June 2006 and we visited our chosen area to move to Cerdagne and Capcir areas in the French Pyrenees. 12 months previously we lost an offer on a chalet due to the French not accepting chains. we were told to take out a bridging loan or loose out.

We sold our UK house in Lee on Solent and lived in a static caravan with our dog until we arrived in June for 3 days to find a suitable home and future business! The last house of 15 plus we saw that day was the one, literally 50 metres from where we had stayed whilst reckying the area!!

Our offer was declined said the estate agent in limited English! Oh No................ They accepted the estate agents offer of less 15 k how weird but we were not complaining. So we had our house, and back to England. The house needed a ground floor putting in and the mezzanine enclosing and a few extra walls and doors building and a freshen up. We came back over in August to open a French bank account and acquire a builder to try and get our project up and running for Christmas bookings. Our sale went through and we boarded the euro tunnel still on the phone trying to release our capital from the bank to the Notaire!!!!

Half way down France and the bank agreed that I was who I said I was, dog and all our belongings in our English Pajero, it was not the time to turn around. The furniture was to follow 6 days later. We got the keys the next day after a meeting with the Notaire and our helpful estate agent arranged for our water to be turned on and the electric too, he even got a plumber to fix the burst pipe that we arrived to.

So here we were 5th October, in our new half finished chalet to be transformed into chalet de Bonheur, catered ski and walking holiday accommodation. Oh and we didn't speak French and the locals no English. The rest is a blur with climbing over the balcony waiting for floors and walls to be finished by our French speaking Argentinean builder, what a character and our Aussie mate helping Will out with the lesser building. Our first booking arrived on Christmas week for a catered ski holiday. Since then we have learnt French, made our Pajero French, got all the necessary licenses and we and Holly dog love our village of Formigueres and the winter and summer sports. We are on our second successful ski season.

You can find more information and pictures on Honor and Will's website www.pyreneespastimes.com

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