A warm welcome from the South of France. Yes we do average 300 days of sun every year, but you get used to it.

Life here is relaxed, taken with a long lunch and plenty of time to chat.

From the Cathar castles, to the Spanish border, from the aerospace capital of Europe to the Mediterranean sea – the Languedoc region has it all to offer.

The low-cost airlines have really opened up the area to access from all Northern Europe, so your holiday home in the sun is almost as accessible as a cottage in the Lake District.

Come visit our blog to see what is happening, from festivals and fetes to small village events. Also, see the hot new properties as they are listed on the site.. all in one area.

Peter Mathews, Agent Commercial see my properties here or contact me at pmathews@leggett.fr

A welcome sight in summer!

Want to buy in the Languedoc but are unsure what you can buy for your money? See here..

Weather in Narbonne currently:

Great house in the centre of lively Minervois village with all amenities. See full property details here. To book a visit, contact Anna Sirinides on +33 6 38 10 27 02 or email her on anna@leggett.fr

Villeneuve Minervois has that certain “je ne sais quoi” of a southern French village that many search for, but few find. Nestled between the Montagne Noir (Black Mountains) and the wine soils of the Minervois, this tree lined village is only 15 minutes from the centre ofCarcassonneand just 20 minutes from the airport.

Villeneuve Minervois

Originally called Saint-Etienne de Clamoux, the village has a rich historical heritage with origins after the end of the Albigensian or Cathar Crusade (1209–1229). In the past, the village was primarily known as that of a wine-growing village, but in more recent years, Villeneuve has become famed for the production of  Truffles- and nicknamed ‘Black Diamonds’. The commune and its surroundings encompass more than40 hectaresin plantations of truffle oaks. Secrecy surrounds the harvesting of the truffle, but an estimate suggests production of the ‘Black Diamond’ at several tens of kilos. Truffle festivals take place in December, January and February each year, and in years to come, the truffle will develop into an important economic and cultural part of the village.

The village offers most of the commerce you would want: a doctor, pharmacy, mini-supermarket, bakery, butchers, post office, takeaways, and hairdressers/barbers. Enjoy a bite to eat and cool drink at the local café/bar, or a delicious meal at the Auberge. A third restaurant will open soon.  The village boasts several wineries, open for tastings during the summer months. Visit Domaine Bezneath for a guided tour of the working windmill- used for the manufacture of flour.

The village is in close proximity to three extremely popular tourist attractions. The Châteaux de Lastours are four so-called Cathar castles built on a rocky spur above the villageof Lastours. Isolated by the deep valleys of the Orbeil and Grésilhou rivers, the site has been classified monument historique (historic monument) by the French Ministry of Culture since 1905, and archaeological digs are still in progress. The Gouffre Geante de Cabrespine, or Chasm of Cabrespine, was  first discovered in the 1970s and is one of the largest caves in the world that is open to the public.  The cave is150 meters long and almost300 meters high! The world famous Grotte of Limousis dates back at least to the Neolithic Period, when it was inhabited by man. It was also used in Roman times and in the Middle-Ages. The cave was formed from limestone in the primary era, and hollowed out by an underground river.

Further a field, the village is just 25 minutes from the Canal du Midi and Lac Jouarres, with the Mediterranean coast 50 minutes drive. This perfect location is a year-round haven for hikers, cyclists, wine connoisseurs and tourists alike. Why not try your hand at caving, barging on the canal, sailing, water skiing, wind surfing or snow skiing/boarding? Fancy a day-trip toSpain? Not a problem!Spainis just 90 minutes away.

We have a number of properties for sale in this fantastic village. Check out our ‘Property of the Week’- a superbly renovated four bedroom home with income-producing opportunity!

One of the nicest Villa’s for sale at the moment anywhere in France. Stunning views over  the garigue, just 20 mins from Narbonne. For more information, click here or contact Peter Mathews on +33 6 43 09 91 34 or pmathews@leggett.fr

Perfection in style, character and class from its inception to its completion, magnificent villa with panoramic views.

