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WOODFELLERS
British couple’s dream home in France left a ‘World War One’ wasteland by greedy loggers
Tiler Brian Mountain and wife Christine had snapped up a stunning semi-derelict old mill surrounded by ancient woods for just £300,000
A BRITISH couple’s bargain dream home in France was left in in the middle of a “World War One wasteland” by tree fellers who stripped a forest bare.
Tiler Brian Mountain and his wife Christine snapped up a stunning semi-derelict old mill surrounded by ancient woods for just £300,000 - the price of a one-bedroomed London flat.
But the couple - who invested their life savings in the renovation project - were distraught last night after hundreds of trees surrounding the property were hacked down.
They asked a local forester to trim back trees backing onto their 300-year-old stone retreat and signed a contract giving him access to their land.
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![The couple said they "fell in love with the old mill the moment [they] saw it"](https://machibet777.site/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/nintchdbpict000302051693.jpg?strip=all&w=528)
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But within weeks teams of lumberjacks with huge forest clearing machines had turned the picture postcard landscape into a desolate wasteland.
And they are now suing him for damages claiming he tricked them into signing a French contract they did not understand.
Christine, a 54-year-old former foster carer who moved to France from Tilmanstone, Kent, two years ago said: “We fell in love with the old mill the moment we saw it and thought we’d found a little corner of paradise.
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“But now it looks like a World War One battlefield.
“We thought we were signing a contract to have the trees very close to our home trimmed and for three hectares of forest away from our property to be cut back.
“But within days teams of lumberjacks with huge forest clearing machines arrived and laid waste to our land.
“I begged the forester to stop but he just smiled at me, rubbed his fingers together making a money gesture and said in broken English: ‘You signed.’
“I ended up shouting at him when he took 200-year-old oaks and pines from a beautiful meadow which wasn’t even included in our contract.
“I’m at my wit’s end.”
Christine and 57-year-old Brian bought the mill, two smaller “gite” properties and 40-acres for a song two years ago in one of the most pristine areas of rural France.
They invested another £100,000 in restoring a corner of the mill to live in and doing up the nearby “River Cottage” and and old barn for tourist rentals.
But their dream turned into a nightmare when they drafted in local forester Serge Lefaure to cut back trees with branches touching the roof of the mill building.
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They also agreed to allow him to take timber from a plot away from their buildings in return for around £21,000 to help fund their renovations.
But he still owes the couple nearly half of the agreed sum after taking three times as many trees as they expected.
The couple believed they were duped because they did not understand what they were signing and have had their land stripped without agreement.
Christine added: “It’s left me so depressed I feel like crying all the time because I feel powerless dealing with the French authorities when I don’t speak the language.
“It’s still very beautiful here and my holiday guests still give me very good reviews but it will take 30 years for the trees to come back and 200 years for some of the biggest oaks.
“Most of the French people here have been very supportive but I’m getting tourists coming now to take pictures of the devastation rather than the view.
“It’s heartbreaking.”
The couple’s 32-year-old daughter Nadine - who moved with them to France - said: “People might say my mum and dad were naive for signing the French contract but we never dreamed anyone would do this to us.
“He was supposed to have access to selected pocket of our land for 18 months from October 2015 to take an agreed amount of timber.
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“Workers have been arriving without warning and taking trees from my parents’ property for months.
“It’s like having someone come in your garden and pulling up all your valuable plants then leaving you with all the mess to deal with - it’s like vandalism..
“But the scale is huge because we’ve been left with hundreds of tons of branches and debris to clear and the deforestation has left us at risk of mudslides..
“He chopped down one huge oak with a chainsaw a few feet from a French holiday couple having breakfast in our river cottage and left them in tears as it crashed into the mill stream.
“Birds, squirrels and other wildlife have had their habitat completely destroyed and his machines have wrecked historic paths and public footpaths.”
Mr Lefaure said last night: “I very clearly explained what I was going to do when we drew up the contracts with an English-speaking translator present.
“The timber I have taken is not worth as much as the British people say and they are taking me for a fool - not the other way around.
“I am not a savage and I have done nothing wrong, I have tried to find a solution but I am ready to take legal action myself if necessary.
“I am going to see the doctor because I cannot cope with the pressure this situation is putting me under.”
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