A first time buyer "priced out" of the London housing market bought a 10-bed mansion in France for less than a one-bed flat in London."

Natasha Marie, 28, worried she would never be able to secure a mortgage in London on a single income - so decided to look at properties abroad as she had always loved France.

After moving back to her family home in Greater London, with her parents in January 2023, Natasha was able to save a deposit for a first home.

After spending summer holidays in France growing up, Natasha decided it would be the perfect place to buy a home as she could get more for her money.

She decided to look elsewhere and settled on Occitanie, France - 759 miles away - where she found a 10-bedroom mansion on a one-acre plot for less than the average one-bedroom flat in London for £500k.

Natasha - who now does her corporate job remotely - moved in December 2023 and says the restoration of the mansion is a life-long project.

The property's ceiling is on the verge of collapse, it has black mould and a rat infestation.

Natasha is living in the mansion whilst she is resorting to it and using her savings to get the building back to its former glory.

But Natasha's hope is it will be a place she and her parents will be able to retire in when the time comes.

Natasha said: "When I started looking for somewhere to buy in London, I realised that the deposit wasn't an issue."

"It was the qualifying for the mortgage, I realised I wouldn't even get one with my single income."

"My parents are getting older and I thought it would be lovely to have a home that I could envision them coming over when they are retired."

"It is my home but it is a family home at the end of the day."

After graduating from Durham University in 2020 with a degree in Philosophy Natasha moved in with her friend.

But due to increasing rent prices she moved back in with her parents in January 2023.

Natasha said: "I was living with my housemate after university and the prices just kept sky-rocketing."

"I decided to move back in with my parents at the start of 2023 to save a bit of money and I was still hopeful I would buy in London."

After researching and realising she wouldn't even qualify for a mortgage due to her single income, Natasha decided to look elsewhere.

As a child, Natasha spent most of her summer holidays in France so decided that was the best place to start.

She said: "We did a lot of looking online, we had to try and plan our visit over to France well so we could do a few bulk viewings whilst we were over there."

"I remember visiting eight or nine properties in two days - we were mass seeing them."

After a few viewings of other properties, Natasha came across the 18th-century Bèze Manor and said it was "breathtaking"."

She said: "I couldn't see this one in person due to work commitments but my parents went over to look at it."

"We were lucky that the estate agent was honest and they showed us a lot of the bits of the house that needed a lot of repair."

"Although it was in such a bad state, there was something about it that was so breathtaking."

"There were beautiful staircases that took my breath away, the stained glass, the front door and the fireplace engravings - it was all so magical."

After three viewings, two online and one in person, Natasha bought the property for

and moved in over Christmas 2023.

Natasha said: "It all seemed rather grand, I didn't think it was feasible but it all fell into place."

"I was set on buying the property before I ever saw it, we ended up moving in just before Christmas - it was literally the best present ever. "

"We spent Christmas day with no heating and no kitchen but I were happy as I knew this was mine."

Since moving in, Natasha said that she has spent a lot of time landscaping the one-acre plot surrounding the house.

She has stripped two of the bedrooms and restored them to a liveable state for her and her mum.

Natasha now plans to repair the roof after it was left damaged by a storm in 2023.

She said: "I have spent a lot of time trying to get someone to repair the roof."

"They have just put scaffolding up because a lot of people didn't want to repair the roof they just wanted to replace it which I don't have the budget for."

"We have done a lot of landscaping, you don't realise how much work you need to do on the outside."

"We wanted to make the property lived in so that people didn't think it was abandoned."

Natasha is sharing her restoration journey on @b.manoir

She said: "The support I have received is amazing. It feels like I am less alone on this journey."