Find more information on this outstanding property here or contact Anna Sirinides on +33 6 38 10 27 02 or email her at anna@leggett.fr

Ever since moving to France, I have been an enthusiast of the Vide Grenier, which translates as ‘empty attic’- or to put it more plainly, what we might know as a ‘Car Boot Sale’…….the season has just got going again, with the arrival of the warm spring weather in the Languedoc (24 degrees again today; bliss).

Vide Greniers are held in every village & town, several times a year, with the best ones being visited by hundreds of people. It’s such a feature of the French calendar, that you can actually buy a regional guide book, in local supermarkets & newspaper shops, which will give you the low down on every vide grenier, flea market (‘Marche aux puces’), brocante (collectables, generally old) & antique fair, for the entire year. Winter fairs are less often & tend to be indoors, usually held in the village ‘Salle des Fêtes’ but they move into the open air as soon as they possibly can. As well as between say, 20 & a 100 stalls, with the goods of individuals, displayed, there is usually a refreshment stall or two, of some description, plus the village bakeries, cafes & shops will be open, even if it’s a Sunday, to take advantage of the increased passing trade. You can usually find one to go to, somewhere within a radius of half an hour of you, every single weekend between March & October. The whole village turns out, which makes for some surprising & sometimes, rather odd finds, with no order or organisation whatsoever; so you’ll find dolls mixed with old tools & vinyl records amongst boxes of electrical wiring bits. Some fairs are not great, some are average & some, sheer, unadulterated, joy; a bargain hunter’s nirvana. What a lovely way to spend a leisurely morning, discovering the geography of a new village, prior to a delicious lunch in a local French restaurant.

When I said I was going to write about Vide Greniers, Jonathan, one of my colleagues remarked, ‘I hate Vide Greniers’ & he’s right; they can be an ocean of general crap, as far as the eye can see. However, amongst the empty Bonne Maman jam jars (people actually sell these), the broken household accessories, the piles of old toys & the heaps of scruffy old clothes (I’ve thrown away better), there are always gems to be found. You just have to become adept at scanning each table, whilst still moving purposefully forward at a steady gait. Stop & examine for more than 10 seconds & you will be ear marked as a buyer: open your mouth & reveal you aren’t even French & you become a target for the persuasive French vendor to either practice his English or his sales skills, or both, to try to extract your hard earned euros from you in exchange for some item you never knew you could live without. People sell new stuff as well, arts & crafts, foods, cakes, plants, flowers & handicrafts.

I am a fan because I love winkling out the gems. Some of my most successful purchases include a bronze cast flying gull statue from the 1920′s (40 euros); various, tall, enamelled metal jugs in varying sizes, which you can pick up for approx 10 euros each, which look amazing when repainted (I had planned to sell these, but have never yet been able to bear to part with any of my masterpieces); a really ancient French Monopoly game which pre-dates the Waddingtons version, with wooden houses & hotels & lead playing pieces; any number of antique china jugs, bowls & soap dishes; a beautiful Thierry Mugler striped jacket; brand new Yves St Laurent make-up items for 3 euros each & some really great pieces of French fabric which I have used to reupholster furniture & make curtains. They are a good source of authentic, French souvenirs & gifts. One of the very best Vide Greniers we ever went to was in the hills in the Dordogne, whilst on a camping holiday 5 years ago. The whole village turned out for this enormous fair, with every garage open to the public, as well as dozens & dozens of stalls. One guy was selling his Tintin red & white moon rocket, incredibly, for just 70 euros. These sell on eBay for anything from £300-500! My husband is an avid Tintin collector, but this thing was approx 4 feet tall & perfect & it looked fairly fragile. Unfortunately as our landrover was already crammed full of camping equipment, 3 kids, a dog, with our 5 bikes on the back, he had to reluctantly walk away, as he just couldn’t see how he could get it home without either breaking it, or sacrificing one of the kids. I can tell you, it was a close run thing. He still laments its loss.

