The Vineyard Venture: An English Family's Life in Sauternes

Imagine leaving your comfortable life in middle England for a land of glorious hot summers, romantic scenery and exquisite cuisine, to live off the fruits of your own labour on a vineyard in south-west France.If it sounds too idyllic to be true, it probably is!In July 1986, Nigel Reay-Jones and his wife Georgea sold their house in the Cotswolds and moved, with their five small children, to Château de Commarque, a dilapidated medieval fortified farm-turned hotel-restaurant in the tiny commune of Sauternes, near Bordeaux, with a small vineyard attached in even worse condition than the house. The Vineyard Venture is the story of the Reay-Joneses' wonderfully bold endeavour to make their dream a reality.From natural disasters and baffling bureaucracy to crumbling medieval walls and hypochondriac chefs, there was plenty sent their way to derail it.But time and again, the Reay-Joneses proved they were made of sterner stuff.This book, a brilliantly entertaining account written after a decade