Maison Lavande,
Bed and Breakfast is situated in the sleepy rural hamlet of Arnac, ten minutes
from the beautiful medieval town of Saint Antonin-Noble-Val
made famous not only by its vibrant Sunday market but also as
the location for the film Charlotte Gray.
ABOUT US
We are a couple
who have been in the luxury domestic service industry for a
number of years, we aim to bring our experiences, wide and
varied to making your time at Maison Lavande a most welcome
holiday. We also have a Batiment Restauration company and if you
are looking to buy property in France Bob will be very happy
to give advice.
We cater for up to
two couples who seriously wish to de-stress. Parties of
up to six girls or guys are very welcome.
Our dedication to providing the very best, and our unrivalled
attention to detail mean that if you want to be spoilt and
pampered, you have discovered the ideal bed and breakfast.
Perfect anytime of
year:
Winter breaks - Cosy
and snug indoors but still blue skies and crisp atmosphere
Sun worshipping - Come in June, July, AugustShoulder months
- Balmy but not so hot.
FURTHER
INFORMATION AVAILABLE PLEASE EMAIL
Our priority is to
make your stay at Maison Lavande, our lovingly restored 18th
century bed and breakfast property as comfortable as possible.
Fill your days with sightseeing at the many interesting
historical sites around our home, visit local vineyards and
try the luscious wine. Or relax and unwind in our lovely
secluded garden. With its view of the Gorge and vast array of
fragrant flowering plants, you can sunbathe in peace before
cooling down under the garden power shower.
We can help you choose how to wind down. Whether you want to
enjoy a balmy evening on the veranda or would prefer to visit
one of the many exquisite local restaurants and bars, the
choice is yours.
For the more energetic there are lots of exciting activities
in What
To Do
Maison Lavande a luxury
bed and breakfast in the South of France. A family-run holiday location in south west
France, we cater for up to two couples. bed and
breakfast ideal for de-stressing,
relaxing and pampering. Great for property hunting.
Words you might search for:
"Maison lavande, Holiday, bed and breakfast, Bed Breakfast, French,France, South
France, st antonin noble val, saint antonin noble val, rural, retreat, tarn et
garonne, tarn et garrone, Aveyron"
The Area
with thanks to www.midi-maisons.com
Tarn 81 –Tarn et Garonne 82 – Aveyron 12
– Lot 46
Situated in the Northern half of the Tarn département, Cordes is perhaps the
best known of the bastides (fortified medieval towns), built dramatically on a
hill in the Cérou valley. It is fascinating to wander round; in fact it is one
of the region’s prime tourist attractions, and is well served with shops,
facilities and cultural activities. It is near here that our Tarn office is
located.
The Gaillacois, the wine-producing area around the town of Gaillac, consists of
rolling countryside largely given over to vineyards, pretty villages, and fine
rural properties built of limestone. With its proximity to Toulouse, and its
popularity with the wealthier classes, this is premium price territory,
especially the so-called ‘golden triangle’ between Cordes, Gaillac and Albi.
Albi is the main town of the Tarn where the prefecture is located. It is also a
pleasant town to visit, with its famous cathedral built entirely of local
bricks, and the surrounding old town being well supplied with shops, boutiques,
and restaurants.
To the south west of Albi, is an area of rolling agricultural land with the
Black Mountains as a southern backdrop. Lautrec is probably this area’s Cordes,
a medieval town in a scenic setting. To the east of here is higher ground with
wooded hills and steep valleys, known as the Sidobre. It is probably the wildest
part of the Tarn, an area of lakes and woods popular with walkers and canoers.
East of Cordes in the area around St Antonin-Noble-Val (Tarn et Garonne) the
scenery becomes more dramatic with the Gorges of the Aveyron, and the thickly
wooded hills bordering the Aveyron valley. Again this is prized territory with
some finely restored properties. The scenery between here and Najac (Aveyron) is
more open and wild with fine views. Here you will find villages like Verfeil and
Parisot.
Where the Aveyron and Viaur rivers meet is the village of Laguépie, a local
communications centre with a weekly market, a good range of shops and a train
station.
To the north and east of Cordes you come into an area known as the Ségala, with
rolling farmland, mainly used as pasture for cattle. This area covers the
northern reaches of the Tarn and into the Aveyron, and is known for its veal and
for its chestnuts. It is criss-crossed by steep wooded valleys, notably the
Viaur valley, where time almost seems to have stopped. Here you will find ruined
castles clinging to the valley sides. It’s a more rustic area where your money
will go further, but you are still not far from the urban attractions of Albi.
