It was pure chance that led us to this place, both geographic and internal. Pure unadulterated chance, and a healthy portion of what can only be described as incredibly good luck. France had been on our horizon for over six months, an ever expanding focal point whose direction we soon realised was the only one we wanted to head in. And so we gamely steered ourselves towards it, confident in our chosen next step.
Our original plan was to rent a house for six months. We researched specific areas, and earmarked the rolling green hills of the Midi-Pyrénées, somewhere between the pink city of Toulouse, and the famed wine capital of Bordeaux. We browsed online listings for rental cottages from our homestay in Bali, longing to once again enjoy the changing seasons of Europe, and life lived at a more relaxed pace.
It was only when returning home to England to visit family, mere weeks before our intended arrival in France, that the idea of house sitting first crossed our minds. Surprised that we hadn’t thought of it sooner, we quickly registered with two agencies, Trusted Housesitters and Mind My House, and devoured the advice given in an invaluable eBook we purchased from fellow bloggers and experienced house sitters, Hecktic Travels.
There was an abundance of short-term places available across France, but we were looking for a stay of six months, and as we quickly realised, it was rather late in the day to find such a thing. With little left available to us, we searched for houses suitable in our chosen area, and started submitting applications to anything loosely fitting the bill. It was with one such listing, no photographs included, that everything changed.
Though the description was vague, the location was perfect, and so too was the time frame; a delicious six months from November to April. Despite not knowing exactly what we were applying for, something about the advertisement just sounded right. There was even a cat to look after, which anyone who knows me will tell you was reason enough for me to apply.
We felt a rush of excitement when we made it past the first stage of the application process, and were told we had been shortlisted for consideration. Things got even more promising when we were invited for an interview via Skype with the owner’s personal assistant. It was at this stage that we were emailed a link to the house we could possibly be looking after for the next six months, though the word house barely does it justice.
After successfully passing the initial Skype test, we were put through to the final round: a Skype call with the owner herself. We were as giddy as school children, and so nervous that we both dressed up for the occasion, Lee’s unkempt locks neatly tied back, and my face baring make-up for the first time in months.
But our nerves were soon assuaged, and we found ourselves chatting freely with the owner, Lizzie, as though old friends; our conversation peppered with laughter and discoveries of numerous shared interests. Things went so well in fact, that at the end of the call, and much to our delight, we were offered the house sit on the spot.
Or should I say, chateau sit.
Set proudly atop a hill amidst 22 acres of beautifully maintained grounds, Chateau Dumas boasts an impeccably restored 18th century interior, featuring trompe l’oeil walls and original stone flooring, vintage furnishings, and stunning artwork. Topiary bushes and cypress trees stand proudly in the courtyard, their roots awash with swathes of fragrant lavender.
An artist’s haven, the chateau holds seasonal workshops, where guests can participate in a wide variety of arts and crafts. I can’t imagine a more idyllic setting, and our arrival here has triggered a wave of creativity for me, one I hope to ride for the long winter months ahead. Wandering though the many rooms, past walls decorated with vintage gowns and arrangements of luggage from the early 1900’s, the travelling artist in me is filled with such an overwhelming sense of joy, I can hardly wait to get back to our newly appointed office, draw out my pencils, and start sketching the stunning views that sit just beyond our window.
We’ve been living here for two weeks now, and our awe has not yet dissipated. I doubt it ever will. We feel honoured to have been entrusted with such a magnificent home, and can’t wait to see what these precious six months have in store for us. Though this is not our home forever, it is our home for now, a gift of chance that elegantly holds the key to all that we have been longing for in recent months.
It’s a place where we can slow down, and focus on creative pursuits. A place where we can rekindle that which was lost out on the open road. I can’t help thinking that maybe it wasn’t luck that brought us here after all, but more a case of fate leading us right to where we needed to be.
{ 103 comments… read them below or add one }
Just wow. That’s all there is to say.
I say that here every day!
What a beautiful home!! It must be so surreal to wake up every morning in such beauty … Not to mention it’s surroundings too!
It has been so wonderful waking up here every morning, we actually feel very at home here, and have been enjoying getting out in the beautiful countryside, and simple things like cooking and doing laundry. It’s amazing how much I missed doing these things while we were on the road!
Wow, what an incredible place! Goes to show that anything is possible … who would have guessed that one can live in such a beautiful place for 6 months without being wealthy?! When we get tired of our boat and need a change for a while, we’ll definitely have to look into house sitting. Enjoy your stay!
