At the south of the Tarn District of the MIDI-PYRENEES region in the south west of France, SORÈZE benefits from a combination of Mediterranean and oceanic climate and is one of the sunniest regions in France. Whichever direction you choose to take, the landscape varies ensuring that exploration is a joy.
Many fortified villages grew to become towns and REVEL, just 5 minutes drive from Sorèze, is an excellent example and is famous for its traditional market. With such a good variety of raw material available, Revel became a thriving centre for furniture making and marquetry. Soréze is known for its artists’ studios and the village of Durfort, about a mile away has copper, pewter and leather workshops where you can see the artisans at work.
The landscape is green and leafy with chestnut, lime, ash, beech, oak and 200 year old avenues of plane trees being a feature of the surrounding countryside. Naturally
there are vineyards to visit, whether you head north to the Gaillac region or to the southern slopes of the Black Mountains for Cabardes wines. There are high quality restaurants, auberges and brasseries, or you may wish to buy picnic provisions from the local shop. Sorèze is an ideal base for walkers as there are paths and tracks either leading from the village, in the Black Mountains or around the nearby St Ferréol Lake that is also popular with swimmers.
The beautiful ‘pink city’ of TOULOUSE is well worth a visit, as is CARCASSONNE with its dramatic fortifications, the Goya Museum at CASTRES, ALBI for the Toulouse Lautrec Museum and CASTELNAUDARY for cruises along the remarkable Canal du Midi.
Nowhere is too far away and the country roads are not busy and are well sign-posted making this an easy area to discover.