So the region that we are looking to move to is in the South of France on the Mediterranean coastline and it also boarders with Spain. The area is made up of some fantastic towns and cities including Montpellier, Béziers, Perpignan, Narbonne and Carcassonne.
One big plus is that there is a great love of rugby in this region with Perpignan and Montpellier in the Top 14 and major clubs also in Béziers and Narbonne. There is also one of the finest clubs around with Toulouse not too far away.
One love for both Laura and I is wine, which this region has in abundance. For years the wine makers of this region concentrated on quantity rather than quality leading to the region being referred to as the wine lake. However, in recent years the vineyards of this area have been producing some fine wines. So some fine wines for Laura and I to enjoy and some cheap plonk for the visitors to have! (only joking!!)
Another love that we both share is of food and not only do they have wonderful food in France but they also have a wonderfully relax and enjoyable approach to eating. The main ingredients in Languedoc Roussillon cuisine are olive oil and tomatoes, garlic, onions and aromatic herbs are also used. The only difference may be that cooks use a little bit less garlic than in Provence. Sea food products are an essential part of the regions cuisine. Amoungst the favoured dishes include Oysters, Gardiane (bull stew with rice), Bourride (fish with aïoli), Morue Catalane (cod with tomatoes and pepper), Anchoïade (anchovies with garlic and olive oil) and Crème Catalane (cream with lemon, vanilla and fennel seed).
There are also a number of wonderful cheeses from this region including the famous Roquefort.
For those of you who enjoy their history, the area has a great variety to be enjoyed from Carcassonne which is a restored medieval Cité and Roman cities of Nîmes and Narbonne. To Montpellier, which has the world's oldest continuously operating university.
Now we all know that the sun makes us happier and the sun is something that this region has in good supply. In fact, the region also gets an average of 2,506 hours or 320 days of sunshine per year. Maybe even I can lose my moonlight tan!
The temperatures aren't too bad either, with the graph below showing the average, maximum and minimum temperatures.
