A Castle in Spain

A Mountain Ruin and an Impossible Dream

By: Matthew Parris

Narrated by: Matthew Parris

Walking in the Pyrenees, 20 years ago, Matthew Parris and his sister came upon a magnificent medieval house. It had crests and a date, 1559, chiselled into the stone: its walls and foundations were intact but the ancient oak ridge timber supporting the roof had split and was ready to collapse into the rotten floors beneath. Renovation would be an epic undertaking, a massive investment of time, money, and emotion. And, the locals warned, nobody ever left L'Avenc with any money.

A few years ago, Matthew (with his family's help) went back and bought the place. Astonishing and arguably idiotic, his decision resulted in a phenomenal amount of hard work, and this hugely enjoyable book. Inspirational, instructional, and utterly irresistible, this is the story of one man's dream to turn a forgotten ruin into his very own Castle in Spain.

©2005 Matthew Parris (P)2005 Penguin Audio

What! Was that it!

I couldn't believe the story was over. In a nut-shell: well-off people buy run down place, do it up. The End. Apart from a mildly interesting falling out with the neighbour and one passage where he actually gets his hands dirty building some steps there isn't much of a story here at all. It needed more gritty details of the trials of DIY renovation. Really this should have been one episode of a lifestyle TV series.