BOHEMIAN FARMHOUSE

The buyer

The buyer is a single man in his late 40s, a freelance British fine-artist, and graphic artist. He needs space to work - lots of it. And that is what he doesn't have in his Cornish fisherman's cottage back in the UK. He also needs a cushion of money and no mortgage, so he can pursue his art without necessarily only doing work for hire. He reckons that by selling up completely in the UK, paying off his UK mortgage, and moving into the 'new' Europe he may be able to achieve both, and is not afraid of uprooting himself. Before coming to the Czech Republic he spent six months travelling through all the likely countries: from the Baltic to the Adriatic coasts. Out of the seven countries he visited, he loved Estonia most, but there was still Bohemia - the last on his list to visit. Well, the rest is history:

The search

As the buyer wanted to live in the countryside, and needed plenty of outbuildings for his studio etc, the obvious property to look for was one of the typical large South-Bohemian farmhouses. These usually are from the 19th-early 20th century, but built around an older house still, and consist of two living units and several barns, stables and haylofts, all built around a central courtyard, and usually with a large garden and orchard at the back. Some such farmhouses stand alone on the hillside, but mostly they cluster around a village green with a pond, a chapel and a pub - the farmers obviously liked to have a small community around them.
We took the buyer to see several such farmhouses, and he opted for one withing an unspoilt hamlet - an architectural jewel of similar houses, some done up, some not. The house was very much in need of renovation, but the buyer was undaunted: there were no structural defects, and at the price, he could afford to do it up and he would have more than enough space to work and play in.

The result

The farmhouse cost just over a million czk. The buyer took a loan and moved in, whilst having his British property on the market. While waiting, he practically camped in his new house, right through the first Winter - but he loved rummaging through the masses of antique bits and pieces that were hidden in the many lofts, and planning the re-furbishments to come. When his British house had sold, he paid off his new loan and his old mortgage, and started the renovations from the roof down. At this stage, one of the living units is being renovated and the builders are in. It will be a long slog to do everything up, but the buyer is enjoying the process and his art-work is coming up trumps, too. He is learning Czech, and the villagers with whom he spends his evenings in the local pub, are always at the ready to help out with bits of work or old materials, and at hand generally - but it's a two-way process! The buyer was surprised when, a few days after he moved in, a whole local family knocked on the door, bearing a whole pig. Could they use the buyer's smoking-chimney, please, as they have been every year? With much locally distilled booze, the family then entertained the buyer to the ancient art of pig-curing, and left him a hunch of bacon for his trouble. Being part of this small rural community then comes with the property, and as the buyer is only 1/2 hr bus ride away from Cesky Krumlov and Ceske Budejovice both, he can easily go back to the 21st Century anytime.