Rabassie - a buy-to-let project on a grand scale

We follow month by month as French artisans work their magic, transforming an abandoned farm into a dream of a family home

Many buyers come to France in search of a renovation project, a bargain to restore.  Not many take on a dilapidated farmhouse amongst 4 hectares of forest in one of the most remote areas of Languedoc Roussillon.  

One British owner decided to do just that.  Rabassié is a former farm, lost amongst the oakwoods which cloak the sides of the Corbières hills in the Aude. Over the coming months we shall report on this grandfather of all renovation projects as a near-ruin becomes a high specification holiday home.

Rabassié as seen by Google

This property has seen life, first as a farm and then a school holiday centre for urban children during the Second World War.

Then came the Office National des Forêts. The house would be home to one of their foresters and his family for the next 25 years – he is now deputy mayor and provides many interesting facts of the house’s history.

Eventually the ONF came to an arrangement with the Monks of the Orthodox Monastery, a short distance away and a swap took place - Rabassié for land elsewhere.

Unsuccessful purchasers negotiated with the Monks with ambitions plans for a communal retreat and other forms of commercial development but the authorities were cautious about granting planning permission.  

Providing basic essentials to those in search of a simple life would take a major upgrade to the electricity and water supplies which comes at a considerable cost.

Rabassié as Mike found it

Then UK-based owner, Mike had the vision and passion needed to bring this wonderful house back to a family home and successfully purchased Rabassié in 2010. The price was less than he had paid for a 7 bed Jacobean house in the Cotswolds in 1988. Mike saw this as reasonable value which would safeguard his investment.

The monks had provided Rabassié with a superb new roof after a tree had obligingly fallen on the building a couple of years previously. However, planning permission was a complicated and frustrating affair, taking 8 long months of negotiation.

Every project needs the support of the local Mairie. Here, the mayor, Guy Serie, was an enormous support, smoothing the path with the planning authorities and utilities when it seemed no one else could.

Mike called upon Sandie Apthorp, a friend of 20 years, to help him with this exciting project and be his eyes and ears on the ground. They’d worked together before. Here was someone who could liaise with the Mairie, the planning authority and keep him in the loop.

Sandie knows what it’s like to manage such a project whilst not living in the country. She has already successfully renovated her own property, Domaine de Nerige (there’s a link at the foot of this article).

She and husband David transformed Nerige from dereliction to a magnificent home and hugely successful rental property.

Restoring Rabassié will be a challenge

But Rabassié will be a challenge moving mountains - nestling on a wooded hillside it will eventually have those facilities which just love level ground, a tennis court, swimming pool, boules and even cricket practice nets.

Work has begun on the garden and overgrown trees have been felled and the locals have mentioned that they can see that the house has started to breathe again.

As for the cricket net, well, maybe Mike’s grandchildren will be among the next generation of fast bowlers and take their first hesitant runs towards that wicket – when France beats England in the Cricket World Cup in 2025, who will be laughing!!

We shall feature regular updates here on the Pure France blog as we follow Sandie and the artisans in this exciting project.  You’ve had reality TV.  Here’s the reality blog.

Related links :

• http://www.purefrance.com/11078/holiday-rental-country-home.php
• http://www.domaine-de-nerige.com/