Paziols by Annie Spens

Paziols and Tuchan are both tucked into the foothills by the side of a wide plain. Overlooking the plain, on its own rocky island, is the Château d'Aguilar, a stargate into the medieval past. Aguilar, one of the "Five Sons of Carcassonne", was attacked in 1210 by the dreaded de Montfort, but has now settled into an other-worldly peace. In the spring it's heady with flowering rosemary. In the summer, the rocky ruins and sheltered corners are home to exquisite flowering honeysuckle bushes. It has a tiny, romantic chapel and a wonderful view. The castles of Quéribus and Peyrepertuse -- both of which are within easy distance of Paziols -- are far more imposing and magnificent, but Aguilar is a castle you could call home.

Behind Paziols and Tuchan the hills and rocky gorges provide magnificent scenery. Although Mont Tauch may have a dusting of snow in winter, in early spring the lower slopes are covered with flowering rosemary and thyme and lavender. Early in March the tramontane still blows: there are rainbows every morning, translucent and vivid against the silvery background. In early summer, the air is sweet with the scent of flowering broom. In late September the grapes hang purple beneath their leaves and on the hills the dorychnium is still flowering for the bees. There is a Miellerie at Cucugnan where you can buy soaps and beeswax candles, and taste each season's honey. In May the wild flowers run riot, down the roadside verges, clinging to old castle walls, carpeting the uncultivated fields in blue and yellow and white, with the pink cones of the Rosy Vanilla orchid everywere.

Paziols is well placed for exploring the south of the South of France. The Mediterranean coast is 45 minutes' drive away, and every beach is sandy and every harbour picturesque. You can be in Spain in an hour, and in the high mountains in two. Tautavel, Narbonne and Perpignan offer museums and culture and eating. Rennes-le-Château has a strange unsolved mystery, an exquisite little church and excellent lunch. But you can easily spend the hot afternoons dozing beside the Prade, where the river Verdouble opens out into an almost-swimming pool, and you can sit on the ford with your feet in cold mountain water and watch the little grey fish for hours. For your evening meal, wander up to the Merle Bleu, or take a barbecue to the Fontaine des Eaux. At twilight the frogs chorus, and there are glow-worms in the car-park. And as you drive back, the illuminated church on Paziols hill glows like a welcoming lamp in the window of the night.

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