Large detached 4 bedroom villa with private pool and gardens, in the beautiful countryside near Carcassonne.

Nestled in the beautifully peaceful village of Villefloure, Les Volets Bleus (The Blue Shutters) is a tranquil place to relax as well as an excellent base for exploring the surrounding areas. Perfect for families or groups, Les Volets Bleus sleeps 8 people comfortably in 4 large bedrooms (2 with king size doubles and 2 with twin beds). It has a light, airy and spacious open plan kitchen, dining and living room, and 2 bathrooms (one downstairs with separate toilet, the other a sizeable ensuite off the upstairs double).

Along with the stunning views that stretch to the Pyrenees and surrounding countryside, the villa’s outside space houses a large pool (12m x 7m) with outside dining and BBQ, and plenty of space around the pool for sunbathing and relaxing. The garden wraps around the whole property and the lush and well stocked space gives guests the chance to escape.

There are 4 adult hybrid bikes at the villa for guests to use. For more serious cyclists, you can hire specialist bikes from Carcassonne or bring your own. The house has a large garage which can be used for secure storage for bikes, or golf clubs for golfers visiting.

At the villa we also have table tennis and a large trampoline (tucked away so as not to spoil the view!), as well as plenty of games, books and DVDs for both adults and children, satellite TV, and of course WiFi. In addition, there is a dedicated workspace with ethernet connection.

OUT AND ABOUT

The pictures are of our villa and also:

- Villefloure village & surrounding countryside
- Lake Cavayére (15 min away)
- City of Carcassonne (20 min away)
- Town of Limoux (25 min away)
- Gruissan beach (1 hour away)
- Nearby golf course & cycling route used in the 2022 Tour de France
- Aqualand at Cap D’Adge (1.5 hours away)

In the immediate vicinity there are great walking, running, and cycling trails; whilst the nearby Lake Cavayère has wild swimming, 3 beaches, and a host of activities (including paddle boarding, high ropes, inflatable obstacle course and pedalos).

Just over 20 minutes drive north of the villa lies Carcassonne, and as one of the most visited cities in France, it has much to offer. The famous hilltop medieval walled Cité dominates both the landscape and tourists’ attention. A Unesco World Heritage Site since 1997, it is many people’s idea of the perfect fortified medieval city. It has a fairy-tale feel with 52 towers capped with ‘witches hat’ roofs and zigzagged cobbled alleyways and lanes, which are now home to many independent shops, restaurants and cafes.

La Cité and the newer part of Carcassonne on the other side of the Aude river, are linked by the 14th century Pont-Vieux Bridge. From here you can explore Rue Trivalle, La Bastide St Louis and Place Carnot, which have some of Carcassonne’s prettiest streets and squares, with colourful facades, fabulous shops, markets, bars and restaurants.

For something more tranquil, you can cool in the gardens at Square Gambetta or take a stroll along the banks of the Canal du Midi (or a take a mini-cruise down it). This unique structure was built in the seventeenth century by Pierre-Paul Riquet, and is the city’s second Unesco World Heritage Site.

Carcassonne also offers a wide variety of cultural events and festivals for you to enjoy whilst you are visiting. For information on these, and the many other attractions and things to do in and around the city, we recommend checking out some of the Carcassonne tourism websites (including grand-carcassonne-tourisme.co.uk and tourisme-carcassonne.fr).

The town of Limoux is on the Aude River about 25 minutes to the south-west of the villa. It is a pleasant town with an attractive square, which has numerous restaurants and hosts the popular Tuesday evening night market. If you visit between January and March, you can also enjoy the Carnival de Limoux, an ancient traditional carnival with music and costumes. which takes place each weekend during these months.

Limoux is best known for its sparkling wine, Blanquette de Limoux. This is the oldest sparkling wine in France, dating back to the early 16th century, predating champagne. A number of the region’s wine cellars and estates provide guided tours to discover how Limoux’s bubbly is made and how it tastes. You can find information on some of the tours at ruedesvignerons.com.

Around an hour from the villa the lovely seaside resort of Gruissan is a great day out, as is Aqualand at Cap D’Adge on the coast.

For golfers there is a stunning 18-hole course at the Golf de Carcassonne club located at Rte de Saint Hilaire, which is about 15 min from the house.

GOOD TO KNOW

The villa is in the countryside, so a car is essential, except perhaps for pro-cyclists!

The pool shall be closed from mid-October to mid-April each year.

Important - please note that the pool is not fenced off, so non / weak swimmers will need to be supervised at all times (at the deep end the pool is over 7ft deep). This responsibility lies with guests renting the property. In addition to this supervision, we have a pool alarm for use during your stay.

A travel cot, highchair and stair gate can be provided free of charge at the time of booking.

Bookings for the villa are typically Saturday to Saturday, with arrivals from 3pm. On your day of departure we would ask that you vacate the villa by 10am. Outside of the peak season we can discuss alternate start dates and/or shorter stays but in principle our rentals are for 7 nights minimum.

We will require a deposit of £300.00, which will be returned to you in full, upon satisfactory inspection of the villa once it has been vacated.

The nearest airport to the villa is Carcassonne (20 min away) – which serves Ryanair flights from various towns in the UK, Ireland, Portugal, and Belgium. The large airport of Toulouse (1 hr 15 min away) offers routes from numerous airlines covering a very wide range of departing airports. In addition, the airports of Perpignan and Beziers (between 1 hr 35 – 50 mins away) provide further access.

Carcassonne train station is located just north of the city centre. It provides good connectivity with an average of 5 trains per hour (for departing stations see sncf-connect.com), and like the airports, has car rental services located there.

******************

Thank you for viewing our listing, we hope it has given you a flavour of what our villa and the surrounding area can offer. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.

Marc & Kay