Montbrun Bocage Vacation Rentals

The countryside, 60 km’s south of Toulouse, is a beautiful, unspoiled area. It is one of the least populated area’s in France and, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, culture and sports go hand-in-hand.
There are lots of castles from the Cathares period and very old villages & Bastides, where you think that the round table knights on their armored horses are just around the corner and could come out any minute.
The Cathares story in a nutshell:
A large religious group separated themselves in the 12 century from the Catholic church, because these people rejected the lose morale and the wealth of the Catholic church, unacceptable. They were called Cathares; “people of good deeds” and “they who live perfect”. The Cathares built a large number of fortified villages (Bastides) and castles to defend themselves against the Pope followers.
The Catholic church could not accept this heresy and started a campaign to exterminate them. Thousands of Cathares were killed and in 1255 the Catholics made their decisive victory.
Together with numerous myths & castles, they left behind a number of fortified cities, like Carcassonne, Mirepoix and Foix, who are beautifully restored.

Here in the Pyrenees, the last real wilderness of western Europe, you can hike for hours and see only wild life. These mountains sheltered in history the Cathares, and today they provide great outdoor activities, both in summer as in winter.
In summer you can do all kinds of mountain related sports, from leisure to extreme.
Relatively easy activities: site-seeing, Nordic walking, easy hiking trails, fishing, canoeing, ballooning;
Somewhat more demanding: hiking in the mountains, rafting, delta flying, water skiing;
More extreme: cayoning, mountain climbing, mountain biking.
In winter time the Pyrenees offer the most snow certain conditions, and hundreds of km’s of piste.
Every imaginable winter sports can be done in the Pyrenees.