A British couple have swapped the hectic nine-to-five of city life and their Manchester property for the more relaxed lifestyle of a historic village in France. The village is situated in Poitous-Charentes, in south west France.
Liz and David Murphy sold their Manchester property, a three bedroom, semi detached home, for £400,000. They then bought the entire rural hamlet of Lac de Maison in January 2021, while they were furloughed during the Covid pandemic.
The full extent of their knowledge of the French language was limited to what they remembered from school. Despite this, and having no previous experience of building work, they began work renovating the ruined buildings. They were helped by local builders and tradesmen, and while the renovation work was being carried out the family lived in a caravan on site. They did not find the work “plain sailing”, particularly as they had no electricity and suffered with flooding issues and problems with their septic tank.
Lac de Maison now provides for three generations of the family, with homes for the Murphys and their two children, as well as Liz’s parents, who sold their own home to join them in the endeavour. The remaining six buildings have been transformed into holiday homes for rent.
The project cost around £300,000 and the couple say that, having given up the rat race, they now live “like millionaires”. David said mowing the lawn now takes over two hours, as opposed to the ten minutes it took at his Manchester property.
The whole property comprises three acres of land on which sit six 400 year old houses alongside two barns and two swimming pools.
The family’s renovation journey has been featured on Channel 4’s “Help, we bought a village”.