Pssst...wanna buy a house?

Seriously - we've got one available. I know this isn't a particularly good time to be trying to offload real estate of any kind, but Mrs The Millbrooker and I took a momentous decision during our last trip to Brittany...

Let's start from square one. For quite a long time we've been vaguely muttering about upping sticks and running away to France. The idea being that with the massive price differential between property here in the UK and in rural Brittany would provide us with the wherewithal to quietly retire.

Well we all know what's happened to everyone's ambitious financial plans in the last couple of years, so that sort of idyll is out of the question.

So, with us both on or around our half centuries, how do we manage to jump over the puddle for good before, frankly, we're too long in the tooth to do so? Answer - we're planning (seriously planning) to get into the hospitality game by buying a place to operate as a bar/restaurant/auberge. And yes, before you say it, we know it's bloody hard work and not necessarily hugely rewarding in monetary terms. We've seen a place à vendre in an excellent spot that we think we can make work, so we all we need to do is find the money to buy it...And the way we can do that is by a tad reluctantly flogging Le Bout de Sac and its immediate neighbour (which comes complete with a small income from local tenants).

So, in the unlikely event that you're considering the acquisition of a pair of delightful houses in rural Brittany - have a virtual nose around at http://www.trebrivan.net/ and then take a peek at your bank account; assuming all is as well as can be expected, send us an email and we'll carry on from there. This is a BOGOFF deal, two houses for the price of one! You even get this year's commercial holiday bookings as a spot of extra in the bank.

The houses are on the market through a local agency or through us privately. The agency price will be higher overall; in France the purchaser pays the agent, but in return for their fee you get a lot of "hand-holding" and after sales service. At some point in the not very distant future the house should be on the website of Ouest-Immo Bretagne, and I'll put a link up once it's there.

It was worth a try....