Le Tarabel, Broquiès, Aveyron

About Le Tarabel

Le Tarabel means........ a type of local thistle (I think), and also the name of a pretty commune in the Arrondissement of Toulouse.

Le Tarabel is a small winehouse and an acre, or so, of working vineyard situated high on a South-facing slope near the small commune of Broquiès in the Aveyron.  It looks down toward the Tarn River, and across the valley toward..... well not much but hills, valleys and trees.

We first saw Le Tarabel in the summer of 2005, immediately fell in love with the views, climate and locale.  At the time it was owned by an old friend, Doug, who had bought it with the intention of renovating it to retire to.  He was at the time part way through his current project, building a house in a small hamlet about 60km away. As things happen, Doug decided to sell Le Tarabel, and a deal was struck. Doug had drawn and had approval for all the plans for renovation and extending the existing building, making it about twice the current size.

To be sure renovation wasn't going to be a short term job, we live in the North of England, have busy jobs and although there are cheap flights to Rodez and Carcassone, it's not exactly "just around the corner".  However, we weren't in a great hurry and decided to let the resident ants, mice, two large bats and subsequent owl (who is currently top of the Le Tarabel food chain), retain tenancy until planned work commencement in Spring 2007.

The plan is to renovate the old building, before it falls down. This is just my paranoia. There are cracks in the walls, but once the building work is completed, along with a chainage of reinforced concrete around the perimeter, the builder doesn't seem too concerned, in fact he only suggested the chainage as advisory. The walls are about 600mm thick as well, and it's been there since the mid-19th century, so it'll more than likely outlive me.

Along with the new floors, kitchen extension and roof, the builder will open up all the windows and build a veranda, accessed from the main room's patio doors.

Then the new roof trusses will be installed and once complete, Doug and myself will tile the roof.

Throughout the summer we will continue to make progress with underfloor heating, electrics, plumbing etc. before the next phase begins in 2008 - the extension!

The ultimate plan is to have an infinity-edge pool overlooking the vineyard and valley.  The key question is, what comes first the pool or the extension????