A French Restoration
Published on 05 February 2007 at 01:36 pm
Filed under: Home » Shelter Offshore Books » Property Abroad General Buying property in France » A French Restoration
Written by Clive Kristen with the assistance and based on the experiences of David Johnson, ‘A French Restoration - The Pleasures and Perils of Renovating a Property in France’ is a funny, informative, honest and helpful account of David Johnson and his wife Doris’s experiences of buying a beautiful but shabby chateau in France and restoring it to its former glory over three long and sometimes arduous years.
Clive Kristen is an expert in French property and when he heard about the project David and Doris Johnson were embarking upon, he was immediately drawn to helping David write all about the complete experience. Together the two men have captured not only the essential and practical aspects of the restoration journey but they have managed to relay the entire series of events in a really enjoyable to read style.
‘A French Restoration’ is a unique combination of an autobiographical account of what life can be like when taking on the sometimes seemingly impossible task of restoring property in France as well as a practical and informative guide to doing the same for anyone as crazy as David and Doris Johnson!
The couple readily admit that when you fall in love with a property, common sense can quite often go out of the window – and this is what happened to them when they fell upon their beautiful but run down and slightly shabby chateau in France. When you begin reading about the terrible state of the chateau that they bought and the sometimes painful process that they had to go through in order to restore it, you begin to really realise that love is blind!
At the start of the book the authors explain why they decided to relay the story of the restoration process before introducing the property and explaining the work involved. Rather than breaking each chapter down into a technical chunk dedicated to a certain aspect of the restoration process, the authors of ‘A French Restoration’ meander through the experiences of the home owners as they wade through the immense task of renovation and rebuilding.
There are hilarious moments, amusing anecdotes, awful situations and daunting finds all woven together to make this book both a rich, entertaining and enjoyable read as well as a useful and practical guide to restoring a home in France. At the end of the book there are a series of practical appendices for those moving to France, buying French property, restoring a home and settling into life on the other side of the channel.
If you want to read about the authors, the project or the content of the book in general or order ‘A French Restoration’ from Amazon then click here.
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