Need a break? Chateau pramenoux is the place. This lovely chateau lies very remote, almost no house to be seen just beautiful landscape. You can even hear owls and crickets at night.

The 5 guest rooms are all very nice and authentic. You can almost feel the history of the over 1000 years old place.

The chateau is run by Emmanuel and his partner and he really makes you feel at home. Actually it feels more like staying at a friends place than being in a hotel.

We had dinner at the chateau with Emmanuel and some other guests. In the salon, by the huge fire place we had a very good meal, nice wine and interesting discussions.

Rooms cost around 130 € Dinner is 40 €
The chateau is closed on weekends.

The yellow room

Château de Pramenoux
Saint Nizier d'Azergues
69870 Lamure sur Azergues  -  France
Tél : +33 474 03 16 43

www.pramenoux.com/

Parc National des  Cevennes

South of the Lozere are the Cevennes, protected by National Park status, rising above the plains of the Languedoc and the Mediterranean. The Cevennes is a maze of deep valleys with winding rivers of clear waters and hill slopes covered in forests of sweet chestnut.
We did not have enough time to discover this magnificent landscape but w'll certainly come back. I recommend you try to find a nice little b&b or gite and explore the area by foot or maybe donkey - we passed some places where you can hire them. Don't forget to bring your binoculars there's a high chance to see vultures and eagles. A vulture reintroduction scheme in Cevennes has been successful and Griffon Vulture and Black Vulture are now once again resident in the area with Egyptian Vulture as summer visitors. Also don't forget to bring your swimming trunks the crystal clear water in the many rivers and waterfalls looks so tempting.

Anduze

Is one of several typical french villages in the cevennes. Stop here for coffee or "moules and frites". Don't miss the fantastic wooden toys shop by the covered market place.

La Bambouseraie

No doubt this is the most beautiful park I've ever been.

I don't know who is responsible for the architecture of the park , Muriel Nègre, who runs the park since 1977 or the actual founder Eugène mazel. To me this is master class, the whole garden is a sensational play with shapes.

www.bambouseraie.com

Open 7 days a week from March 1st to November 15th.

Opening hours

From March 1st to 20 th : 9H30 am to 5H30 pm
From March 21 to September 12th : 9H30 am to 6H30 pm
From September 13th to November 1st : 9H30 am to 5H30 pm
From November 1st to 15 th : 9H30 am to 16h30 pm

Entrance fee 8€

To be honest we expected this to be a horrible place, luckily our friends recommended it to us and so we decided to go there on a rainy day.
The  "Parc Africaine de Siegan" is a huge Zoo located at the border of the etang de bages et siagan.
There are parts where you can drive through with the car. I know this is nothing compared to the real africa but it's quite impressive and much nicer than seeing them behind a fence.
Then there's a big and really nicely made area down at the étang where you can walk through. Here you really don't know anymore which bird belong to the parc and which just happen to spend the summer here. Storks building their nests, pelicans too and plenty of flamingos.

The entrance to the park is quit expensive 26€ per person kids starting from 4 years pay 20€.
But you get a lot your your money. You can easily spend the whole day in this park.

The park opens at 9am and is open till approx. 16.30 pm

www.reserveafricainesigean.fr/

Mas du soleilla

We recommend to stay at the lovely mas du soleilla, not only because they are friends of ours or because the make  outstanding wine but also because it's a really nice place to stay. Located in the middle of the vineyards with a stunning view over the land and the the sea this is a nice place to stay, the rooms are simple and comfortable and the breakfast, which you eat on the terrace by the pool if the weather is good,  is the best we had so far in any b&b or hotel. Fresh grape juice, lovely jams and cheese. Fresh bread and croissants, freshly fruit salad or müsli.

Mas du Soleilla
Christa Derungs & Peter Wildbolz
Route de Narbonne Plage
F-11100 Narbonne
Frankreich
Tel. +33 468 45 24 80?Fax +33 468 45 25 32
info@mas-du-soleilla.com

http://www.mas-du-soleilla.com/

Etang de bages at de siegan

Take your time and discover the area around the salty lake of bages. In spring you can see plenty of flamingos there.

Narbonne

We did not have to much time to explore Narbonne but what I definitely recommend is the " Les Halles de Narbonne" The old Market place a historic building is open every day from early morning to 1pm. It's a very lively palace where you can buy  local specialities, lovely cheese , vegetables, meat ete. The proximity to spain can be felt in one og the little bars inside the market where locals eat a small lunch or drink coffee.
El rincon is one of them, a tapas style place, that has been recommended to us. They serve nice food and stock a huge range of local wines. Every sunday you can taste local wines.

We've just come home from a week in the south of france. If you like good wine, oysters and stunning nature ( who doesn't ? ) this is the place for you. The whole area is beautiful: vines, cypresses and the blue see as far as far as the eye can see. We have a favorite spot though,  Gruissan plage and La Clape.

Gruissan Plage

Behind the wide and kilometers long with beach lies a very spechial Holiday "village" : Les Chalets de Gruissan,  hundreds of small wood houses built on pillars. The chalets were built 1850 in the time when people started to go to the seaside for a holiday. I have never been there in high season but what I like is it's off season charm. When most of the houses are still empty the place has a very special charm. It's a windy place and in the evening you have what people call  "le marin is coming home" which means the recurring evening mist which is coming from the sea. To watch the wafts of mist creep over the white sand is a beautiful look.

Gruissan Plage definitely makes it to my top 3 european beaches.

Les Chalets de Gruisson Plage

If you get hungry theres only one place to go: at the very end of the Chalets area and the beach is

"La Perle Gruissanaise" a oyster and mussel farm with a very nice little "restaurant" more like a oyster eating place. The place has lot's of charm, from a big basin you choose the oysters you like, order a drink and go to sit on one of the little tables next door.

La Perle Gruissanaise
Base Conchylicole, 11430 Gruissan

Lucky us - we found time ( and money ;-))  to go on a short trip to beloved france. Most of the places we called were fully booked but then kevin found Château de Germigney in Port-Lesney. It's only a 2 hours drive from bern and in the middle of the beautiful french jura.
The Hotel is surrounded by a lovely park and has a natural swimming pool. The decor is not really my type, to much mixing of styles but I did not care to much. People are friendly and the breakfast was delicious.
We paid 130 Euro for the room 15 extra for the breakfast.

They seem to have a very good Hotel (high class) Restaurant but we ate at their Bistrot in town - a very good choice.