While the vast majority of my tours were in Languedoc, in 2016 we also ran them in Tuscany, Bordeaux and the Cotes du Rhone. Tuscany was a week to remember. I was joined there by sixteen clients, eight from the USA and eight from the UK and lucky for me Carlos came too. In him I was blessed with one of the best tour guides as well as someone who speaks many languages including Italian. I’d studied Italian wines when working towards the WSET Diploma and had been lucky enough t

Languedoc has many historical sites such as medieval Carcassonne and the Cathar Castles which I wrote about here in #6. However, I think The Canal du Midi is the most romanticised of them all and I understand why. This long meandering waterway begins in Toulouse and makes its way south passing by sun drenched vineyards, sleepy villages and ancient castles to eventually, 150 miles later, spill into the Étang de Thau, a lagoon facing The Mediterranean Sea. The canal is the one

2013 was the year I took a big leap by deciding to sell up in England and move to France. It was also the year I started to write my first book. My best memories of life in Languedoc are of the people I met. I arrived knowing only one person and I’ve left with my heart briming with the names and faces of people I’ll never forget... August was always a quiet month for wine tours, probably because it’s a time for family holidays, so that month during the 2013 season I had some

The Vin en Vacances Team – this is the story of how ‘one became four’ as my vineyard tour business flourished. The 2014 season had been my sixth and in each of those years I’d seen a big leap in the number of tour bookings. Most bookings were day trips for people enjoying a Mediterranean holiday and a lot of them were staying in the medieval city of Carcassonne or close by. For many it wasn’t until they got here that they realised not only were they in a beautiful vineyard re

I absolutely adored my home in Warwick; a 17th century cottage within a stone’s throw of the town centre and a short walk of the castle. It took me a long time to come to terms with selling it but it was the only way I could buy a place in France and that was where I wanted to be. It was one of my usual coincidences that gave me the final push or perhaps it was fate - I’m inclined to think they’re one and the same thing… August was always a quiet month for wine tours, probabl

The magical Cathar Castles In March 2011 I returned to Languedoc a month earlier than my usual date, April Fools Day in order to join a month long residential French course. It was taking place in the little village of Cucugnan on the southern edge of the Corbières where the border of Languedoc meets the Roussillon. The Roussillon was part of Catalonia until the treaty of the Pyrenees signed on November 7th 1659. That put an end to thirty years of war between Spain and Fran

The Corbières & Lagrasse My first ever visit to Languedoc was about thirty years ago. It was a family holiday with my late husband and our children and we’d rented a cottage in the depths of the wild and rugged Corbières for two-weeks. We were attracted to Languedoc because it would satisfy our children’s enjoyment of swimming in the sea and our love of France and its ancient buildings. Plus because wine was one of my husband’s passions he was interested in what was happening

One of the things I enjoyed most in the early days of my new business, was designing tours. I loved discovering routes that passed through the most stunning scenery and would spend days seeking out-of-the-way hidden places. I wanted to take people off the beaten track to show them things they wouldn’t easily find for themselves. From the beginning I decided to include things other than wine such as historical villages and foodie visits to honey, olive oil and cheese producers

A Luna Landscape John and Nicole are the owners of a small organic winery in the Minervois called Close du Gravillas. They were two of the first people I met when I was searching for wineries for my tours. I was drawn to their pioneering spirit, driven by a passionate desire to make the best Languedoc wine possible. Nicole is a true Occitanne, born in the Roman city of Narbonne whereas John hails from the plains of Kentucky where bourbon is the drink of choice. They met at

For five years, 2009 to 2014, I split my time between England and France. The winter months were spent in England teaching wine studies at my own wine school as well as at a College in Birmingham. Summers were spent in France running wine tours. I always returned to Languedoc on April 1st. I liked the idea of arriving on April Fool’s Day, it was my way of sticking two fingers up at fate, saying OK I know how foolish I am but watch me go… The second year I decided to live in a

This is a story of how a love of wine gave me a new life in the Other South of France. It was April 1st 2009 when I left England and drove south to the rental cottage I’d found when I’d stuck a pin in a map of Languedoc. I was heading to France with a dream of starting a wine tour business. Two days later I entered the Minervois, a district just north of Carcassonne and stretching eastwards from there. I was driving my beloved Audi cabriolet Fifi, who was ten years old at tha

Over the past decade or more I’ve done quite a bit of writing; independently publishing my first book, The Wines of the...

Well, that’s one way of looking at it but a better one is to turn your thinking around to how did this wine get into the bottle? Where is...

The last four weeks my job title should been Cover Girl, or girl trying to create a cover for her debut novel. Who knew how difficult it...

It took me seven years to type THE END. At last I’d finished writing my debut novel but as anyone who’s written a hundred-thousand words...

By 2014 fourteen years had passed since John had died and I’d somehow reached the grand old age of sixty. My wine tourism business had...

In my head a 1000 voices whispered encouragement, urging me to France. They couldn’t be drowned out by the voices of doubt, I was deaf to...

My pen hovers over the page. I write three words, then rub them out. How to begin? Is there a better way of writing ‘today is the first...