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English B&B with pool in the South of France

This large, elegant Wine Masters home was bought by the Mathews’ two years ago and has now been restored to its former glory. The house sits on the edge of a wine-making village amidst the peaceful countryside and vineyards of the Corbieres Hills.

The Mathews, who are experienced English hoteliers, have retired to this glorious area in the South of France and transformed their home into a large B&B.

The guest bedrooms available comprise one family suite with a large, double bedroom (with zip-link beds to enable changing the room to a twin-bedded room) and a large twin bedroom with two single beds, private shower room and tiny sitting area. There is also a double bedroom with an en-suite shower room and a very large third bedroom with en-suite bathroom and large sitting area, which is currently under renovation, expected completion before Easter 2010.

Breakfast is served daily in the large, elegant dining room. In addition, there are tables in the garden also available for taking breakfast. If ordered, a four-course dinner can be served, at an all-inclusive price including wine, on the terrace alongside the swimming pool, which itself sits in a large sheltered courtyard at the side of the house. A separate guest sitting room with English TV is available for guests who want to catch up on the news – and the weather back home!

Outside, inside the large iron gates, which lead to our property, there is plenty of parking and, for bikers, an extremely large parking garage with hanging space for drying leathers (hopefully, unused!).

The area has stunning, quite, winding country roads, set amongst gorges and gently sloping hills, ideal for bikers, cyclists, walkers, hiker’s and, as the countryside is so beautiful, photographers would certainly enjoy this area – in fact, ask about our all-inclusive photographic holidays, held twice each year – Springtime and Autumn Leaves..

After our wettest month, April, the spring flowers which appear throughout May and into June are a highly colourful sight to behold with thousands of red poppies, blue borage and a multitude of wild flowers. And the vineyards coloured by a host of autumn shades, when backed by our traditional clear blue skies, make superb photographs of the changing seasons, down here in the South of France.

Our local city is Carcassonne, where La Cite, the 11th century fortress which sits atop a hill on the outskirts of Carcassonne, is a wonderful sight – 52 towering turrets, a drawbridge and a stunning ancient chateau complete this World Heritage Site. In addition, the local Cathar castles, reached using the locally, well-marked Cathar route; there is the Da Vinci code village of Rennes nearby, which nestles in the foothills of the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean only 40 minutes drive away, makes this a good place to stay for as long as you need a peaceful break with good food, excellent wine and peaceful roads.

These roads also lead to the beaches, fishing villages and marinas of the Mediterranean and the etangs (inland salt-water lakes) where superb, international 5-star seafood is reared – and sold as the catch is landed.

We are only 5kms from the A61 motorway, which connects within two exits to the A9 motorway, for any onward journeys to Spain, Portugal and Andorra.