A village row house
about 20 miles west of Montpellier;
see maps;
Aniane and
environs; street scenes in
Aniane; Aniane
promotional flyers
Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, garden and view
terrace;
see views of
house;
views from house
Rates for 2006: 400 euros per week, less for longer
stays; available
dates
Contact owner, James Rule, at James.Rule@sunysb.edu
After long acquaintance with Southern France, and many summer
visits the Herault Valley west of Montpellier, I decided in 1990 that I
must have a home of my own there. What I wanted was one of those
ancient stone village row-houses that one sees everywhere in the
Mediterranean regions of France. I was looking for a house, and a
village setting, that would never let me imagine that I was back in North
America.
That requirement
was well fulfilled by the house shown here. It is in the heart of Aniane,
a village of about 1,500 population some 20 miles west of
Montpellier. The village itself goes back to the early Middle Ages;
the portion within the old city wall, where this house is located, is a
maze of tiny streets and pedestrian passageways. Within five
minutes' walk from the center of town, however, one finds one's self in
the country, among vineyards and hillsides. The country is
typical of Provence and the Languedoc, with limestone hills, stone
buildings, and characteristic Mediterranean vegetation--cypresses, live
oaks, umbrella pines, vineyards and orchards.
Like virtually all village row houses, this one is taller than it is wide. It has four levels, with two bathrooms and three bedrooms. Located on a street too narrow for cars to pass, it is quiet and sequestered. It has a small, stone-walled garden behind the main living level and a roof terrace at the top with a sweeping view of the surrounding mountains, vineyards and neighboring villages.
Aniane is not heavily oriented to tourism, though there is one
relatively new, comfortable hotel on its outskirts. With grocery
stores, bakeries, cafes and restaurants, a pharmacy, banks and other
amenities close at hand in the village, no car is necessary to live
comfortably in Aniane. The country around Aniane is excellent for
bicycling, and there are bus connections to Montpellier and other towns in
the region.
The house was unlivable when I bought it, but it has now been
renovated and newly furnished from top to bottom. All the surfaces,
plumbing and electricity
and most of
the windows are new. I have added a roof terrace and "french doors"
leading to that terrace and to the garden. Pains have been taken to
preserve the attractive features of the old-style masonry architecture,
including beams, exposed stone walls, etc.
The house consists of a living room, kitchen/dining room, two bathrooms, three bedrooms, basement, a roof terrace and a small walled garden. It basically consists of two large spaces per level, with party walls on the sides. At the street level are two vaulted basement rooms, containing a bathroom, shower room and utility and storage spaces. The first level up has a kitchen/dining room in front and a living room in back; the living room has double glass doors that open onto the garden. The level above that has a child's bedroom with a bunk bed in the front of the house overlooking the street and a master bedroom with a double bed at the rear, overlooking the garden. Between the two bedrooms is the upstairs bathroom. The top level, originally a hayloft, is a studio or bedroom; it also has a double bed and opens onto the roof terrace.
The house is kept fully furnished and supplied; my children and I normally spend much of the summer there. The house is also entirely habitable in winter; it is heated by an oil stove and wall-mounted electrical heaters. Plumbing and electricity have been completely modernized. There is a clothes-washing machine in the basement, a stereo tuner and speakers in the living room, and a television in the upstairs studio bedroom. The sofa in the living room opens into a double bed, so that there are a total of three double beds in the house, and one bunk bed. There are an outdoor table and chairs in the garden, located on the same level with the kitchen; this makes it easy and pleasant to eat outdoors in mild weather.
Despite the proximity of Aniane to Montpellier
(about half an hour's drive away), the immediate surroundings consist of
vineyards and wooded hills. Aniane is about 45 minutes from the
Mediterranean beaches, and good swimming and boating are available in the
Herault River, at the edge of town. The Cevennes mountains begin
just to the north. The immediately surrounding country is full of
historical and architectural interest--for example, the Romanesque church
and abbey in St. Guilhem-le-Desert, about five miles away. Part of
the cloister from this abbey has been reassembled to make one of the
cloisters in the museum by that name in New York.
All daily necessities are obtainable by shopping on
foot. The village has small grocery shops, bakeries, butcher shops,
a general dry-goods store, an open market (on Thursdays) and a variety of
mobile vendors who arrive once or more often per week to sell everything
from fish to bedding. The area around Aniane is excellent bicycling
country, with flat coastal plains extending to the south and hillier
country to the north and west.
