Beginning the refurbishment of the Pyrenees Cycling Centre

In February 2019, my daughter Imogen, her boyfriend Harry and I, arrived with a van load of tools and belongings to transform a 1960s B&B in a remote Pyreneen valley into a luxury cycling venue close to the Col du Tourmalet.

It's been quite a journey. Our first kitchen consisted of an old door propped on decorators trestles and a cooker bought on the Leboncoin website whilst we set about gutting and knocking into one the two rooms which would become our kitchen.

The two least horrible bedrooms were cleaned as thoroughly as possible and beds moved in with extra quilts and blankets to combat the severe cold.

Immy and Harry had around 10 weeks before they needed to be back in London and we set a goal to install a kitchen and finish two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. (although it would be at least a year before there was running water to and drainage from these bathrooms which meant that part of the kitchen ceiling was an old bedsheet stapled across the joists to leave access for pipework.)

I'm pretty chuffed with what we achieved that spring. Immy and Harry learning how to tile walls and floors, 2 bathrooms built from scratch, a beautiful kitchen all while living in pretty basic conditions. Thank you Immy and Harry, You were (are) amazing.