We certainly never would have guessed we would end up in such an incredible place. I can definitely recommend giving house sitting a go, who knows where you’ll end up!
OH MY GOODNESS! Beautiful! What a magical place!
I say that to myself every day!
Oh my!! I am in awe of your much deserved luck! It looks like the perfect place for the two of you to snuggle up over winter. Enjoy!
Thank you my dear, we are still in awe too!
Score!
Major score!
That might just be the best house-sit I’ve ever seen! So glad we could be of help. 🙂
We still can’t believe how lucky we are! And thank you again for all your help, your eBook was such a wonderful resource to turn to, and well worth anyone else investing in.
That house is gorgeous, as is the view! I’m so glad this experience has worked out for you. I always thought house sitting would be much more difficult to set up, and maybe it is, but you certainly lucked into something beautiful!
We certainly did! The application process is actually a lot easier then you would expect, and the eBook I mentioned above helped us immensely. The only thing we struggled with was the fact that we left it so late to start looking, so if you ever decide to give it a go, I would recommend starting your search several months in advance.
What a lovely place!!!! Stunning. And how perfect that it holds retreats. I want to write my next book there!
I know! I want to write my first one here!!!
This is amazing! I’m sure that these are gonna be wonderful months! But what happened to living in Goa? Having a home there and pets n all?
Living in Goa was only ever intended to be for six months, and our plan has always been to continue to travel the world widely, and slowly. The beautiful stray cats we looked after while we were there were taken in by our landlord when we left.
Fantastic place Hannah ! I think a visit is in order 🙂 xxxx
Isn’t it?! A visit from my big brother would be warmly welcomed any time xxx
Even prettier than I imagined it to be! I’m excited for you to have a cat, too. 🙂
Me too! I’ll share lots more photos in the coming months. Hope you guys are enjoying Thailand x
Hannah, what a gorgeous place! Enjoy your time in France, I’m sure it will be amazing! 🙂
Thank you Beatriz, we’re loving it so far!
Hey! First of all, I am in love with your blog <3 Second: how did you put the Pinterest option to your photos? It is fantastic and would love to use this on my travel blog as well 🙂
Thank you so much! The Pinterest button is through a great little plugin called “Pinterest Pin It Button For Images”. We then customised the button display, but the standard one it comes with is fine.
The shoes on the stairway picture is fantastic! What a cool place to live.
Thank you Brandon, I’m so glad you like it. The stairway is the original 18th century stone, and is truly stunning. It’s definitely my favourite feature in the whole chateau.
Holy holy holy cow. That is AWESOME!! What a stunning place. I lucked out once too on a rental property in a similar situation…no photo, barely a description on the ad…still no idea why we bothered calling, but we ended up living in a restored banquet hall for sailors from the 1940s, waterfront, dance floor, over 3000 sq ft (a master suite bigger than our previous apartment itself), chandeliers and a 30ft long dining table. It was ridiculous…I think I still have footage somewhere of me rollerblading and riding my bike inside. Sometimes it’s worth it to take a little chance 🙂
Wow, what a great story – I’d love to see that video footage! It definitely proves that it’s worth taking a chance sometimes. I also think the universe has a funny knack of providing for us when we are at our most open, and ready to accept whatever comes our way.
WOW… so, some people do really live like that and it’s NOT just in movies???? What a blessing this worked out for you. A lovely place to renew your creative spirit and revive your soul. Enjoy!
I know, it’s crazy, huh?! I seriously do feel like we are living on a film set. In fact, a nearby village is currently being used by Steven Spielberg as the setting for his latest movie, titled “The Hundred-Foot Journey”, which he is producing alongside Oprah Winfrey!
Simply stunning! I wish you well in this house sit and am happy you are back to blogging!! Enjoy your chateau.
Thank you so much, it’s lovely to hear from you Amber. It’s so nice to be back, and to share our wonderful temporary home. Your housesit looks wonderful too – those dogs are so adorable!
Wow Hannah, almost speechless! Aside from being absolutely stunning and a dream come true, it looks like the most perfect place to get those creative juices flowing. Enjoy the next 6 months 🙂
It really is a dream come true, and definitely a place to just relax and let the creative juices flow. I feel so blessed to be here every single day!
