Our Story

Please let us introduce ourselves.

We are your hosts, Dorothy, and Brian Walker. Both born in Scotland, we married in 2002 and have two children. We love the outdoors, especially skiing and climbing. We love France. We love music and are both accomplished musicians alongside our day jobs in Nursing and Teaching Music (Dorothy) and Civil / Structural Engineering (Brian).

We named our house with our historic Scottish – French ties in mind, which were quite prevalent around the time of our houses original construction in the mid 1600’s, Late Medieval / Early Renaissance. We wanted to choose ‘Chardon’ (French for Thistle) however it proved a very popular name in the area. So we turned to ‘Cluaran’, which is Scots Gaelic for thistle. We felt Cluaran had a mysterious French ring to it together with its historical connection. Naming our house was the easy bit – building it was quite another story.

In April 2017 we took the plunge.

We decided to try buying a property in our favourite place Vénosc. After a year or two of looking, researching we bought a very old house in the villages centre. It was a lovely house in the centre of le Courtil, Vénosc which we had admired for many years. This was no ordinary house; Maison Pape, as it was known then, had been in family ownership for generations and has probably been in existence in one form or another since the 1700’s. To add to the excitement and challenge for the road ahead, the house needed full renovation.

1 year planning, 1 year waiting and 1 year building

We had the renovation designs prepared by local French Architects CPL and WRD Engineers. The whole process, from purchase to having the contactors ready to go, took some 15 months.

Unlucky Timing meant that we had to wait a few months more, as we were not allowed to erect our crane until the end of the winter season. Then came Covid19 which set us back even further. Finally we were able to start the work in September 2020.
The building works were massive and complex with very difficult access for materials. The new roof trusses alone were huge, each weighed over a tonne. September 2021 saw the works complete and we were able to move in. A long wait but well worth it.