My daughter Miranda and I were walking through Pezenas yesterday, we were on the way to collect my son jack and his friend who had just come from Germany on a school visit and had half an hour to wait. We have lived no more than ten minuted from the town center for nearly 20 years, but we discovered a magical place – a museum of doors – just doors and hinges and stuff.

The were five large rooms and basements full of doors dating back centuries and centuries – woodworking tools, hinges, locks – all manner of fascinating things.

Doors in the door museum Pezenas

The museaum is at the top of the hill near the gates of the ancient chateau, this chateau was demolished in the 17th century and not much is left (except perhaps the doors)

More old doors from Pezenas

Mayday – I am setting today as the day to start getting some projects under way at Wikibnb – the aim is to encourage all Guest House and independent B&B owners to share marketing resources to help give abetter service;

It is a new idea and all are welcome – open source, no fees and you don’t have to run a B&B – all guests are welcome to tell us what they would like to see.

The mud was walking Helios today , our Daughters’ Beagle dog – he likes mud and found a quite spot on the river near Villa Roquette

Helios in muddy water

I started using our websites on the Internet fifteen years ago in 1997, five years before Google.

My aim was to start a photography school in our old rambling house in the village of Nizas so I made some of the rooms into small apartments for the students and started one of the first ever blogs and made a website. We got so many enquiries for rentals that I a-only ever did a couple of courses and found myself making one of the first Online Travel Agencies to cope with the demand and ended up with thousands of rental properties all over France.

I needed lots of things to write about as at that time not many people had heard of Languedoc, so I found out what i could and just blogged about life here.

I wrote about the 300 days of sunshine we have each year in Languedoc, more than any other region of France, I wrote about the beaches, the longest sandy beaches in France, I wote about the Cathars and the Knights templar, the history, the special foods, and I called the region the Real South of France to show the difference from the Cote d’Azur.

It is flattering that so many of my words and comments are now appearing in a lot of tourism brochures and websites about the region. When I started there were none apart from a fe I had, now there are hundreds of online information sites and local tourist websites giving information.

One of the best ones is our local Beziers Cap d’Agde site sponsored by the excellent beziers Airport people – I am delighted to see they have a phrase I first used in 1998 on advertising as their headline – The Real South of France –

May 1st on Tuesday – we already have bouquets of Lilly of the Valley perfuming our home – the weather today is warm and sunny and I discovered another quiet secret wood just round the corner from us – I keep discovering these islands of tranquility only a few hundred yards from us, yet I can walk the dog for hours and not see another person, just kingfishers and coypu by the river.

It is good to be living in the real South of France – come and join us – From One day, to a Lifetime, From Us – (another one of my 1998 slogans 🙂

Walking Rocky in Woods Near Villa Roquette