Apart from its magnificent scenery, the highlights of our part of the Aveyron
département are Najac, a fine medieval village and castle set on a saddle of
land, Sauveterre-de-Rouergue with its magnificent colonnaded market square, and
Villefranche-de-Rouergue, known for its excellent weekly market, which fills its
streets every Thursday.
It’s hard not to get distracted by the scenery, in a region where the next bend
might reveal a fortified chateau topped with turrets looking like witches’ hats,
or perhaps a flock of Lacaune sheep – source of the world-famous Roquefort
cheese. But Aveyron is no longer quite as isolated as it once was with direct
flights from London Stansted to Rodez, Aveyron’s chief town with Ryanair. What
better way of arriving in la France profonde?
My normal route into Aveyron takes me across the River Viaur, a steeply wooded
valley that feels almost untouched by the passage of time. This was once the
front line in the religious war between the true Catholics in Rouergue (the old
name for this part of Aveyron) and the heretic Cathar Albigeois. Romantic ruined
castles, like that of Roumégous, stand silent witness to seven centuries of
rivalry, fortunately now limited to grievances about the Albigeois invading on
sunny autumn Sundays to pick mushrooms and forest fruits. The Viaur valley has
few roads either along or across it, so preserving its ‘out of the way’ feel.
You can walk the randonnées, or canoe down the river, appreciating its beauty in
peace.
Najac, an exquisite village dominating the Aveyron valley, has had its share of
strife in times gone by. It’s no accident that the castle dominates the village,
for it was built in medieval times by the nascent French crown to intimidate and
subjugate the wild people of Rouergue. Now it looks out over a tranquil valley
well appreciated by French and foreigners alike. It’s a place on the summer
tourist trail, with excellent restaurants, and a large open-air swimming pool –
making it a perfect staging post for walkers following the grande randonnée
running north from Cordes, or for travellers aboard the picturesque rail line
that runs between Toulouse and Brive.
Following the railway and the Aveyron valley north, you come to
Villefranche-de-Rouergue, an ancient fortified town with narrow cobbled streets
and a wonderful arcaded square, all of which become crowded every Thursday
morning by one of the largest street markets in France. There are treats on the
stalls to whet your appetite, or maybe even to turn your stomach – depending on
your tastes!
The land to the east of Villefranche is known as the Ségala, an area that
transcends departmental boundaries extending from North Tarn to Southern Lot. It
is named after seigle (rye), the only crop – apart from chestnuts – that would
grow in its acid soil before the use of lime. Nowadays it’s an area famed for
its beef and veal, with pastureland crossed by steep wooded valleys, and wide
open vistas that, on exceptionally clear days, stretch from the volcanoes of the
Cantal to the Pyrenees – a distance of 250 miles. The English have been here
before – the last time burning churches in the 13th century, but all that seems
to have been forgiven.
North of Rodez you come to the Marcillac valley, a climatically favoured place
where vineyards cling to the steep slopes above bustling villages with sandstone
houses matching the colour of the soil. Where there’s wine, there’s wealth, and
fine manor houses and chateaux show that this was once an economically favoured
part of an otherwise poor département. Again this area provides good walking and
sightseeing. Its sights include the abbey town of Conques, one of the
architectural treasures of France, which lies on a pilgrimage route to Santiago
de Compostela.
Property values remain reasonable compared to other better-known areas of
France, but you may have to be prepared to do some work on the cheaper
properties, as their condition is often quite rustic.
With its new transport links, its natural beauty and its traditions, Aveyron is
a département with immense appeal – particularly for British Francophiles in
search of their share of rural peace. For practical information on the
département, including areas not covered in this article, why not take a look at
www.aveyron.com?
We also get properties in the southern part of the Lot département around the
Lot valley and the charming little town of Figeac on the river Célé. Away from
the river valleys, this is primarily limestone causse country with oakwoods –
great for wildflowers in springtime – and good for typical limestone Lotois
houses with pigeonniers.
A final word of advice: it's impossible to convey the diversity of this rich
part of France. It's a good idea to visit and get an idea for yourself of what
it's like, and where you might wish to be before visiting properties. It's
perhaps the most enjoyable part of your research!
