self-build journal

After two years of viewing – and disregarding – many properties and having our hopes raised with a handful of them, one day in May 2022 we found the (next) 'One'. A disused, and partly abandoned 'fermette' located in the French countryside with great access to the Aude's major transport routes. This building, though having no great architectural merit, had bags of potential to be a fantastic family home, on a plot big enough to offer the space we were looking for. The problem; we were informed by the agent that planning permission had recently been refused. This did not bode well.

And so began weeks of due diligence. I put my vision of who we could renovate the farm into drawings and 3d models. We spoke to the maire of the village in which it is located. We spoke to local architectural advisory service. We spoke to the planning department. And while some responses were somewhat positive, there was a general air of 'Sorry, but you don't really stand a chance'. This is what we were up against ...

Further investigations revealed that the application was for outline planning consent, the French term being a CP. But not for a family home, the vendors had made an application for a gîte complex. And this had been decisively kicked into touch on three counts; 1. The services onto the property weren't adequate for the intended use. 2. The plot was sited too close to a gas pipe terminal, and 3. ...

By this point into our house search, we had garnered quite a bit of information about the planning rules around the Castelnaudery part of the Aude, we had looked - and seriously considered - properties with limited new development opportunities, properties in flood zones, properties affected by the Canal du Midi regulations, and with one property the had a small river running alongside the boundary, there was also conditions in place for the riverbank.