Holiday Checklist
sunshine
nature
peace and quiet
good company
French food and wine
relax
write novel!
Where We Are
This is a miraculously undiscovered and unspoiled part of France: there are few cars on the roads, few tourists in the towns. You will often see deer and wild rabbits darting through the fields, and the Pyrenean air is so fresh and clean you will wish you could bottle it and take it home with you.
It is, as I found for myself when I first moved here, the perfect place to forget all the stresses and distractions of modern, urban life, and to listen to that quiet storytelling voice inside your own mind. If you're looking for inspiration, you will find it here.
Courses will take place at our house every day. In the rare event of summer rain, we'll be inside in our farmhouse kitchen – but normally we'll sit around the long table on the terrace or in the cool shade of our summer kitchen.
We'll eat lunch together here, and in the afternoons you'll be free to write or wander around in the garden, the orchard or the woods, or to walk to the nearby river. Alternatively you can go back to your B&B and swim in the pool, or go for a walk, a run or a bike ride in the surrounding countryside. (I can recommend – and show you – some beautiful routes).
If you have friends or family coming on the holiday with you who don't wish to take the creative writing course, there is plenty for them to see and do in the area. My wife Odile writes for a local travel guidebook called Le Petit Futé and she can recommend activities and days out to suit almost any interest. She also teaches French and gives reiki massages (for prices, see the OTHER ACTIVITIES page).
And, despite the peaceful remoteness of the place where we live, it's actually very easy to get to. The nearest airport, in summer, is Pau, which has Ryanair flights going from Stansted Airport and is only a 45-minute drive away. If that's not convenient, you can fly to Toulouse (1hr 30mins) with Easyjet or a choice of other airlines, or get the train to Lannemezan, which is only 20 minutes from us. If you're driving in France, we're only 20 minutes from the A64 motorway which goes from Biarritz to Toulouse. Please contact me if you need any other details on how to reach us.