Le Tarabel, Broquiès, Aveyron

Who are we?

Ian and Lynn.  We've lived in a pretty village called Higham in Lancashire, England since 1998.  We bought Le Tarabel in 2006, although had agreed the purchase in the Autumn of 2005.

Ian

I work for Hewlett Packard as an Outsourcing Consultant, leading a team of technical specialists, pulling together their work into a coherent architecture for customers' IT infrastructure.

Prior to this I was an IT Systems Integration Project Manager with Digital Equipment and Compaq.  I also managed HP's Services' Program Management Office for a period.

My love affair with France started when I worked for Michelin Tire in the 1980's.  I joined Michelin shortly after completing my apprenticeship as an Electronics Technician, and moved into a role in Quality Engineering.  I was sent as a Stagière to Clermont Ferrand, in the Auvergne / Massif Centrales.  So, young guy, own flat next to the Squash Auvergne club, loads of mates, in a fantastic country - heaven!  Sadly, it was only a temporary stay and I returned home to work in the UK as a Technicien Unifomité et Mesure, Contrôle et Informatique.  Really interesting job, improving tire handling characteristics, and using lots of statistics and IT.  Soon, though, IT become more consuming than tires and it became my permanent career.

I left Michelin to complete a BA(Hons) in Systems Analysis at UWE, Bristol, subsequently joining Digital Equipment Company (DEC), who sponsored my MBA with Warwick Business School.

Lynn

Lynn's love of France started when we first visited Brittany around 1988, even though it did seem to rain most of the time!