All I have to say is WOW!! That is incredible, have an amazing time!!! (and send more pictures)
Fear not, there will definitely be lots more photos in the future!
Absolutely beautiful place. I love your photos!
Thank you, Erin!
Yes, this is an incredible place, and I can totally see how it has stoked your creativity. I feel the same just from looking at the photos.
Once, I was supposed to stay at a hostel in Venice which ended up being overbooked… so we got moved to another “hostel”, run by the owners’ friends or something. It was a small palace. We had our own room with a chandelier and our windows looked right over the winding canals. Couldn’t believe our luck.
That sounds amazing Colleen – it’s wonderful when fate brings these opportunities our way so unexpectedly.
This is a gorgeous house and I love your photos, they are so atmospheric. It must be like living in a National Trust property! It will be wonderful to see how your lives and creativity are shaped by your new environment.
Thanks Ellen, it’s certainly an incredibly photogenic place, and is indeed like living in a National Trust property! I’m looking forward to seeing how our lives and creativity develop too 🙂
Wow…you may remember me I was neighbour of Karine and Pem last year living opposite you…anyway wow inspiring Hannah…who’s doing the cleaning 😉 xx
Janey, how lovely to hear from you! I hope you are well… are you back in Colomb again this year? And that’s a very good question about the cleaning. So far we’ve both really enjoyed keeping the place spotless – it’s amazing how we’ve missed doing this sort of thing over the past year – so that hasn’t been too much of a problem yet… we’ll see what happens over the next six months!
Ah yes, the small matter of cleaning!
A small price to pay 🙂
Incredible. What a wonderful place to create six months of memories! By the way, I absolutely love that shot of the white dress hanging against the wall.
Isn’t that a great idea?! I love the way Lizzie uses vintage gowns as decorative elements throughout the chateau – they truly are works of art and it’s wonderful to see them used in this way.
Oh wow-that dining room!
Isn’t it beautiful?!
Hi Hannah, oh my god!!! You must have greatly pleased the travel gods to give such a magnificent home when you can create beautiful works and memories in six months. I’m happy for you.
P.s. Don”t be surprise if I drop by unannounced 🙂
I think it must be good karma for all the shitholes we’ve slept in over the past year!
What a beautiful house. Have a wonderful, wonderful time.
Thank you, Laura!
Oh wow, it’s like living on the set of an Anthropologie photo shoot! Love all the antiques. Beautiful.
It really is! There are so many incredible details, but the best thing about it is that it still feels very comfortable and homely. It’s certainly going to be tough to leave…
One word -Score! Absolutely stunning, AND YOU HAVE A CAT! Simply beautiful!
I know!!! It’s a total home run 🙂
My goodness, this place is stunning. You lucky thing! I am not jealous at all. Not at all! :-p
I know, we seriously hit the jackpot! We just feel so blessed and grateful to be here every day.
Breathless hannah! an artist haven! your pictures itself prompts me to paint. Great words and photos. I’m happy for you. One question.. do you get to clean this huge home? 🙂
It really is an artist’s haven, and I can quite see why so many people clamour to attend the wonderful creative courses on offer during the summer here. It’s lovely the hear the photos inspire you to paint – there are so many views here I am longing to capture myself. And keeping the place clean is a surprising pleasure – after a year away from domesticity out on the road, the simplest of tasks have become a source of relaxation, and it’s such a joy to see everything looking spotless!
This place is amazing!! I had never really considered house sitting as a travel options, but now I can’t stop looking. I mean who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to stay in a 400 year old homestead for 3 weeks, or watch a B&B in Greece while its owners are away for a month?! Enjoy- it looks super relazing, and so beautiful with the changing fall colours!
I had never really considered house sitting before either, but now that we are doing it, I can’t believe we waited so long. We are already thinking about what to do when our six months here are up (besides cry!), and we will definitely be hoping to secure another home to look after!
What a beautiful home. It looks like a wonderful place to be creative. You’re reinforcing the positive things I’ve read lately about house sitting on travels.
I’m so glad to hear that, Lance. Our experience with house sitting so far so been nothing but positive. The original application process was made easily navigable via the eBook I mentioned above, and both of the sites we registered with were great. We will definitely be looking to house sit again next year (when they drag us kicking and screaming from this one!).
crazy gorgeous
It really is! We feel so very lucky to experience this for a little while.