Here is a bit more detail on local sights and amenities:
RESTAURANTS: Aniane has one classy restaurant, in the Hostellerie St. Benoit as you leave town on Route de St. Guilhem; their fish menus seem especially good. Just in front of the City Hall, around the corner from our place, is L'Affenage, with decent-to-very-good cooking, nice ambiance and moderate prices. There are also a variety of little cafes which serve cheap and adequate food and drinks--for example, Cafe du Pavillon on the boulevard St. Jean and the Cafe Glace on the Esplanade. The only eatery I would not recommend in Aniane is the Cafe de l'Esplanade. Other notable restaurants in the region are mentioned below.
DOCTOR: I hope you don't need this kind of help, but we got good care from Dr. Cardaillac. I'm not aware that he speaks any English. Phone number 67 57 47 01.
GETTING AROUND: By Bus: If you plan carefully, you can take the bus to Montpellier, Gignac, Clermont and many other destinations. A schedule for Gignac and Montpellier is kept in the sheaf of local information on the shelf in the living room. For more detailed information, you may have to contact the bus company at the number listed there. By Taxi: Reliable taxi service is available from Taxi Agnes on boulevard St. Jean. Phone 67 57 70 15.
THINGS TO SEE AND DO: Where to start? First of all, find the file
where I've stuffed all sorts of flyers for local sites and
restaurants. It should be on one of the wooden shelves in the wall
in the living room. You should find a detailed local road map in
this folder; if it's missing, just buy a yellow Michelin map of the region
at the news stand on the Esplanade. All the spots mentioned below should
be easily locatable on the map. There is also a sort of visitors'
information center across the street from the post office in Aniane.
I'm not sure what months of the year this office is open.
ANIANE itself. Don't miss the chance to get to know the
town by foot. Besides the enormous baroque church and the medieval
tower (for which rue de la Tour is named), there are very pleasant walks
to be taken to the hills and vinyards at the outskirts of town.
Indeed, the little roads and paths through the hills to the east, north
and west of Aniane offer countless hikes and bicycle trips through varied
countryside. On one such route, you can also walk (or bike) to the
astronomical observatory at the edge of town--several kilometers, on top
of the hill above Route de la Boissiere as you leave town to the
north-east.
ST. GUILHEM LE DESERT--about eight km. north-west of Aniane, an easy bicycle trip. This stunning, beautifully situated village on route D 4, and its historic church and abbey, are the most noted local sites. Part of the cloister next to the abbey has now been reassembled in The Cloisters museum in New York City. The refectory has been turned into a fascinating and beautiful museum; admission is 5 francs. There are several restaurants in St. Guilhem. At one, Les Fonzes, you can eat overlooking the Herault; not haute cuisine, but pleasant and generally inexpensive.
THE HERAULT AND ITS "GORGES". About half way between Aniane and St. Guilhem, the Herault river passes out of its canyon (or gorge, as people prefer to say in French) onto the plain. The river is attractive both in the rugged canyon and downstream, on the flatter country. Perhaps the best beach is at the Pont de Diable, en route to St. Guilhem. You can also rent kayaks to descend through the canyon; the concession is beside the river above St. Guilhem.
PONT DU DIABLE. This remarkable medieval bridge over the Herault is now overshadowed by an unremarkable modern one. Don't miss the chance to walk on the old one.
GROTTE DE CLAMOUSE: About 5 km. from Aniane, on the way to St. Guilhem. Conspicuously sign-posted, by the side of the river. These dramatic limestone caves are shown in commercial guided tours at all times during the year. They are a great choice on a rainy day (the weather inside a cave never surprises you).
NEARBY VILLAGES. St. Jean de Fos, Montpeyroux, la Boissiere, and Puechabon, are just four of the many charming villages within easy bicycling distance of Aniane. The latter two are on hillier routes. Every village and town except the very smallest has its own market day, with the bigger, more interesting markets in Gignac (Saturdays) and Clermont l'Herault (Wednesdays). Aniane's market is Thursdays.
CLERMONT L'HERAULT: About five thousand population, roughly 20
km. west from Aniane. A marketing center for the region. Interesting
town squares and gothic church. Nice country-town atmosphere, with
more shopping and services than Aniane or Gignac.
