Life in a postcard

In 1988, Rosemary Bailey and her husband were travelling in the French Pyrenees when they fell in love with, and subsequently bought, a ruined medieval monastery, surrounded by peach orchards and snow-capped peaks. Traces of the monks were everywhere, in the frescoed 13th century chapel, the buried crypt and the stone arches of the cloister. Gradually, these fragments revealed the spirit of the place. For the next few years the couple visited Corbiac whenever they could, until in 1997, they took the plunge and moved from central London to rural France with their six-year-old son. Entirely reliant on their earnings as freelance writers, they put their Apple Macs in the room with the fewest leaks and sent Theo to the village school. With vision and determination they have restored the monastery to its former glory, testing their relationship and resolve to the limit, and finding inspiration in a small mountain community that welcomed them. Life in a Postcard is not just Rosemary Bailey's enthralling account of the challenges of a new life. It is also an exploration of the rugged beauty of French Catalonia, the southernmost corner of France, the pleasures of Catalan cooking, and a celebration of an alternative, often magical, world.

Source : Transworld Publications