Vacation rentals, dishwasher, pool, refrigerator
4 - 5 person Cottage in Carcassonne. A lovely gite with extensive gardens and a large swimming pool, close to Carcassonne and The Canal du Midi..In the beautiful Aude department, close to Carcassonne with its World Heritage Castle and to the enchanting Canal du Midi, Les Carries offers a very high standard of accommodation and equipment in utterly peaceful surroundings. The gite itself is newly renovated with a spacious kitchen complete with cooker, dishwasher, fridge-freezer, and microwave, two large bedrooms (one double and one twin/triple), and a large bathroom. The gite is set at one end of a typical Lauragais long farmhouse (the owners live at the other end) on 2 acres of gardens, surrounded by farmland with views of the Montagne Noir and the Pyrenees. There is a large swimming pool set in charming surroundings and with sun loungers and parasols. The nearest village is Labastide d'Anjou, (5 minutes by car if you happen to get stuck behind a tractor, 8 minutes by bicycle). It has a boulangerie/patisserie and boucherie/charcuterie (with a small selection of wine and groceries), not to mention a bar and a very good restaurant. Another restaurant offering typical French fare is right alongside the Canal du Midi, where you can watch the boats go by from your table on the terrace. Just in case, Labastide has a medical clinic and pharmacy as well. Les Carries is ideally positioned for visits to all major sites in the area. It is about 60 minutes from Albi, 45 minutes from the Cit in Carcassonne (see left), and 90 minutes to Collioure near the Spanish border. Toulouse (with its huge central square, medieval quarter, and excellent shopping), and the Cit de l'Espace space museum (excellent for kids, and still quite interesting for adults) are both an easy 45 minute drive. There is also excellent bus service to Toulouse. Limoux, Fanjeaux and Mirepoix are all about 30 minutes away, the Tarn Gorges and the beach in Narbonne are both about one hour away, as is Foix (with its astounding Cathar fortress). You can be shopping duty free in Andorra or hiking in the Pyrenees in about an hour and a half. However, the countryside is chock full of interesting things to do and see much closer to home. Castelnaudary, birthplace of the local gastronomic specialty cassoulet, is 10 minutes away and has a very large market on Monday mornings, not to mention the Grand Bassin to stroll around, a three-level set of locks on the canal, two medieval churches and a beautifully restored windmill on the top of the hill with all the internal workings intact. Revel is 20 minutes away and has a Saturday morning market in and around its covered marketplace. The abbey in St. Papoul is 15 minutes away (see right). There are a number of wineries with tasting, and several excellent restaurants within short distance. There are two lakes nearby for swimming, sunning and boating, one in the Montagne Noir just outside of Revel, and the other in the hills just south of Montferrand. Each week in summer a different village in the area has a Thursday evening market, and there are various summer festivals celebrating the area's medieval and Cathar history. You can't possibly see and do everything the region has to offer in a week (or even two or three or four) and still make any pretence of relaxing, so you may as well just grab a towel and walk the 30-odd steps from the gite to the secluded 10x4 metre swimming pool with its view over wheat or sunflower fields. Or, you can while away an afternoon on the boules court.