Castelnaudary and Surroundings

The town centre

It is a short walk of about 5 minutes into the centre of Castelnaudary. It is a bustling, working French town. There you will find several bars, cafes and restaurants, leafy squares and a good variety of shops. Every Monday the Place de la Republique is closed to cars and there is a busy street market selling food, textiles, clothes, bags and shoes – in fact everything most French markets sell.

Cassoulet

Castelnaudary is the home of Cassoulet. This is the speciality of the region. It is a dish of pork, duck, sausage and beans. Legend has it that it was invented in the 14th Century when the town was being besieged by the English army under the Black Prince. The town was nearing starvation and as a last gesture they put everything they had left to eat into a cauldron, cooked it and tipped it over the castle walls. The English, presuming that the town had plenty of culinary reserves, promptly upped sticks and left. The cauldron of food turned out to be Cassoulet. Every year during the last weekend of August there is a festival of Cassoulet in the town and everybody joins in the parades and celebrations. The centre is closed for 4 days and people feast on Cassoulet in large marquees put up in the streets. (You can find details of the fête-du-cassoulet at this web site: http://www.couleur-lauragais.fr/fete-du-cassoulet//)

Bastille Day

Every year on 13th July, the eve of Bastille Day, there is a huge firework display on barges floating in the middle of the bassin. From our house we have a grandstand view of these spectacular celebrations.

Canal du Midi

The Canal du Midi runs from Bordeaux and the River Garonne at Toulouse through to the Mediterranean near Narbonne. It is a beautiful tree lined waterway, now almost entirely populated by pleasure boats. The Canal is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Opposite our house on the bassin is a large hirer of boats – The Blue Crown Line. If you want a start or finish to a boating holiday, visit us for a night of comfort and relaxation.

Lauragais

This is the name of the local region. It is an agricultural area famous for its wonderful produce such as duck, foie gras, pork, beans, goat’s cheese and geese. With its wide valleys and rolling hills it is a green and pleasant landscape. Castelnaudary is the capital of this area. On most days there are wonderful gastronomic markets packed with beautiful, fresh, local products in one of the nearby towns. The best of these is Revel on a Saturday, some 20km from Castelnaudary. The whole town comes out and the bars are packed from early morning until after lunch.

Mediaeval towns

Within half an hour’s drive of the house we have 3 or 4 wonderful mediaeval towns that are easy to get to, where it is easy to park and where there are beautiful market squares made from wood and local stone. The most famous and the largest is Carcassonne. This has a 12th century cité within a fortress that is a must to visit. Smaller, less military towns are Limoux, Lagrasse and Mirepoix, where there are gargoyles surrounding the square carved into the buildings dating from the16th century and earlier.

Mountains

On the north of Castelnaudary are the “Montagnes Noire” (Black Mountains). These are beautiful, forested hills and are only 20 minutes away by car. To the south, within an hour you can be in the heights of the Pyrenees.

Mediterranean Coast

Narbonne on the coast is only an hour away down the A61 motorway. From there down to the Spanish border is a line of lovely sandy beaches. Some are totally unspoilt, with no facilities, others have bars and restaurants on or by the beach. Leucate has a pretty village, a busy beach and a little further down the road an unspoilt beach.

Lac St Ferreol

Alternatively within 10 miles of Castelnaudary in the Black Mountains is the Lac de St Ferreol. This is a large man-made feeder lake for the Canal du Midi which is fed from the streams of the Black Mountains. It has a beach and there are bars and cafes close by. Park your car, walk through the fringe of pine-woods and you are on the beach. Pedalos are for hire and the swimming is current free in soft fresh water.

Wine

The area has always grown wine, but it is now been “discovered”. Try Blanquette de Limoux, a sparkling wine in the same style as champagne. The locals say they were first and theirs is better. It is also infinitely cheaper. The locals drink a lot of Rosé. It has nothing to do with the sweet insipid stuff you often see in England. Drunk cold it is refreshing and suits the climate perfectly. Local red wines are also often drunk chilled. Minervois, Corbieres and Fitou are all within easy reach and you can visit the vineyards and buy direct.