the Aude, Languedoc
Domus Aeoli is on the edge of the hill-top village of Pauligne, dominating an open landscape of vineyards and rolling hills. The high peaks of the Pyrenees can often be seen on a clear day. The village is an excellent base for exploring the region on foot or by bicycle.
By car, the pretty market town of Limoux is just five minutes away. During the winter months, Limoux is noted for its historic carnival. Throughout the year, the arcaded town square is always animated with lively bars serving the local sparkling wine - the famous Blanquette de Limoux.
Limoux enjoys a Mediterranean climate with long hot summers and relatively mild winters. Spring and Autumn are ideal for sight seeing. The winter can be particularly beautiful as the almond trees blossom under a deep blue sky with the snow capped peaks of the Pyrenees marking the southern horizon.
Within a few minutes of Limoux, the scenery can change very quickly. Indeed the Aude, stretching from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean shore, offers an extraordinary variety of landscapes from the arid garrigue of the Corbières to the green mountain pastures of Plateau de Sault.
The historical heritage of the Aude is as rich as the departement's natural beauty.
The local viticulture was founded by the Romans who particularly appreciated the red wine of their first colony in Gaule. In this region, the Troubadours invented and sung their vision of courtly love in an epoch of artistic renewal which characterises the Middle Ages in Languedoc. The wealth of the area attracted the attention of Kingdom of France which seized on the Cathar heresy as a pretext for invasion. France so consolidated its southern border with a series of fortresses. Carcassonne is the greatest of them all, an impressive legacy to the mediaeval era. The Aude is rich in forgotten churches with rare Romanesque frescos or heavenly orientated castles perched like eagles' nests on rocky outcrops.
The grottos and prehistoric caves of the Aude are of particular interest to children. The rivers and lakes provide excellent places to swim as do the vast sandy beaches of the relatively unspoilt coastline. In the winter, the ski slopes of Camurac and Les Angles are an hour's drive from Pauligne.
We will be pleased to advise you on the vast choice of leisure activities available in the area: theatre, rafting, dinosaur museums, wind surfing, tourist railways, slot machines and Gregorian Chant etc etc...
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