Holidays - Montséret

We're creatures of habit, as you well know. So, when we have a spot we like in the world, we keep going back. It used to be the Maldives. Now it's the Corbières, in the South West of France. It's a region roughly situated between Narbonne and Perpignan. It's very rural, with vineyards on every little hill not occupied by the garrigue. The climate is perfect - 300 days of sunshine a year, and plenty of wind when it gets too hot. The roads are easy, there are not too many tourists (well, I don't know what it's like in July and August, but I'd say it's a lot less frantic than the French Riviera)

And we stay in the same village, Montséret. It's in the middle of nowhere, but it's also at the centre of everything - about 15 minutes from Lézignan-Corbières, the main shopping town (with a good Intermarché and a Carrefour), 15 minutes from the Abbaye de Fontfroide, 25 minutes from the sea (Leucate Plage), with lots of little towns with restaurants nearby. And it's so quiet. You see people in the morning on the way to the local shop to get your bread, then that's it, they all disappear. Apart from a few children on slides in the playground in the evening, you really don't see that many people.

And, of course, we stay in the same house, "Jasmin", in the "Cigalous" residence (4 independent houses, each with its own garden and pool). It's got everything you need and the owners are very friendly. I will soon have a video of it for you all, courtesy of Brendan, our cameraman, editor, producer and director. (I just need him to edit out the bits where I make faces at the camera).

For more details, check out my blogs from last year and 3 years ago:
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2009/07/other-good-places-to-eat.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2009/07/restaurant-le-dauphin-montseret.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2009/07/le-somail-canal-du-midi.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2009/07/canal-du-midi.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2009/07/photos-from-lauberge-cote-jardin.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2009/07/auberge-cote-jardin-conilhac.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2009/07/peyrepertuse-brendans-photos.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2009/07/peyrepertuse.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2009/07/holidays.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2007/06/our-house.html
http://mhbd.blogspot.com/2007/06/holiday-in-france.html

I think I've become awfully lazy. When I see how much I used to write. And now, all you get are a few links!! I think it's all to do with Twitter and Facebook. It's just so tempting to only write 2 lines and be done with it!

Well, maybe not. I have a few other things I want to talk about -we did find a gorgeous restaurant in a nearby town, Bizanet, called La Table du Château, and we finally climbed Mont St Victor. So don't worry, I'll be back soon. In the meantime, I'm going to go out to our backgarden to top up my tan. Such a beautiful golden colour doesn't come out of a bottle, so I have to work on it!