Our house has almost 50 years of history and memories, we have not completely modernized it because we want to preserve the French peasant family atmosphere. This place is meant to retreat from the busy life, to enjoy the flowers, the sheep, the bees, the silence and the bright stars. When we are here we swim in the pool, take a walk through the stream, visit the Saint Pons market and have lunch outside overlooking the garden, sometimes we visit one of the beautiful villages nearby. We are excited to share this with you! Good to know: Our house is part of nature, we do not remove every spider and beetle from the house. Our neighbors are Jeannot and his wife, they sometimes graze their sheep and horses in one of our meadows, so feel free to pet or feed the horses when you are here! Our terrace and garden have steps and height differences. Furthermore, the region is seasonal, many restaurants and activities are closed in the colder months.
History of the house:
In 1973, a good friend of our family told us about a piece of land he had discovered in the south of France. The name was 'Le Pré du Moulin', the mill meadow. Our confidence in him was so great that we bought the land without ever seeing it. In the summer of 1973 we left by car to our piece of land and there we were welcomed by Mr. Senegas and his wife. They gave us a tour of the land showing us the waterfall, the fruit trees and the old wine press, the rest was grass and shrubs. It was a beautiful place. After camping on our land for a few summers, we decided to build a swimming pool in 1975. To achieve this, a hole had to be dug and a bridge built over the river. When the swimming pool was delivered, the entire village came to watch and help, as it was not that easy to get an eight by four swimming pool down the small steep road. That swimming pool is still there to this day. We started building the house in 1976, almost the entire interior was transported from the Netherlands to France by car and trailer. Since then we have celebrated more than a hundred holidays in this special place. In 2010, a garage and a bedroom with second bathroom were added. In 2015, the piece of land on the other side of the river was for sale and a machine company was interested in settling there. To protect the view and the silence, we bought that piece ourselves, with accompanying fruit trees!
Things to do:
- Grotte de la Devèze (the caves of Courniou)
- Gorges d'Héric (A huge gorge made by the river Héric, great spot for hikes and swims)
- The market of Saint-Pons (and Saint-Chinian)
- Lac de La Raviège (A lake with lots of water sports)
- The beach at Valras, Sérignan or Gruissan
- Golfing at La Barouge in Mazamet
- Cycling on the old train tracks 'voie verte'
- Having dinner on the terrace of restaurant Fleurs d'Olargues
- Olargues
- Saint Chinian
- La Salvetat-sur-Agout
- Minerve
- Aigne
- Assignan
- Montpellier
- Carcassonne
- Albi
- Sete
