There is a vast difference between repairing a two-and-a-half-bed inter-war terrace house in north London and renovating a farm in Gascony. But while it may be obvious to many, I only realised what I had let myself in for when I arrived 16 years ago, bridges burned and with grand visions of what I was going to do to the new place.

Everything was unfamiliar – not least the language and the DIY shops – but there were two other major differences.

One was the architecture: the materials of ...