French Village House - Carcassonne

French Village House - Carcassonne

French village house to rent (sleeps up to 6), built in the medievel Minervois town of Rieux, with outer walls 1000 years old.

Welcome to 1 Rue Notre Dame, Rieux Minervois
Approximately half-way between Carcassonne and Narbonne, this is a renovated village house (sleeps up to 6), built in the medieval Minervois town of Rieux, with outer walls 1000 years old. The house is made up of two adjoining houses which have been converted into a single property. It is comfortable and thoroughly insulated, to make it cool in summer and cosy in winter (with electric heating). The house is fully furnished with a kitchen/diner/living room, with single sofabed, a large fridge-freezer, oven, kettle, etc. There are three bedrooms, two of which have a double bed and one with twin beds. In the lounge there is a DVD player, portable CD/cassette/radio, and a TV with satellite channels.

The roof terrace gives a magnificent view over rooftops to the vineyards beyond to the darker distant Montagne Noire (Black Mountain).

About the village and the surrounding area
Rieux-Minervois is an ancient wine-producing village with shops, including baker, butcher, post office, bar, and a “cave” for local wine tasting, in the Aude region with the most beautiful fir tree forests in France, and gives beautiful views of the Black Mountains, with their lakes for perfect leisure activities and glimpses of the Pyrenees. Vineyards and Gothic and Renaissance residences surround the Minervois. There is also a Benedictine Abbey. Rieux-Minervois is twenty-five kilometres away from the fabulous medieval town of Carcassonne, which has two sites, declared World Heritage sites by UNESCO: the Canal du Midi and the Cité, making Carcassonne a very important tourist location.

The sandy beaches and the blue sea of the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees are only 30 minutes away. Spain is 2 hours' drive and tax-free Andorra three hours' drive, golf (30 mins), tennis (20 mins), horse riding (20 mins). Canal du Midi (15 mins). Water activities (1hr). Other activities: wine tasting, restaurants, local markets, castles, and abbeys. For the winter months ski resorts are within driving distance.

Things to do and see
Two regions separated by the CANAL DU MIDI,
le MINERVOIS and LES CORBIERES,
suggest numerous visits you could make :

Natural sites:
Chasm of Cabrespine, caves of the Clamouse and Limousis

Archaeological museums:
Salleles d`Aude, Olonzac, Oppidum d`Ensérune

The châteaux
Cathares, Peyrepertuse, Quéribus, Lastours

The abbeys:
Caunes, Lagrasse, Fontfroide

Romanesque art:
The chapel of Centeille, St. Germain

Through the whole summer
there are numerous festival events -.

Traditional village fêtes, festive activities in public….

Historical fêtes
Rieux Minervois and Villerouges Terménès

Festivals
Minerve, Fontcalvy, Carcassonne.

In Rieux itself
The house is just a minute's walk to the local bakery, grocer, butcher, etc. There is a Tourist Office, restaurant, medical centre, hair dressers, banks etc. The street market is open three days a week, selling a variety of fresh local produce including excellent wines from the Minervois and Corbières. Rieux has tennis courts, a football field and a boulodrome for playing pétanque. Within easy reach are three golf-courses.
Rieux boasts a unique heptagonal 11th-century church with magnificent sculptures. Concerts are held regularly in the church and in the château. You can cross the 17th-century bridge near the house, stroll along the stream or walk to the vineyards and beyond them the woods.

About the Region

This part of France abounds in monuments from prehistoric, pre-Roman, Roman, Romanesque, medieval, and later periods. From the middle ages, fortified villages and Cathar castles are scattered through the region. The fortified city of Carcassonne is only 25 kilometres away. Cycling and walking are great ways to explore the area. The famous Canal du Midi, a marvel of 17th-century engineering and stonemasonry, winds its way through the vineyards; boats and barges are available for hire at several nearby canal ports.

The nearest sea beaches are in the Narbonne area, about 40 kilometres away. The refreshing lakes of the Montagne Noire are also popular spots for a dip. Narbonne and Perpignan are great for shopping.

For art and architecture, take a trip to Albi, Collioure or Céret or, if you have more time, Barcelona and Girona: Catalonian Spain can be reached in about an hour and a half.

Languedoc enjoys 300 days' sunshine a year, and the winter is mild and short.