The Local Area
Olonzac (population 1590) is located in the historic Minervois region whose Mediterranean climate produces around 300 days of sunshine per year.
It is a thriving town with a good selection of excellent restaurants, cafes and bars as well as plenty of places to purchase the fantastic variety of local produce―including wine, cheese, meats, honey and olive oil.
There is also a large market every Tuesday morning.
The town has a beautiful park with tennis courts and a children’s play area―the nearby Lac de Jouarres provides opportunities for supervised fishing, swimming, boating and windsurfing.
Everywhere, there are vineyards and the foothills of the Garrigue mountains provide a wonderful setting for cycling and walking. The Mediterranean can be reached in 30 minutes with the Pyrenees and Spain being just over an hour away.
The area is steeped in history with many interesting sites to visit.
Minerve, sitting at the confluence of the Cesse and the Brian river gorges, is probably the best known village in the Minervois―apart from being ‘officially’ one of the prettiest villages in France, it is famous as one of the last Cathar strongholds held siege by the Crusaders.
The Canal du Midi, just 2km from Olonzac, flows from Toulouse to the Mediterranean under a magnificent canopy of plantain trees for most of the way. Boats and bikes may he hired from the port at nearby Homps.
For a day of medieval sightseeing and 21st-century shopping, the fortified city of Carcassonne, with it's fabulous Citadelle, is only 40 minutes away―a great destination for lovers of cassoulet.