Languedoc is also easy to reach, with six international airports operating to every major European city.

Fast being discovered the Languedoc offers tremendous diversity: sandy beaches, wooded mountains, ancient market towns and thriving fishing villages, vineyards of international renown and a cuisine to revitalise even the most jaded palate. With fiestas taking place seemingly every other day, the vibrancy of Languedoc life is tempered only by devotion to an unhurried pace of life that is quintessentially Mediterranean.

Away from the coast the land gently rises until you reach the Espinouse Mountains some 35 miles from the sea. On your ascent you pass through plains and tree-lined avenues, over rounded hills covered in small oak trees and vines, up over chestnut hills, schist and steep gorges, past large running rivers until you reach the towering mountains. Every season is different here and each has its own pleasures: the winter is short, sometimes cold but rarely freezing. The skies are dark blue, clouds pushed aside by a busy north wind. The spring is a tumult of colours and life, wild flowers and the first buds on the vines. The odd rainy day is replaced by sunshine and the first hint of real heat. Summer comes in with a bang. The very ground seems to vibrate, you park in the shade, and an afternoon siesta is almost obligatory. In the autumn the leaves of the vines turn brilliant colour - reds, orange, gold - in a free show to rival the best of the New England fall.

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