Our Story

Your hosts at Maison Caprera are Suzanne and Adrian Hamon, married for 29 years. Until January 2023 we had lived and worked in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, raising two sons. Just an average family of four, one dog and a couple of cats, who enjoyed cliff top walks, summer picnics on the beach, and the occasional night out with good friends and other family members. For thirty years, an annual ferry hop across the Channel to St Malo announced the start of our annual summer holiday trek to the Dordogne, France to the family house in Eymet. 

The house itself was originally purchased over thirty years ago by Suzanne’s parents as a complete renovation project (see images shown). It had a tree growing through the dining room and was divided into many small rooms with brightly coloured and intensively patterned 70s wallpapered boards. A downstairs toilet greeted them on entry through the front door. However, beneath the boarding, it was full of original features – Marilyn Southey had fallen in love. In love on first sight with the tree lined avenue and the town house facade over 200 years old, not to mention the beautiful but run down Bastide town of Eymet. They were the second English people to buy a property in Eymet – nobody spoke English. Since then the house and grounds have been a labour of love, vision and local craftsmen. The bastide town of Eymet has also seen a transformation, now a thriving popular residential and tourist destination.

In 2022 Marilyn and Verner Southey decided it was time to retire officially back to London and put their beloved Caprera on the market. Here’s where we stepped in, handed in our notices and purchased a very large house in France. Take a look at our blog which sets out our new adventure, the trials and the jubilations of living in France after Brexit….