A Castle in Spain

The downloadable abridged audiobook edition of Matthew Paris' charming tale, A Castle in Spain, read by the author himself.

Walking in the Pyrenees, twenty 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 audiobook. 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.

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.