enough.
Sincerely hoping that you all have a wonderful weekend ahead, a calm one with plenty of time to let your imagination go…
…and to get you started hop on board, A “Train of Thought” by Chilly Gonzalez.
And I nearly forgot! What kind of aspiring Frenchy would I be if I didn’t mention that this is the weekend when le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! Ah ha! Not being particularly attached to the stuff (nor the headaches it has inspired in the past), I politely declined when my caviste offered a tasting of this year’s batch. Without missing a beat, he instead poured a Côte du Rhone Primeur, which is the same concept but made with the more full-bodied varietals that we have in our neck of the woods. It turns out that it has not been a great year for the Beaujolais as many of the vignobles were damaged during heavy hail storms. One winery lost 80% of its production. Happily, there is the rather tasty Primeur as well, which just might leave you dancing like the lovely apsaras…
I remember thinking after reading your abandoned chapel post where you were imagining a nook to read and to lay out carpets that we had a lot in common. This is exactly where my thought process goes when I see a beautiful space with potential.
I suspect that you're also one of those people who from time to time mentally redecorate and organize other people's homes. ; ) Me? Guilty as charged!
And you wouldn't even have had to drive home afterwards! Sleepovers a plenty!
The day a beautiful song doesn't move me to tears is the day that you should feel free to haul me off to the loony bin, David.
Thank you so much. May is an absolutely wonderful time to explore Provence! And you will see when you get here that all of those little details are what makes this beautiful area so unique. My only advice–don't overplan your trip!! Leave yourself tons and tons of time to just relax and take it all in–THAT is what Provence living is all about. 🙂
Thank you so much, Loree. Will you be making a special meal for your hubby and Mischief-Maker? I am so excited to be heading back for a visit…
And of course, that doesn't surprise me at all that we both put our imaginations to making these homes live again–if only we could really make it happen! And I can only imagine how many, many bijous there must be on Malte…
Bon Dimanche,
H
Oh how I wish you had bought that house on the outskirts of Banon… I had dreams of night after night bar au vin dates 🙂
I am new to your blog. I was doing some research for our trip to Provence in May and found your blog and wonderful photos. The photos make me aware of the beauty in ordinary things…a peeling shutter, a chipped wall, a flower growing out of an old stone wall. We will be staying near St Remy so I have been especially interested in seeing and hearing about that area. I look forward to new postings. Love the honest way you write about your life and things you see and love.
What a lovely daydream. I dream in the same way too. I see an abandoned old house and I long to give it new life. If I had the money, I would be buying these priceless gems (of which we have plenty) all the time and renovating them and turning them into something beautiful again. Enjoy Thanksgiving with your family Heather.
well, Heather….the song makes me cry, also.
Nice to know, however, that while we're both and cetainly getting older, at least we're not getting so crusty that a fine, heartfelt song can't make us cry…isn't it?.
—-david terry
Oh of course I have heard "Howl at the Moon" before–I don't know why I didn't recognize it just from the lyrics. I was moved by it as well (and certainly the gorgeousness of everyone singing along too) and so called Ben near to me, hoping to have some sort of "moment" with my pupper. Alas, as it was 5:24pm, he was having none of it, could only think that it was close enough to dinnertime and so started barking at me! Sigh. My Ben…