A delightful self-contained cottage near the pretty village of Lempaut. The gite is surrounded by En Gineste’s stunning six acres of private grounds made up of lawns, box topiary and cultivated beds bursting with colourful shrubs and pockets of wooded shade. There is aircon in all the bedrooms and lounge area with free fibre broadband throught the house and grounds. The heated swimming pool is open from May to October. Friendly dogs are welcome but this needs to be mentioned before booking. British owners Peter and Tom, who live adjacent in the chateau, welcome groups of up to six people. There is also potential to accommodate an additional two guests in an adjoining room with private bathroom. Please ask for details.

Peter Lewis and Tom Adair moved from London in September 2019 for a more peaceful life in the beautiful countryside of south west France. In his previous life Peter owned and ran a successful floating music venue on the River Thames called The Battersea Barge, and is also a pianist and composer. Tom was (and still is) a book dealer and he worked for many years in one of the few remaining bookshops on Charing Cross Road called Any Amount of Books. They discovered En Gineste at the end of a two-week property search throughout the south of France, immediately fell in love with the house and gardens and moved in six months later. The first major job was to carefully renovate the old caretaker’s cottage and Peter and Tom look forward to welcoming old and new guests to this attractive, well-appointed gîte.

En Gineste is situated at the foot of the famous Black Mountains - the south-westernmost spur of the great European Massif Central and part of the Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park. Walkers who wind their way up its forested slopes are rewarded with some of the region’s most stunning views. The surrounding countryside offers exceptional excursions for cyclists, with access to the Tarn cycle path just a few minutes’ ride from the house. Around fifteen minutes’ drive away are the quaint village of Sorèze, with its famous abbey and monthly antiquarian book fair; the medieval market town of Revel, renowned for its weekly food market; and the idyllic Lac de Saint-Ferreol, whose cluster of lakeside restaurants buzz with diners during summer evenings. Art lovers have close to hand both the Goya Museum in nearby bustling Castres and the outstanding Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in the historic prefecture town of Albi. A little further afield (each about an hour by car) are the extraordinary medieval fortress citadel of Carcassonne and France’s sublime ville rose, Toulouse. Both cities have airports with direct UK connections.