And so an era ends.
The search is over, our quest is concluded. Like Indie, we found our holy grail.

Chenogne, that’s the little village where we found it. You might remember that this was the first lot we looked at during our Great Weekend of Desperation. At the moment one finds something it is way too early for one to brake out the champagne and celebrate. Although we did put it in the refrigerator, we didn’t open it.

We only popped the cork after a trip to Brussels and a meeting to sign the contract and arrange the mortgage. And maybe it’s because it’s in Belgium, but everything went as smooth as.., well.., you fill that one in.

Details

So, a few details then. It’s 4100 m2, that’s about 1.013 acres for the imperial ones. It is situated pretty good on the east-west axis. The lot is 20 meters wide and 205 meters long (66 x 673 feet). The first 40 or so meters are for building the house. The rest can’t be used for building, it is strictly agricultural. Which means we have a freaking big backyard. This will be used for the vegetable garden, the chickens, bees, donkey, goats, fruit trees, compost, whatever.

Chenogne

Chenogne is a small village, maybe 40 or 50 houses. It’s ten minutes from Bastogne which is a small town, but has everything we need. It has quite a history too. Major highways are also near by and Brussels is only a 1.5 hours drive.
We’re on the edge of Chenogne, like we wanted, not in the middle of a town. There isn’t much more to tell, it’s just grassland for now, with a horse on it (we don’t get to keep it). It’s been agricultural for ever, nothing ever happens in that town (until now). We think it’s perfect, it took us 9 months to find it.

Fase 1 is complete, now for fase 2, getting a building permit, but that’s a story for another time.

A very modest Woohoo is in order. We found a piece of land which matches pretty much all of our criteria.
In a way it’s liberating. It’s also stressful, exciting and stimulating, pretty much like a rollercoaster.

Chenogne was our first stop last Saturday. After finding the lot (only 10 minutes from Bastogne) we joked about the fact that the first was the best one, it turned out to be the only one, and we didn’t look any further. This lot fits the bill.

 Now, I can write down all the details, but I’m not gonna… There are quite a few obstacles with which we have to deal before we can celebrate. The local government has to answer a few questions, the bank has to give a loan and then we actually have to buy it.
Until the contract is signed, we stay focussed and keep our heads out of the clouds.

Our architect is happy, and that’s one for the home team.

Update:

We made an offer on the land!

Update #2:

We made a final offer on the land! Lets hope it sticks…

Update #3:

Our offer has been accepted. Now to make everything official, almost there!