Introducing Aveyron
Guide to Aveyron
With thanks to www.travelandleisure.com
Almost forgotten for centuries, this sparsely populated département in the south
of France stretches over a wildly varied landscape of medieval villages,
adventurous terrain, and fairy tale– worthy hotels.
From September 2007
By Marcelle Clements
Clearly, it is always a mistake to arrive in a French provincial capital on a
Sunday, unless you are looking to understand why Madame Bovary felt she had to
have some action or die. There is no slower clock in all of space and time than
that which ticks and tocks in the south of France on the day of rest, and no
bell tolls with less urgency than that of the cathedral in Rodez. Mind you, this
bell tower, rising up nearly 300 feet and surmounted by a Virgin, is a sumptuous
gem of late Gothic Flamboyant style, surging out of a colossal red sandstone
edifice begun in the 13th century and finished in the 16th. Three hundred years!
Why the hurry? But then, that's one of the attractions of medieval architecture,
created by people who didn't even have a word for the future or a concept of
progress. The only escape from the present was eternity.
In the shadow of the Rodez cathedral, the Place d'Armes is deserted. I am the
sole customer in the one open café. Luckily, I order a traditional Aveyron dish
called aligot, for which an astonishingly elastic local cheese is slowly stirred
into garlicky mashed potatoes, producing a dense, instantly addictive purée.
It's comforting enough to push aside thoughts of eternity and even my anxiety
about the immediate future: figuring out a trajectory for the next few weeks
with a guidebook that fails to tell me much of anything about most of the points
on the map, not to mention the wide spaces between.
It's very quiet here.
Aveyron, with Rodez at its center, is perhaps the least-known département in
France, one of the biggest and most sparsely populated. "Even in the summer,"
local people say, "there are still more cows here than tourists." Few Americans
have heard of it unless they remember that François Truffaut's film The Wild
Child was based on the true story of Victor of Aveyron, a young boy who was
found in 1798 in the forest, hirsute and mute. I myself knew next to nothing
about it, although I often travel in France, where I was born. This is la France
profonde, the heartland, which Parisians seldom visit and cannot fathom, where
there is some of the world's most stunning, geologically diverse
countryside—much of it unspoiled. Aveyron is in the rugged Midi-Pyrénées region
in the south, and part of the Massif Central, a huge elevation formed by fire
and ice. Peaceful lakeside resorts are an hour's drive from vertiginous peaks,
waterfalls, and mind-blowing chasms, under which flow subterranean rivers. Deep
valleys alternate with eerie and vast limestone plateaus, or segue into
undulating meadows, peat bogs, and hot springs. Some of Aveyron's caves are big
enough to shelter the Rodez cathedral.
Here are a thousand castles, more than a thousand megalithic tombs, innumerable
Gallo-Roman ruins, and some of the most remarkable Romanesque architecture in
Europe, as well as Norman Foster's architectural marvel, the Millau Viaduct—the
world's tallest bridge and an unmatched feat of engineering and green planning.
Aveyron has five bastides—planned walled towns that were the first urban
experiments, built in the 13th century—and 304 communes (more or less equivalent
to counties), some a mere handful of houses hanging on to a cliff, others
nestled among the caves where prehistoric people lived, still others clustered
near thermal baths or scattered downhill from a 12th-century fortress. Ten
villages in Aveyron (the highest concentration in any department) meet the
30-odd criteria required to be officially included among the "Most Beautiful
Villages of France."
When to Go
Fall and spring in Aveyron have heavenly weather and few crowds. But in summer,
the water sports and hiking are just as enticing.
Getting There
Fly to London or Paris and catch one of the daily connecting flights or the
train to Rodez. Or take the high-speed train (TGV) from Paris to Montpellier,
and rent a car for the 1 1/2-hour drive to Millau, which takes you over the
Millau Viaduct.
Getting Around
Plan to drive, bike, or hike between villages; in the more bucolic areas there
is little in the way of bus or taxi service.
