‘we took a bread oven building left dormant for centuries and gave it a new lease of life’

WE MEET THE FAMILY WHO CONVERTED AN ABANDONED OUTBUILDING INTO A COSY, AWARD-WINNING GÎTE When Karen Roeves and her husband James, both restaurateurs, decided to move to Tarn from Limousin,

they were looking for a property with a small outbuilding. They had lived in France for several years by this point, with James often commuting to the UK for work. “We loved French life but

decided to move further south to escape the rather rainy weather in Limousin,” says Karen. “We have four children, so I also wanted somewhere separate from the house for my parents to stay

and enjoy some peace and quiet.” In 2016, the couple found a property to match their requirements in Lacaze – a 17th-Century stone house of approximately 170m². Crucially, it came with a

tiny outbuilding, formerly used to house a bread oven and still in its original state. The house, acquired for €106,000, needed a lot of work. “It had not been lived in for 10 years and did

not have any heating, so there was plenty that needed doing before we moved in,” says Karen. Read more: Photos: France's cosy Hobbit homes They opted to stay in Limousin for another

year, during which James commuted to Tarn each week to start renovations and bring the building up to spec for family living. RE-ROOFING, RE-WIRING, RE-DECORATING The main house now has five

bedrooms, four of which are ensuite, and a family bathroom. During renovations, the couple also decided to have a new roof put on the bread oven building, at a cost of €13,000. “The

building is tiny so we had not realised re-roofing would be so expensive,” admits Karen. “Instead of renovating the bread oven building on the small budget we had initially planned, we

decided to go for a higher spec. That way, we could rent it as a gîte for guests and recoup some of the cost.” Read also: How do I register to offer a furnished gite rental in France? The

building consisted of a 16m² room, with stone walls and a dirt floor. While there were a few roof beams, there was not a second floor and the building had been untouched for many years. The

couple did most of the conversion themselves, even wiring the property – after which they had their work signed off by a registered electrician. “We started by laying a new concrete floor,”

says Karen. “We added beams above, and boarded the area to create a mezzanine-floor sleeping area for guests, which is accessed via a spiral staircase.” The mezzanine floor was finished with

wooden tiles, and the walls insulated and plasterboarded for a clean finish. While the property already had windows, these were old and draughty. The couple replaced these, and the doors,

with double-glazed ones and added a Velux window in the roof to bring light to the bedroom area. The downstairs floor was tiled and fitted with a small kitchen with an electric oven and

dishwasher, a living area with wood-burning stove, and a small dining zone. Guests can enjoy self-catered meals here, or eat food prepared by their hosts. Finally, the couple created a

luxury wet room with shower and toilet facilities. In a nod to the building’s former use, Karen and James left the bread oven intact and made it a feature of the living area. “It’s nice to

have some sense of the building’s history,” says Karen. “Some guests love this feature – it’s great to imagine how the property was used in the past and how it has evolved over the years.”

AN AWARD-WINNING INVESTMENT Doing the majority of the renovation work themselves meant the couple spent just €10,000 – on top of the €13,000 they paid for the roof. It is now used as a gîte

and won a Travel and Hospitality Award in 2021. Although originally bought as a space for Karen’s parents to stay, the bread oven building has proved a good source of additional income. Now

that three of the couple’s children spend most of their time away at lycée and university, there is only one child permanently at home. This means that while Karen’s mum can still stay in

the bread oven building if she wishes, there is plenty of quiet space in the main house now too. Read more: Book your exclusive stay at Brittany's île Louët lighthouse gîte “It hasn’t

been the little annexe we originally intended, but it has turned out to be a great investment,” says Karen. “And it’s lovely to think we have taken something left dormant for centuries and

given it a whole new lease of life.”