La Roque has a new logo (see below), incorporating an iPad picture by Martin.

Our small contribution to the annual wine harvest in September: collecting the table grapes from the vine along the front of La Roque. Apart from a few we ate or gave away, most went to make a fantastically sweet, strong red grape juice – now, alas, a month later, all gone. (Our friend Claire from Australia holding the bucket.)
]]> http://vieussan.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/vendange-2010/feed/ 0 vieussan cimg2622 http://vieussan.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/no-this-isnt-venice/ http://vieussan.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/no-this-isnt-venice/#comments Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:40:26 +0000 La Roque, Vieussan http://vieussan.wordpress.com/?p=105 ]]>

… it’s the port of Marseillan on the Bassin de Thau, home of the classy restaurant, the Chateau du Port (on right of photo, you can sit out on the quayside). Photo by Claire.
]]> http://vieussan.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/no-this-isnt-venice/feed/ 0 vieussan cimg2552 http://vieussan.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/special-offer-2-10-and-20-27-october-2010/ http://vieussan.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/special-offer-2-10-and-20-27-october-2010/#comments Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:53:41 +0000 La Roque, Vieussan http://vieussan.wordpress.com/?p=99 ]]> Our holiday home at La Roque, Vieussan, is available at a reduced rate for these periods. Instead of the normal low season weekly rate of €395 (£330), we are offering these with 20% off – at a weekly rate of €315 (£260). You may book for any number of days during these periods. The low season (October) pro rata rates are available on our website. To book email us or phone (UK) 07972 760254 or (France) 06 42 95 43 97. Please quote ‘October offer’.

Normally a lorry is such a rarity on the D177 – they can only just squeeze across our single-lane bridge and then there are far too many narrow bends – that we all come out to see what’s up. In July, however, a sign appeared at the end of the bridge saying ‘Travaux. Relentissez. Circulation difficile’ (Works. Slow Down. Difficult driving conditions), and shortly afterwards the lorries were fairly streaming across the bridge for a short time each morning, each filled with gravel. This continued until the 15 August public holiday, which signals the beginning of the end of the main holiday period, when suddenly it went quiet again.

We went up to explore. A large section of the road between Boissezon and Mezeilles had been dramatically widened, although it hadn’t been finished, so that with lots of loose gravel you had to negotiate it with care.  This didn’t matter so much, as there was as usual no traffic in the opposite direction. But why go to such huge trouble to widen a road which has barely 50 cars a day in winter, and not so many more even in the peak summer period? One explanation we discussed with our neighbours was that it was precisely because there was virtually no traffic that this was an ideal road to work on even at the busiest time of the year, in July and August. You couldn’t work on a seriously used road at that time – indeed all the roadworks on the autoroutes (motorways) sensibly pack up for the holidays.

Yet we remained puzzled until one day, early in the morning, a convoy of small white vans (the vehicle of choice  of the French countryman) suddenly whizzed passed our house. Of course! The chasse! The ultra-quiet section between Boissezon and Mezeilles is much favoured by the chasseurs (hunters). Most Sundays between September and March they position themselves, guns at the ready, at the side of the road, ready to drive the sanglier (wild boar) into a trap. (Sanglier hunting here is rather different from foxhunting in England: boar, whose growing population is a problem for agriculture, are killed quickly and straightforwardly, and their meat is much prized.) Could it be the impatient hunters, all too probably members of local councils, who had prioritised this sleepy section for what seems to us quite unnecessary upgrading? We’ve no proof, of course, but it’s the best explanation yet.

You may book for any number of days during this period. The low season (October) pro rata rates are available on our website. To book email us or phone (UK) 07972 760254 or (France) 06 42 95 43 97.

Note, September 2010: Tony and friends report that Enopia has now become Lolita, but is still very much worth a visit.

The only change we have made for 2010 is that we are now no longer listing sterling (£) and dollar prices. Instead on our redesigned website, on the Rates and Availability page, you’ll find a currency conversion tool – simply type in the correct euro rate for the weeks you want, and it will give you the current pound and dollar prices. You can then choose which of these currencies – euros, pounds or dollars – you want to pay in. Contact us via phone or email and the price will be fixed in the currency of your choice, regardless of subsequent currency fluctuations.

Click on the image below for details of the holiday home.

La Roque

The weather is mostly pretty good in Vieussan, at least from a northern European perspective.  In summer we have dramatic thunderstorms, and in winter torrential downpours, violent winds and even severe frosts. Snow falls only occasionally and hardly ever settles; when it did for 24 hours on 26 December 2008, this was reputedly the first time in 20 years. But mostly it’s pretty sunny and dry, even in January. We do, however, still have weather, which means that it can be quite unpredictable, and we have good days, weeks, months and years, and not-so-good ones. Taken all round, 2009 has been an excellent year. It became warm enough to swim in early March (in a pool of course – the river wasn’t warm enough until the beginning of May), and as of early December there really hasn’t been any cold weather since. April was probably the only under-par month, with rather a lot of rain, in contrast to last year when it was lovely. From May onwards it was almost always gloriously warm, and the summer was the hottest for four years, with temperatures peaking at 40 degrees in August. The autumn has been sublimely warm – temperatures were still touching 20 in late November, when the leaves on the trees and vines were a glorious mixture of colours. They are dipping only slowly … but winter will come sooner or later. MS