We have houses across the region from Sète on the lovely sandy coast west of Montpellier, and inland south west of the ancient city of Carcassonne covering the midi-Pyrénées.

Sète, interlaced with canals, is lively and colourful and great for “bucket and spade” families, with wide sandy beaches and shallow water. It’s busy in summer as the French head south to this area with good reason. However, there are plenty of cycle ways around this quite flat coastline. Dine on fresh mussels, oysters and monkfish stew, cooked seaside where dramatic views drop to turquoise waters. Seafood is best paired with Languedoc’s crisp white wine, Picpoul de Pinet, made with the region’s oldest grapes – the piquepoul. Further inland, the vineyards in Banyuls-sur-Mer produce red and white dessert wines called Banyuls.

The area south of Carcassonne we think is pretty special. With plenty of airports servicing the area, this is one of the best places to organise a large house party, and we have the perfect houses for you to have a fab family reunion or a group of friends having a get together.

Mirepoix is one of the best examples of a medieval town in the region – and there are many good ones! A Monday spent in Mirepoix is not to be missed. The market is full of interesting stalls – food, arts and crafts – with many different kinds of produce to sell. This is one of the best markets we’ve visited in France. The setting is amazing surrounded as it is by the most lovely medieval buildings and Cathedral.

Rural and untouched French countryside – at its best in the early spring and late autumn with the snow capped Pyrénées in the distance. There is a wide choice of activities available; teenagers can be tempted to try lots of outdoor pursuits including hydro speeding on the rivers, white water rafting, go-karting and cycling around from village to village (trying out the bars!). Carcassonne looks like something out of a children’s storybook when it’s seen from afar. A Unesco World Heritage Site, it is most people’s idea of the perfect medieval castle, and is not to be missed.