What to Do
There is no good guidebook to Aveyron, so you'll want to rely on tourism offices
for both advance and on-the-ground planning, not just for additional sights and
hotels but also for sports outfitters of all kinds. They can show you how to
follow the pilgrims' road to Saint Jacques de Compostelle, for example, a route
that includes the magnificent abbey in Conques. Many castles and fortresses
offer tours. In Paris, contact Maison de l'Aveyron (33-1/42-36-84-63;
maison-aveyron.org). If you're researching online, try the Comité Départemental
du Tourisme de l'Aveyron (tourisme-aveyron.com); their site will also provide a
list and interactive map of the region's Most Beautiful Villages of France (a
designation made by a historical preservation association of the same name). The
two biggest centers for outdoor sports are Millau and Najac.
Caves of Roquefort
Roquefort-sur-Soulzon; 33-5/65-58-54-38;roquefort-societe.com.
Micropolis City of Insects
St.-Léons; 33-5/65-58-50-50; micropolis.biz.
Millau Viaduct
Office du Tourisme de Millau, 1 Place du Beffroi, Millau; 33-5/65-60-02-42;
ot-millau.fr.
Musée Fenaille
14 Place Raynaldi, Rodez; 33-5/65-73-84-30; musee-fenaille.com.
Site Archéologique de la Graufesenque
Millau; 33-5/65-60-11-37.
Where to Shop
Aveyron's famous Laguiole knives can be bought at the new factory, designed by
Philippe Starck, at the edge of the village of Laguiole (Rte. de l'Aubrac;
33-5/65-48-43-34; forge-de-laguiole.com). For fine handmade leather gloves, ask
at Musée de Millau (Hôtel de Pégayrolles, Place Foch, Millau; 33-5/65-59-01-08)
for information about local ateliers.
Information about bed and
breakfasts and Guest Houses
Source:
Wikipedia.com
house is a kind of lodging. In some
parts of the world a guest house is similar to a hostel or bed and breakfast. In
other parts of the world bed and breakfasts are the only kind of accommodation
available for visitors with no local relatives.
Among the distinguishing features that distinguish a guest house from a hotel or
bed and breakfast is the lack of full time staff. Bed and breakfasts are usually
family owned, with the family living on the premises. Hotels maintain a staff
presence 24x7. A bed and breakfast on the other hand will have limited staff presence.
Because of the limited staff presence checkin is often by appointment.
Specialized courses in how to run bed and breakfast are available.
In Japan a tenant in a bed and breakfast has to pay a substantial damage deposit, and
has to pay a cleaning fee when they leave.
Bed & breakfast is commonly known to be a stay in a private home when travelling
abroad. It predates hotels, inns, guesthouses, etc. There are several origins of
bed & breakfast depending on geography and culture.
In America and Europe, bed & breakfast was usually provided by the local
minister. There was, in the minister's home, the "Bishop's room." It was a room
reserved for the Bishop or other important dignitary of the ministers
denomination. It was nicer than the rest of the home because of its expected
occupants. Whenever the Bishop visited the area he stayed in the Bishop's room.
When it was not so occupied the minister was free to use the room for other
occupants. Some did, others kept the room for its intended use.
Ministers' made very little money, but usually had very nice homes - mostly
provided by their Church. One way they earned money was to accept people
travelling through their town, village, etc. who needed a place to stay. The
usual way this happened was - the traveller wrote a letter to the minister
telling of their intended trip, the dates of their stay and something about
their background, occupation and references. It was always good to have a
reference from someone who could vouch for the persons' character.
The minister wrote back and invited the traveller to stay in his home, if he
thought this was someone he could house for a very short term stay. The
traveller would write back to accept. There was no fixed fee for the stay. When
the traveller left the ministers home, they usually left a sum of money
discreetly on a bureau in the bedroom where they stayed - which was the Bishop's
room. On many occasions money did not change hands, but the traveller would have
something to offer in trade - a farmer could offer produce, animals, etc.
A boarding house is different from and has a different history than a bed &
breakfast. The boarding house was for longer term stays, bed and breakfast was
for people travelling through the area on short stays.
One advantage of the bed & breakfast, which doesn't exist today because of the
prevalence of hotels was that it provided a source of income for the home owner
and the money stayed in the community.
Generally, guests are accommodated in private bedrooms with private bathrooms,
or in a suite of rooms including an en suite bathroom. Some homes have private
bedrooms with a bathroom which is shared with another guest or sometimes more
than one other guest. Breakfast is served in the morning - either in the bedroom
or, more commonly, in a dining room, on a terrace or sun porch or the host's
kitchen.