WINE
and WINE-MAKING: Grapes (mostly for wine) are the main industry in the
region. The local ordinary wines from Aniane (the red and rose, at
least) are quite good, given how inexpensive they are. You can
purchase local wines and other local products (honey, spices, fruit,
preserves, etc.) at Chez Pioch. Premium wines are made at Domaine
des Conquetes in Aniane itself, and at Domaine de Capion and Mas du Daumas
Gassac, in the country between Aniane and Gignac. Mas du Daumas
Gassac has an elaborate, California-style tasting room; the wine is
expensive but good. Domaine de Capion may also offer tastings, and
the product is less expensive. The two are more or less next door to
one another, a pleasant bike ride of about 4 km. south of Aniane.
ST MARTIN DE LONDRES and PEAK ST. LOUP: Leaving Aniane on highway D 32 heading north, you climb into the garrigue--hills and plateaux covered with small trees and brush. I find this country austerely beautiful. As you head toward St. Martin de Londres, you get some magnificent views of the Cevennes mountains to the north and west, and then of the dramatic Peak St. Loup, to the north-east. The latter peak, incidentally, can be climbed on foot (without risk to life or limb) in about two hours, starting from the south side. As you drop down from the hills, you come to the town of St. Martin, a pleasant spot with a gem of a Romanesque church. There are a variety of restaurants and shops in St. Martin, making it a good destination for a day-trip by bicycle. It's about 25-30 km., or half an hour's ride by car.
En route to St. Martin, and a bit to the east, is Camboux, where a sort of pre-historic, stone-age settlement has been re-created. You should find some publicity about it in the folder mentioned above; we haven't visited this spot ourselves yet.
MOUNT ST. BAUDILLE: This is the mountain with the TV transmitter at the summit that you see looking west from the roof terrace. You can drive or even bicycle there from Aniane, though I think only a seasoned cyclist would want to try the ascent. The drive would be about 25 minutes, via St. Jean de Fos and Arboras. You can drive (or cycle) right to the top; the views are unsurpassed.
PRIORY OF GRAMONT. About 30 km. west of Aniane, north east of Lodeve, a striking rural manor house with a beautiful cloister and Romanesque chapel has recently been opened to the public. The property also includes some fascinating prehistoric dolmens (Stonehenge-like arrangements of rocks, though on a smaller scale than Stonehenge). You'll need to ask Bernard or Chantal Favre to make a phone call to find out what days and hours are good for visiting.
PEZENAS: About 40 km. south of Aniane, on national route 9, south of
Clermont. A pleasant town about the size of Clermont on the plain
near the Herault. Known for a well-organized walking tour through
dozens of "hotels particuliers", elaborate private town-houses, mostly
from the 17th century. If you walk through the center of town, you
should see signs advertising the walking tour to visitors.
THE MEDITERRANEAN: It's so jammed in the summer that I rarely
go. Try it in the off-season by driving (or cycling) to Sete (about
45 km.); the beach stretches south from there for miles. If you like
oysters, Sete is the place for you (though equally fresh oysters from the
basin nearby Sete can be purchased from the mobile vendor in Aniane, at
the Thursday market and often on other days, too).
FOR CASTLE-LOVERS: World-class castles are to be seen near Montpeyroux, Aumelas, St. Jean de Bueges, Pezenes-les-Mines and Clermont l'Herault (on the hill overlooking town), and many other towns.
SOME LONGER TRIPS: All within two hours' drive are the Roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard; the city of Nimes, with its Roman temple and amphitheatre; La Courvertoirade, the walled medieval town, now largely restored; and Enserun, a Greek colony from hundreds of years B.C. The Pont du Gard and Nimes are both roughly north-east of Aniane; La Couvertoirade is north-west (off national route 9, beyond Lodeve); and Enserun is roughly south-west, a few kms. beyond Beziers.
OTHER FAVORITE NEARBY RESTAURANTS: Apart from the Hostellerie St. Benoit in Aniane, consider the following good-to-excellent restaurants, all within half an hour's drive: Le Vieux Chene (67 73 11 10) in Causse de la Selle on highway D4 north of St. Guilhem le Desert (perhaps $110 for full dinner for two), le Pressoir in St. Saturnin (perhaps $60 for the same; phone 67 96 63 59); or Le Mimosa (67 96 67 96) in St. Guiraud just off national route 9 near Clermont (by now probably more than $150 for the same--a steep price, but a world-class establishment).
The thing is, finally, there's too much to do. I've hardly
scratched the surface. You can't see it all in one visit, so just
relax and enjoy the immediate surroundings. Even the Roman acqueduct
at Pont du Gard can't beat an excellent picnic with local ingredients on
the outskirts of Aniane (or indeed, in our garden), when you're in the
mood to stay close to home.
-- Jim Rule