Renovated village cottage, France

A small, fully renovated, village cottage, located in the beautiful southern region of France bordering the Pyrenees mountains, and within easy reach of Toulouse, Carcassonne, Spain, and the attractions of the French Mediterranean. This is a traditional cottage in a small French village, beautifully renovated to the very highest standards. The house sleeps 4 people and is ideal for 1 or 2 couples or a small family and comes supplied with bed linen and towels. Located in a beautiful region bordering the Pyrenees mountains, it is within easy reach of Spain, Barcelona, as well as the attractions of the French Mediterranean. A stay in St. Jacques, the name of our cottage, offers a taste of French village life with its markets and sublime countryside, with access also to the cultural attractions of major nearby cities like Toulouse and Carcassonne. Or in winter, to ski fields of the Pyrenees and Andorra. The cottage combines the old charm of original building materials with modern finishes and equipment. While you will want to try the local restaurants, we’ve set up the house for people who also love to cook and sample the local produce. You will find a large range of sharp knives and cooking utensils. Fully renovated, the cottage has three levels which comprise a ground floor lounge and toilet, a second floor kitchen and dinning area, and a top floor of two bedrooms and a second toilet and bathroom. The cottage has highly effective hydronic central heating and comes with TV and DVD, and a selection of French and English language films. The house telephone is available for guests to use for calls within France, free of charge. The internet wi fi connection is reliable and fast. While there is no garden, the house is within a 30 metre walk of the French countryside and a small river. The region is ideal for cycling and walking and bikes may be rented in the village. Guests have use of the entire house. We have a local agent who lives in the same village and who speaks English and French. He also undertakes maintenance and cleaning for us. The house can be difficult to find, so it useful to call ahead to our local agent to arrange for him to meet you. Leran is a 12 minute drive from Mirepoix, a picturesque town built in the 13th century. This small town clusters around a traditional market square, one of the oldest in France. Mirepoix is the café and dining heart of the region where you can take in the atmosphere while sipping on your café au lait or enjoying a toasted goats cheese salad, a chevre chaud. Every Monday and Thursday, Mirepoix's square turns into a bustling food market. Rind-washed mountain cheeses, oysters from the Mediterranean, small black mussels from the Bordeaux coast, duck and poultry of every cut, forest mushrooms, pates, cured meats, and tables piled with artichokes, peppers, oranges and tomatoes. A two-minute drive, or 15 minute walk, from the house is a very popular local swimming lake, called Lac Monbel. It is in a beautiful setting with the Pyrenees as a backdrop. A small cafe bar is located close to the beach. This is a popular region for cycling and walking. We have excellent guided walking maps in the house. Cycles are available for rent at Velomondo in the village, a small business operated by Jo and Craig. Their details are online. Suggested routes both easy and more demanding are available that will take you through local villages and towns, over gentle hills, and across not so gentle but magnifient mountain passes. Wine is a popular local industry, with some of Frances more progressive wine regions close by. These include the Malpere, Minervois, Rousillion and Corbiers regions specialising in red varieties like syrah (shiraz), grenache, and traditional varieties such as carignan. A 25-minute drive will take you to the Canal du Midi, famous across France and Europe for its antiquity and slowly moving cruise boats that people hire for boating holidays, sometimes for weeks at a time. You can cruise from Bordeaux on the Atlantic Ocean to Adge on the Mediterranean where world-famous oysters and mussels are grown in the salty Etang de Thau. Shady plane trees line the entire river course. Boats, which have accommodation on board, are for hire at the nearby Port of Bram on the Canal, as they are in Carcassonne. Less than an hour’s drive away are the major cities of Carcasonne and Toulouse, each famous in their own right. Toulouse is the acknowledged capital of the south-west, cultured, historic and lively. Carcassone on the other hand is a smaller city which gained its reputation as the center of heretical Cathar resistance to the established Catholic Church in the 13th century. Today, Carcassone's fairy-tale castle walls are almost too perfectly restored. There is good skiing in the winter ski period that generally operates from January to March. Several ski resorts are close by, the nearest, Mount d'Olme, which is only a 30 minute drive, has 20 ski runs. Alternatively, a 90 minute drive will take you to the major skiing center of Ax-Bonascre, located high in the Pyrenees mountains. Spain is not that far away, on the other side of the Pyrenees, and can be easily driven to via a tollway or on smaller A roads. Barcelona is a little further, about a 4-hour drive if you take the coastal road by the Mediterranean. The independent mountain country of Andorra is about a 2 hour drive. Cities within a two-hour drive of the village, that we love, include: Narbonne (a fantastic market and roman museum), Beziers, Albi and Montpellier. Try to visit the famous Toulouse Lautrec art gallery in Albi. It is stunning, as is the rest of the city. A car is necessary to reach the house and to access the surrounding region. The village is not serviced by public transport. Car rental is available at both local airports of Toulouse and Carcassonne. The latter is serviced by the cheap fare airline Ryan Air, with daily flights to and from London and elsewhere. By car, the village and cottage are approximately a 1 hour 20 minute drive from Toulouse, or a 40 minute drive from Carcassonne. Guests will need a car in order to travel to and from the cottage. There is no public transport. While small, the village has a bar cafe that cooks excellent and cheap meals. A well-reviewed restaurant has also opened recently, called Creamundo. We have a part time post office, a hairdresser and a small market (Les Halles de Léran), which sells fresh bread and pastries every day from 8 to 12.30 except Mondays. On Tuesdays and Saturdays Les Halles offers a small range of fresh local fruit and vegetables, which is generally excellent. A well-stocked supermarket with a wide selection of local produce and wines is located within a 6-minute drive of the house.