B&Bs and guesthouses may be operated either as a secondary source of income or a
primary occupation. Staff can consist of the home's owners and members of the
family or you may find some bed and breakfasts where the home's owners have
hired cleaning, cooking and other help to make a smooth operation if they are
otherwise employed or not able to do those chores. A property which hires
professional management is no longer a bed and breakfast, but enters the
category of Inn, Guest House or Small Hotel.
Staying at a B&B can sometimes offer better access to locations "off the beaten
path" which may not be convenient to the city center or other heavily travelled
locations. B&B properties can be located where larger lodging competitors may
not place a guest accommodation because of market conditions.
Because bed and breakfast has become such a popular concept and the industry has
grown so rapidly, hotels, inns and other lodging possibilities adopt the generic
"bed & breakfast" to trade on the concept and to attract travellers, who want to
experience bed & breakfast, but are not ready to try other than the hotel way of
travel. That can result in a disappointment to the traveller because it is
misleading advertising. Often, in such cases, breakfast is juice, coffee and a
Danish pastry, while in a private home breakfast is usually a substantial meal.
One major difference between bed and breakfasts and hotels has to do with
privacy and anonymity. Both offer and insure your privacy. Hotels offer
anonymity, while bed and breakfasts are for people who want to interact with
others or who, while maintaining their privacy, are willing to give up anonymity
for the additional comforts offered in a home setting.
Anciently known by its
Celtic name of
Condate (confluence), legend recounts that the
abbey of
Saint-Antonin (Occitan:
Sant Antoní) was founded in the 9th century in honour of the
saint who brought Christianity to the
province of
Rouergue, on the
western edge of which the town now stands. Successful in this, he
decided to convert
Pamiers, his
hometown in the
Pyrenees. But
resistance there resulted in his beheading, following which his body was
thrown into the
Ariège River.
Legend recounts that angels then
descended from Heaven to collect the pieces and place them in a boat
which, miraculously, floated downstream into the
Garonne and on to
where the
Tarn flows into
it; then up the Tarn to its confluence with the
Aveyron and up
through the
Vallis Nobilis of
the Aveyron Gorges to the confluence of the little
Bonnette river at
a point where the ancient lands and bishroprics of Rouergue, the
Albigeois, and
Quercy meet.
There the corpse was retrieved and reassembled by
Festus, the Count
of Noble-Val, who placed the relics in a reliquary-shrine, now lost.
The
Benedictines
started rebuilding the abbey in the 11th century, and it was finished
around
1150 or later. By
the end of the 12th century it passed into the control of
Augustinian Canons Regular.
It must have been a very fine and prestigious building, perhaps - to
judge from the quality of the carving and the stone of the surviving
fragments - one to mention in the same breath as
Moissac to the
south of the same département. The old town hall (even as
controversially restored by
Viollet-le-Duc)
is also of very high quality - as shown by this exquisite carving of
Adam, Eve, the Serpent and the Tree of Knowledge.
The
troubadour
Raimon Jordan was
the viscount of Saint-Antonin in the late twelfth century, on the eve of
the
Albigensian Crusade.
The town, however, was taken by
Simon de Montfort
in
1212 during the
Crusade. The Albigensian castle of
Penne a few
kilometres downstream was burned by de Montfort and survives now only as
a romantic ruin overlooking the river Aveyron. In
1227
St Louis occupied
Saint-Antonin which at this point enjoyed great wealth. The town was
besieged and taken by the English in the 14th century, and subsequently
suffered considerable damage in the
Wars of Religion
in the late 16th and again in the early 17th century (former Cathar
lands tending towards a Protestantism which survives to this day, for
there is a Protestant 'temple' in Saint-Antonin), when the collegiate
church and the saintly relics were destroyed by anti-Catholic mobs. It
was presumably after the restoration of Catholicism in the town that the
corbels were placed on houses without risk of destruction. It was at
this time that
Louis XIV renamed
the town Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val and financed important improvements.
Maison Lavande offers luxury
accomodation for your holiday in both the Tarne et Garonne and Aveyron region.
Ideally located near beautiful historical towns such as Saint Antonin Noble Val
and Corde it is the perfect place to relax and unwind Maison Lavande: a most
exemplary bed and breakfast offering the very best bed and breakfast in South France!
Come and enjoy French history and lifestyle and the most spectacular views in
France!
44°09′10″N
1°45′21″E
/ 44.1527777778,
1.75583333333
