Six full days in the Languedoc. Double figures in poking around the insides of homes for sale. A second look at one. Dozens of rides covering hours of driving over the back roads of the Aude and Herault departements. Zipping through at least 100 towns and villages.

Nothing we want to buy.

Wait. I take that back. We did find one place we wouldn’t mind owning.

The home we stayed in for nearly a week.

Our priorities have always been some combination of these: Two bedrooms, a terrace, a living room, a decent kitchen, near the center of a real French village populated with actual people, amenities of the butcher/baker/candlestick-maker sort, two toilets (two full baths would be better), some outdoor space — in a modest price range.

After blowing through the first eight or nine places, and finding them all lacking some or even most of that, we were close to despair.

And then we looked around at where we were returning every night, and realized what we are looking for is not a mirage.

We were staying in it.

A nice and authentic village. Off the beaten path. Close to a major road but not near it. A village of some means, it would appear. And 20 minutes from Mediterranean beaches.

A two-story home located on a quiet street. A church up the road, a little grocery down the street, a decent bakery 50 yards from there, a cafe, a vintner in the town — and lots and lots of French people of all ages. Not just oldsters.

Two bedrooms, albeit one a bit cozy. Two toilets and one full bath. A useful kitchen with four-place dining table. An actual living space with room for a couch, a table, some chairs, a book case, an entertainment center (or a desk for the TV, anyway).

And the wonderful terrace on the third floor, at which we spent quite a bit of time on the warmer days, including the photo I posted from Day 1.

This place has all that. And would not require structural changes. No tearing out of walls. A bit of redecoration, and that would be that.

A Canadian woman owns the place, and I hope she realizes how fortunate she is. Unless her priorities are significantly different than ours, she has struck pay dirt.

She isn’t selling, far as we know, not that we can even guess at how much she might ask.

But this home reminds us that what we are looking for does exist. We just need to find another one like it.

I suspect we’ll be back to try again.