Even though the photos on the web site made the house look well, we were really delighted to find it was even better than it seemed. It is a very spacious, old fashioned house, and full of character. There were 12 of us and there was room for quite a few more. Air conditioning would have been nice considering the 36 degrees heat, but I believe that that was an unusually warm spell of weather.

The kitchen is modern and spacious and the downstairs rooms are beautifully furnished (there is a baby grand piano in one room, which we played a lot even though it's well out of tune). There is a huge dining room and the table very comfortably sat 12.

The pool is secluded and secure and very clean. The kids loved it.

The grounds are extensive, well kept and beautiful, and the area outside the kitchen where we spent our evenings was lovely. The little bats and swallows and geckos kept us company and reduced the insect population.

The location is only 40 minutes from Carcassonne and its airport. It's close enough to visit all the Cathar castles (Queribus and Peyrepertuse are amazing). Also worth a visit is the Gorges de Galamus, - we found it by following bad advice from our Sat-Nav - it is impressive but a bit of a hairy drive.

Cruscades itself is a fairly sleepy town with just one shop that acts as bakery and general store - great for bread in the morning and pizzas in the evening. Try their Quiche Lorraine. The people in the town were very friendly and on our last day we were lucky to catch the start of their local festival. Wish we could have stayed for it all. In fact, all 12 of us wished we had booked two weeks instead of one.