Happiness is finally in its barn with its senior residence in the fields in Eure-et-Loir

When she manages to sit down for a coffee at the large table on the family farm, Brigitte Geslin looks back on these last years, not without nostalgia, sometimes with a hint of bitterness over certain irritating details, but above all with the feeling of a huge gamble finally succeeded!

A Bouville (Eure-et-Loir), in Dunois, Brigitte has simply managed to transform the barn of the farm into a senior residence in shared housing, in the middle of the fields. And it opens these days.

“Happiness is in the barn” a real adventure

“Happiness is in the barn” is the baptismal name of his very beautiful project which is seeing the light of day today. She has still been wearing it since October 2019 following her “starting and taking over a business” training.

She laid all the foundations for her project the following year but that was without counting the episode of the health crisis with the Covid-19 pandemic. Which doesn’t stop him though, he needs a lot more! “I presented everything via video and the lights turned green,” she remembers.

Green lights with in particular the nerve of war, the promises of support and financing of the Departmental Council of Eure-et-Loir, of the community of communes of Bonnevalais, of the Pays dunois through the European Leader fund… The Caisse d’Epargne and the Crédit coopératif also follow it under the title of the social and solidarity economy. And then Initiatives Eure-et-Loir with the BPI allocates it an honorary loan which allows the junction. On the furniture and equipment side of the pension funds say banco.

Here she is today with some 515,000 euros in subsidies and loans relating to the SCI that she created for the real estate part and 98,000 euros for the SAS that manages the whole thing.

His project deemed “too rural and too innovative”!

It must be said that in this adventure she brings the building and finances the architect’s fees, legal advice and forecasts from her own funds, which is no small thing!

Something to rejoice about which does not prevent a lot of anger from him:

Yes, I admit to being very angry with a bank that claims to have a dimension and involvement in the regions but which rejected my project on the grounds that it was “too rural and too innovative”! The height of irony.

Well, the Caisse d’Epargne did not have the same approach and showed its enthusiasm “I just revised the copy a little because, initially I had planned more rooms on the ground floor”.

“We have regained control on several points”

A project imagined a little more frugally but without denying the essential, far from it. With her husband, a site manager, they took back control of a lot of points like fences, networks… to reduce the envelope.

At the end of June 2023 the file was completed and it was time…

In fact, after three years of carrying out such a heavy project we ended up setting a deadline. If it didn’t work out there, we would stop everything. A nice waste but we would have lost our health. I’m 56 years old today, I was 51 when I started it!

Building permit, work to start in October 2023 and site opening at the end of June 2024!

Already four reservations

Brigitte is delighted to already have four rooms reserved out of the eight available even though her residence is not yet open, which is a very good omen.

And she made it as versatile as possible:

Everything has been studied to accept all degrees of dependence except pathologies such as Alzheimer’s disease or people likely to be dangerous to themselves or others. There is no problem having help with care, showering, meals, etc.

Residents who are tenants “just like at home”

The residents of Happiness is in the Barn are tenants, with a rental agreement which includes rent, electricity, water, heating, internet, shared telephone, insurance, etc.

Can be added a service contract à la carte where the preparation and provision of meals is included morning-noon-afternoon-evening, linen, cleaning, entertainment…

“It’s as if people were simply in their house”, they can also bring in a beautician, hairdresser, nurse, etc.

Brigitte also mentions the fact that some residents will come to settle in without needing help but that, over the years, this may become essential but the residents will be able to stay at home.

The metamorphosis of the barn

It is difficult today to imagine what was once a barn used for storing agricultural machinery.

The reception area opens onto a large, bright room. There is then a large kitchen, a common room, eight bedrooms spread over the two floors, an elevator, individual bathrooms… A veranda is being created offering an additional 22 m2, usable in summer and winter where tenants can relax. install when they welcome their loved ones and will be able to share a meal prepared together.

Outside, a playground, pétanque, a barbecue area, a vegetable garden and fruit trees give the whole its rustic character.

“Everything is offered, nothing is imposed” summarizes Brigitte, such as the schedules of the residents who will be able to have breakfast, lunch… whenever they want, within a reasonable time slot of course.

A real life of shared housing

The key to the project, in addition to the unique setting, also lies in the conviviality that Brigitte intends to establish with, for example, lunches and evening meals prepared together, menus concocted together in advance according to tastes, desires, possible contraindications…

“I willraces every fortnight so as not to spend my time doing that and to free up time for activities” Brigitte says. She has also approached the association Get moving in Bouville to imagine activities with the residents. Intergenerational outings that can also be done with the school group.

Over the days, Brigitte weaves together what she wants to see in the long term for her residence. What she especially does not want to see. From experience, she has seen how complicated supporting elderly people can be, especially in establishments with staff who have schedules to respect.

“I’m not criticizing, but a person who has to eat early in the evening when they’re not hungry, I don’t want that. I want exchanges, interactions.”

In terms of recruitment, to support her, Brigitte hired a young man with a disability whom she discovered during the health crisis “because he was helping people in his village”. During her absences there will also be continuity with a young woman.

The current tenants are 58, 68, 90 and 94 years old, already some great intergenerational exchanges in perspective!

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