If you're swapping the two-week beach holiday in Thailand this summer for a short break in France, you can still indulge in that holiday favourite, peering into estate agents' windows. You may find the prices a bit scarier than last year, given sterling's fall against the euro, but stone for stone you still get more for your money in most regions in France than in the UK - and you may even find a building that provides an income.

Orlando Murrin and Peter Stegall took the plunge in early 2002, and committed themselves to moving out of London to run a bed and breakfast in the Tarn region in the South of France. “We'd been on a walking holiday through the bastide villages around Cordes the summer before. We'd loved the area with its oak forests, natural woods and gorges and at first thought we'd buy a small place to come and visit, but this quickly developed into the idea of running a bed and breakfast,” Stegall says.

They were prepared to give up successful careers in London to do it. Murrin was the editor of the BBC's Good Food magazine and had published three books on cooking; Stegall worked as an IT director. For Murrin, a passionate gardener, swapping a flat with a tiny roof terrace for a 19th-century manor house with 13acres seemed a good deal.

After briefing several agents on their ideal home, it took eight visits and 36 viewings before deciding on Le Manoir de Raynaudes. They enlisted the help of Ofir Asiass, a young Israeli architect, and spent evenings back in London poring over plans and working out how to combine the old parts of the building with more modern flourishes. “Basically, Ofir's idea was that the old parts should look old and the new parts should look new. So where we have old walls the plastering is bumpy, and where there are new walls they can be completely flat,” Murrin says.

Stegall adds: “I was impressed with the result of using an architect because it encouraged us to be bolder than we might have been on our own.” The wall of aluminium-framed glass for their office and the internal iron and stainless-steel staircase are evidence of this boldness.

Four years on and the hotel has received glowing reviews. Murrin divides his time between the kitchen cooking for the guests and the vegetable and herb gardens, which he created on the property. Stegall welcomes the guests, manages the staff, runs the books and keeps a weather eye on all the paperwork. He is also the resident wine and cheese expert. Even with all this on their plate, Murrin found time to write a book on the restoration, which is laced with his favourite recipes.

The book displays an obvious love for the both the house and the region, detailing an unexpected connection with the local town of Carmaux. “My grandfather was a spycatcher and, in 1944, was sent by British Intelligence to investigate a murder in the town. I had always been drawn to the South but it was spooky to think that my grandfather had probably trod these very roads,” Murrin explains.

And now the house is for sale for €1.55 million (£1.25 million).

“We're coming to the end of our original project and we've loved the whole process of restoration so much we want to do it again,” Murrin says. This in spite of renovation horror stories, such as the moment when the plumber drenched and almost ruined Murrin's 1892 Blüthner piano.

They plan to sell the hotel as a going concern and will then start looking for a larger place.

Le Manoir de Raynaudes:

00 33 563 36 91 90; raynaudes.com.

A Table in the Tarn, by Orlando Murrin, is published by HarperCollins (£20)

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