This delightful, secluded gite with one bedroom is ideal for a couple who wish to explore the beautiful Minervois region and nearby Mediterranean coast. Situated at the top of a quiet lane, Maison Oleander is within a two minute walk of the village centre where you will find a small supermarket, bar, restaurants, two bakeries, pharmacy, doctor, post office and other facilities. The gite is well equipped and has an extensive terrace with BBQ and outside dining furniture. Parking is off-road in the private gated grounds. There are mature Oleanders framing this tranquil setting and two mulberry trees offering some shade – essential in this region. The 8m x 4m swimming pool is shared with the owners who are discreetly on-site to help with sight-seeing suggestions, local walks and restaurant recommendations. The TV receives English and French channels and has a dvd player. Wi-fi, bed linen and towels (bathroom and pool) are all included in the price.

We are a Yorkshire couple who have holidayed in this region for many years and, although we have also visited other areas of France, we are always drawn back to the Languedoc. As our children have now "flown the nest" and the opportunity arose to move over to France, we had no doubts that this was our time for an adventure. Bize-Minervois is one of our favourite villages as it is not too big but still has a good range of restaurants, shops, health care facilities etc and is very pretty! We chose this house because of its location - it is so quiet and private yet is within a two minute walk of the village centre.

The river Cesse runs through the village and becomes a natural swimming pool in summer with a lifeguard on duty. There is a small market in the village on Wednesday morning, with many larger markets in nearby villages and towns. The area around Bize-Minervois has many vineyards and olive groves with both the Chateau Cabezac vineyard and L'Oulibo (an esteemed olive mill) both within 5 minutes of our village. Bize also hosts the magnificent Olive Festival each July. Narbonne is just 21km, Beziers 33km and Carcassonne 48kms away with the nearest beaches being just over a half hour drive and the Canal du Midi only 10 minutes drive. This is an ideal base for exploring this part of the Languedoc whether it be by car, bicycle or on foot. A visit to this area would not be complete without a trip to the medieval city of Carcassonne, the Canal du Midi, the pretty hill-top village of Minerve, the beach resorts of Gruissan and Narbonne-Plage, the vineyards of the Minervois and Corbieres, the Abbeys at Fontfroide and Lagrasse and the Cathar Castles.