Prior to the ‘Crise’ or recession, we used to find the French vendors were strangers to the art of negotiation on their prices. An offer of below asking price would be met with a straightforward & final, ‘Non’ which left you with no alternative, other than to pay the asking price, or move on. Nowadays I’ve noticed prices have come down & no reasonable offer is ever refused, without at least being strongly considered.

So, where are they? In my area of Herault, over the next few weeks, we have Marseillan Plage, which advertises a ‘Puces Brocante’ every Saturday. Some others include:

Sunday March 18th: � Bessan Herault – 34 (Vide grenier marche aux puces)
Sunday March 25th: Agde
Sun April 1st: Poussan Herault – 34 (Brocante-Puces) 
Sun April 8th, Portiragnes Herault – 34 (Vide grenier – brocante Les Oliviers)
Sun April 15th: Pezenas Vide Greniers; antiques capital of the region; this one should be brilliant!

Check out these links for the full Languedoc calendar. You’ll see that they take place any day of the week, with the majority being held on weekends. What a great way to discover a new village & see it in full swing & you never know, you too may come away with your best ever bargain!

http://www.brocorama.com/vide-greniers/languedoc-roussillon

http://vide-greniers.org/agendaRegion.php?region=12&mois=2M&type=1; 

See Emma Voysey’s property portfolio here

Emma can be contacted on +33 (0)6 79 48 98 91

After the mini-ice age we had in February when all of Europe was in the grip of an Arctic blast, it’s great to see us back on track with 20 degree temperatures, blue skies and the first flush of Spring in the air.

The Almond blossom is out in bloom, the bees are gathering pollen, the butterflies are flitting amongst the small flowers in the verges and the birds are singing in the trees. Life is good in these parts. We can take lunch in the sun and enjoy what is best about living in the South of France.

On the back of recent good news about new routes and major redevelopment at Carcassonne airport come news that as from March 2012, a major new route will be inaugurated. The new route from Bournemouth will open up the region to a whole host of new holiday makers and property seekers, which is great news for all of us! Well done Ryanair!

Known by many for it’s charm and friendliness, ease of use and lack of “shopping opportunities”, Carcassonne Airport is about to get a big facelift over the coming years. An investment of some €55 million, funded by the Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon,  Conseil Général of Aude and the town councils of Narbonne and Carcassonne, will see a relaid runway, improvements to infrastructure, car parking and a new passenger terminal with improved baggage handling facilities.

The management of the airport passed from the local Chamber of Commerce to French Services giant Veolia last summer after a bitter round of bidding. Of course, this was celebrated by an increase in car parking charges.

Under the terms of the bid, Veolia have been tasked with increasing the number of annual passengers from around 400,000 currently to 500,000 by 2017. This will be achieved by increasing the number of routes served by the worlds favourite airline Ryanair, who many expats, holiday makers, local holiday home owners rely on for frequent low-cost flights. We would expect to see more routes and probably greater frequency of flights to popular destinations.

Happy New Year everyone.

We are expecting a very busy year here at Leggett Immobillier. It may be seen as all doom and gloom in the press and on the news, but the indications are that people are still wanting to invest in “bricks & mortar”, even though here the bricks are more likely to be made of stone.

There are some excellent bargains available at the moment with more coming up on the horizon. Also, the weaker Euro has made it a fantastic opportunity to buy up property in the Eurozone, with the notoriously stable French housing market making it a reasonably safe bet.

Now is a good time to buy – as the year rolls on towards Easter, most of the good deals will be gone leaving bargain hunters with little choice.

To find out more about great bargains in the Languedoc, please contact Peter Mathews by email (pmathews@leggett.fr) or by telephone +33 6 43 09 91 34