Have we got it or not?

The day after our return from Bilbao, we received a letter containing a set of the plans for the house, a number of blank forms and a letter about the Planning Permission. The only problem was, we didn't understand what it said. As you can see, there was a large 'ARRETE', which we took to mean STOP, ie we didn't have the OK. However, straight underneath that it said, '....est ACCORDE...', which seemed to imply that the Planning Permission had been agreed. There were, however, some provisos; there appears to be a problem with the large picture window we want to put in our bedroom, and they are stipulating that the colour of the windows must be the same as they are now. We managed to contact the architect and then sent him copies of the letter in an effort to find out whether we had the Permis de Construire or not. In the meantime, it was the weekend and then a bank holiday, so it wasn't till the Tuesday that I could go to see the Mayor. Luckily I stopped him in his car, just as he was leaving the Town Hall , so he parked up again, and then looked at our letter.

'Oh, yes you have the Permis de Construire.'

When I asked him about the window colours, he replied, 'You aren't going to paint them red, are you?'

I didn't quite follow him on this, but he then explained that this was a joke (Sue would have called it sarcasm!). In essence, some variation in colour (white or cream), isn't worth worrying about!! We are in France after all.

So, it would seem that we are all systems go. Except that we have now got to decide on all the essential details such as where the sockets and switches will go, how the plumbing will run, what walls we will leave as exposed stone, etc, etc.


And then we can start finding the Artisans to get quotes.