A couple who purchased a 200-year-old French manor for €330,000 (about £285,763) as a DIY renovation project are grappling with the devastating aftermath of a 14-hour fire that destroyed the roof and attic. According to the report, Dimitri and David Petitpas, who bought Egmont Manor near Cloyes-les-Trois-Rivières around an hour from Paris in September last year, received the call about the blaze on November 20 and watched their dream turn to ashes.. The couple, who had taken out insurance with Cardif BNP Paribas just two months earlier, are now waiting to learn how much of the estimated €1.3 million (£1.1 million) renovation cost will be covered.

The €1.3 million gamble on a medieval fixer-upper

The Petitpas' purchase of Egmont Manor—a property with no water, no electricity, and a leaky roof—was already a high-stakes bet. With a €100 ,000 (around £86,586) loan and plans to renovate using YouTube videos, the couple hoped to host their wedding reception at the manor within 10 months. But the fire has turned a one-year timeline into a three-year ordeal, according to what Dimitri told the source. the estimated €1.3 million repaiir bill dwarfs their original €330,000 investment, and the couple's own budget is limited to just £150,000—making the insurance payout critical.

The 14-hour blaze: from fungus treatment to inferno

The day of the fire, workmen were treating fungus with harsh chemicals at the manor, according to the report. The couple was told to vacate the premises and headed home to the French Alps, five hours away. At around 8pm, the fire started, but the couple only learned of it at 11pm via a call from local police. “We didn't believe it at first, we thought maybe it was a bad joke,” Dimitri told the source. Friends confirmed the manor was engulfed, and the couple drove through the night, arriving at 6am to see the sky “orange and blue with the emergency lights.” Firefighters struggled up the hilly driveway, and the flames were not fully extinguished until 10am the next morning.

Waiting on Cardif BNP Paribas: the insurance showdown

The Petitpas' insurance policy with Cardif BNP Paribas, taken out two months before the fire, has “luckily agreed to cover the damage,” Dimitri said. but the exact amount remains unknown. The report says the couple are waiting for a final meeting with their legal expert to determmine the cause of the fire and to get the green light to start clearing up. They hope to begin roof renovation by September, but the policy demands that the roof be “recreated exactly as it was,” by hand—a meticulous and costly requirement. As Dimitri put it, “It is very stressful to be honest. There are constant battles. What we still need to know is to what extent insurance will cover this 1.3 million euros, because they could possibly say they will only cover part of it.”

What remains unknown: the cause and the final bill

Investigations are ongoing into the fire's origin, but a workman is “believed to have been involved,” according to the source. Yet no official cause has been announced, and the couple have not disclosed whether the workmen were licensed or whether chemical treatments were properly handled. The biggest open question is the insurance payot: will Cardif BNP Paribas cover the full €1.3 million, or only a fraction? The couple's hope of hosting their wedding at the manor now depends on that answer. They are counting on the insurer to fund a rebuild that could consume the next three years of their lives.