A brief description | A brief history | Amenities | Access | Surrounding area

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A BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Saint-Chinian is a thriving village, nestled in the foothills between the Montagne Noire and the Cévennes, being almost equidistant from the beaches of the Mediterranean and the Haut-Languedoc Regional Park. It is at the centre of the AOC wine region by the same name and is a focal point for the surrounding area.

The village has had a long and interesting history since its foundation by Benedictine monks during Charlemagne's reign, in 794. The monastery prospered and with it the village. It survived the Albigensian crusades relatively unscathed and emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries as a centre for the manufacture of high quality cloth. Since the 19th century the village concentrated on wine production for its fortunes after the cloth trade collapsed. Saint-Chinian acquired AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) status in 1982 and is now producing a wide range of quality wines.

Within easy walking distance from all properties in Saint-Chinian are the twice weekly markets in the plane tree lined square (selling regional produce, groceries, clothes and souvenirs), five restaurants and bars, bakers, butchers, grocery shops and newsagents to name but a few. There are also two banks with ATMs in the village and a larger supermarket with petrol station on the outskirts. Some of the other facilities available in the village are tennis courts, open-air swimming pool, cycle hire, hairdresser/barber, dry cleaner and doctors.

Saint-Chinian is located on the D612, 30km west of Béziers.
International airports are within easy driving distance: Montpellier (60 min), Carcassonne (60 min), Toulouse (2 hours), Girona (Spain - 2 hours), and Barcelona (3.5 hours). There are railway stations at Beziers and Narbonne, with TGV connections from Béziers to Paris and via Lille to London Waterloo International.

Within a radius of 50km you can visit lakes, caves, gorges, dolmens, cathedrals, abbeys, châteaux, some of the most beautiful villages in France and you can find out about the Languedoc's gruesome history during the Cathar crusades in the middle ages. If you want to venture a bit further afield, there are the beautiful cities of Montpellier (100km), Toulouse (139km) and Perpignan (100km), not forgetting the historic fortress of Carcassonne (83km). The opportunities for leisure pursuits are almost infinite: walking, hiking, rock climbing, swimming, canoeing, cycling, golf, tennis, fishing, wine-tasting and perhaps the occasional game of Pétanque. The area is also rich in pre-historic and roman relics with the Via Domitia, the oldest roman road in Gaul crossing the region from one side to the other, roughly 20km inland from the sea. The Canal du Midi also crosses the region in a different direction connecting the Mediterranean with the Atlantic, adding a different dimension to the diversity of the South. Gourmets and Wine Lovers will be delighted in Languedoc-Roussillon with a wide variety of fascinating traditional dishes and an even bigger selection of distinguished wines to be discovered.