Discover the Aude

Our life and our routines have focused for the most part, on the place de la République in Quillan. Exploring aside, it’s where we spend the majority of our time and quickly becomes the centre of our universe and the filter for our perspective on the seasons in the Aude.

Sunrise to sunset, the square is the beating heart of a typical French village in any weather. It square gives us an incomparable outlook on the comings and goings of daily life, to influence and take step with our own routines.

Aude in spring

Arriving in spring, our first impression of Quillan is that it has the feel of a mountain town. The Aude River running through it looks cold and swift, in spite of the season. We are caught hook, line and sinker, like the fish we can see the village children pulling from the current as we cross into the square over the 12th-century bridge.

Quillan in April has some tourists despite the cold — they look like walkers. We see them coming and going, and sitting at the cafés on the old square — the place de la République, which will quickly become our stamping ground.

We arrive to the bare plane trees of winter and watch as they bud and blossom as the weeks pass.. As the plane trees spread their green umbrellas over the cobbles, and the residents of Quillan shed their winter cocoons, the square is the means for people to reconnect over coffee and conversation as they pass by on their errands.

With the warming of the weather, the square’s full-time residents, who have wintered over in relative silence, share their domain with the wider community and the gradual trickle of incoming tourists ahead of the summer season.

What to do in the Aude in spring:

• Fish in the St Bertrand recreational lakes
• Head for the hills on one of the many trails that cross the Aude
• Browse for treasures in the many village brocantes – flea markets
• Help yourself to handfuls of cherries growing wild on the fringes of villages
• Make the most of the warming weather to linger over a long cafe lunch on market day
• Meet the region’s producers on the farm at the annual ‘Ferme-en-Ferme open day
• Discover local artists on the annual ‘Artistes a Suivre’ programme
• Potter out on any of the myriad D roads in search of little villages
• Visit the natural Labyrinth at Nebias.

Aude in summer

As summer approaches, the town of Quillan really comes alive, with an influx of tourists and an impressive programme of events and activities sponsored by the retailers around the Place de la République. There’s barely a weekend without musical entertainment of some kind. Events are the lifeblood of the square, drawing large crowds in, bringing much-needed custom to the cafés and bars, whose traffic otherwise ebbs and flows throughout the day. At times the square is little more than one giant stage.

Whenever there’s a national day of any sort – of which there are plenty in the summer months – there’s a parade through the town, usually accompanied by the local brass band Les Hauts de l’Aude, which makes for entertaining, mostly tuneful and often colourful, viewing. Market trading swells, with stalls spilling off down the side streets in a tumble of chillies and asparagus.

In full summer, following the lead of those who live here permanently, we form comfortable habits like pulling certain window shutters to keep out the hot sun in the morning then others in the afternoon, reluctantly closing off the view and the light in favour of some elusive cool. In the relative cool of the evening the square comes alive again, truly humming only from around 10pm as diners make the most of the outside tables.

What to do in the Aude in summer

• Swim in one of the many lakes including St Bertrand, Arques, Lac de Montbel and Puivert
• Make the most of the outdoor pools in Quillan and Axat
• Browse the artisan stalls at the night markets in Quillan and many other small towns
• Enjoy the free entertainment at one of the many music festivals in the Place de la République
• Go white water rafting or canoeing on the Aude river
• Drive an hour East to swim in the Mediterranean at one of the colourful beach resorts in France or Spain
• Visit the spectacular caves at Niaux for prehistoric cave art – and a burst of underground cool.

Aude in autumn

As autumn approaches the sun has not yet lost all its strength, however the leaves are turning from green to gold with the passing of October days. There’s a growing chill in the air, but outside dining is still the norm and the days are still relatively long. For now the trees are still fully clothed in their red and gold cloaks of leaves and we make the most of the fresh air and conversation.

In full autumn, the sun rises over the hills that overlook the square and tinges the buildings with a warming glow of pink and orange. It makes for a beautiful start to the day in our first weeks back in Quillan as we open the shutters before 7am to see a fine mist clinging to the contours of the valley, and which will soon burn off with the sun.

What to do in the Aude in Autumn:

• Enjoy the regular weekly markets at their peak before stallholders start to tail off for winter
• Visit one of the region’s famous Cathar castles after the crowds have gone
• Walk up to the Man’s Nose above Quillan to spot griffon vultures
• Drive through the Razes, Corbieres or the Fenouilledes to admire the cloak of red and gold over the vines.

Aude in winter

In winter, the trees on the surrounding hillsides are stripped bare of their golden garb as the wind picks up, the darkness and the cold creep in, the days shorten and silence descends on the town. We watch from our box seats on the northern side of the square as the plane trees are pruned back to bare trunks, denuded.

Shutters remain determinedly closed and conversation moves inside, behind closed doors. In the winter, any excuse is a good excuse for a social occasion as the cold can be isolating. This is the period they call the ‘shuttering in’ as between December and February the square is at first glance, like most streets in town, austere in its presentation of tightly closed windows and doors to the outside world.

The café tables are no longer out on the pavement so that if you want to eat out, you have to eat in, so to speak. What you lose in the charm of street umbrellas, you gain in the conviviality of tables close together in the warmth of the dining room.

What to do in the Aude in Winter:

• Hit the ski-fields at Camurac, Mijanes , Ax-les-Thermes – or slightly further afield in Andorra
• Find an untouched field on the Plateau de Sault for a spot of sledding
• Visit the dinosaur museum at Esperaza
• Watch a good film in one of the local cinemas
• Enjoy takeaway pizza with toppings of good quality local ingredients including goat’s cheese and Pyrenean honey and mountain thyme.