I think it’s pretty safe to say you’re livin’ the dream, well my dream anyways! We’re off to France soon as well and I can only dream that we will find something as amazing as you have at the end of our two month rental ends. Fingers crossed!
I can’t wait to read about all your french adventures!
You should definitely look at the house sitting opportunities available – you can find placements for short and long stays, and I can definitely recommend both of the agencies we registered with. If you happen to pass by Auty let me know!
Oh my! I really hope we find the time to visit! It’s gorgeous.
I really hope so too!!! You are welcome any time at all, so if you find yourselves with a few spare days, feel free to pop over and see us. Lots of love to you both xxx
A true beauty of a spot there old friend. May you create freely, joyfully, and overall continue to enjoy the experiences of life and what it has presented you !
Thank you so much Jeremy, I shall certainly try my best 🙂
I have had the privilege and pleasure to have stayed at the chateau a couple of times over the last few years – what a joy to be able to live there for 6 months. It is a truly beautiful setting and Lizzie has just made it even more special.
I loved looking through your photos – you have captured it so well in just those few shots.
I look forward to seeing the changing scenery over the next few months.
Enjoy your stay!!
Hello Hazel, it’s lovely to hear from one of Lizzie’s guests – thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog. She has indeed done a superb job of making what is an already magical setting all the more special with her impeccable eye for detail. As a creative, I am so inspired by both the chateau, and Lizzie herself, and truly feel so blessed to have been given this wonderful opportunity. I know it is a time in our lives I will treasure forever.
I have had the thought of house sitting in the back of my mind for our 9 months in Europe next year – a month here, a month there. I think you have now convinced me that YES, I want to look into that option more closely. What an amazing place you found!
You should definitely look into house sitting! I truly can’t speak more highly of our experience so far, and it has definitely opened our eyes to a whole new way of travelling. I would recommend getting the eBook I mentioned above, which really helped us shape our applications, and both of the agencies we registered with were great. I hope you manage to find somewhere wonderful!
Wow that is seriously amazing! Have fun, can’t wait to read and see more about it!
Thanks Stephen! I can’t wait to share more of it too 🙂
What a stunning home; congratulations on your house-sitting job! We’ve been looking into house-sitting but it really is a game of chance and luck as well, what with so many people trying to find a place. Would love to hear more about your experience with getting a place!
Thanks Charlie – we really did hit the jackpot with this place, especially as we had no idea what we were originally applying for! I will definitely write more about our experiences, but one tip would be to start your search as early as possible, especially if you are looking for a longer term house-sit. Also, don’t be afraid to apply for places with minimal descriptions and no photos – that’s what happened to us with this place, and as you can see, it worked out pretty well!
Oh my, it’s perfect! I’m quite jealous! 🙂
Yes, it’s hard to find anything to complain about – apart from the fact that we have to leave!
Wow wow, it looks so perfect!
I have to admit, it kind of is – apart from the fact that we have to leave soon!
This is overwhelmingly beautiful!! By now you must be out of the Chateau, although it would be hard to beat a home like this, the beauty of traveling is that every place holds its magic – from what I read I assume this is the magic you both needed.
We were actually fortunate enough to be asked to stay on a little longer by the owner, so we are still here! We start our next house-sit in Spain in a couple of weeks though, and it will be hard to say goodbye to the incredible place. As much as we will miss it though, the lure of new adventures certainly helps to soften the blow…
Wow, that’s quite some house-sitting win! You mush be pretty sad to leave?
Yes, we really lucked out! We will be very sad to leave, but are planning to return in the not too distant future… stay tuned!
Hello there, I just found your site and absolutely love your writing style!
I enjoyed this post – the chateau is beautiful and you even had the honour of looking after a Siamese cat at that! How perfect.
Hi Wendy, thank you so much for your kind words! Our time at the chateau has been an absolute gift – and the best bit is that the owner has asked us to house-sit for her again from November 🙂
WOW!! THAT is one LUCKY house sit!! Well done! And Hope you enjoyed it to the max!
Thank you, we certainly did! And we’ve been asked to look after the chateau again, so we’ll be back in November 🙂
I have done some house sitting assignments before and loved it. I have stayed at great homes but WOW you hit the jackpot here!
What an incredible opportunity!
I miss your posts a lot!
How horrendously beautiful! 🙂 So very jealous.
This is incredible!
Where was this? I was born in Périgueux but moved to Brighton when I was a child, I have loved reading your blog recently. I will be making regular return trips.
-Ed