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New Year’s Day

1 January 2026

Happy New Year to everyone! It’s pretty cold across most of Western Europe right now and Najac is no exception but we went for a warming mug of spiced hot red wine in the village on New Year’s Eve and now we’re snug in the house. A side effect of the cold snap are some spectacular landscapes, entirely covered by frost. No danger of that in the Summer of course…

The pool certainly wasn’t tempting this morning…

Starlink

14 Nov 25

After a series of issues with Orange broadband, we decided in October 2025 to move to Starlink internet and a mesh wifi system in the house. What a difference! We’re now getting download speeds up to 350 mbps and more than enough bandwidth for a house full of laptops, cellphones, iPads and the Apple TV.

And it’s cheaper than Orange was. Duh!

A Few End of Year Thoughts

24 December 2024

With Christmas rapidly approaching we like to take stock of how the year went. Firstly, we’ve had some really nice feedback from our guests. These are just a few examples:

“The château is magnificent—striking and enormous, yet cozy and welcoming; an easy walk to the lovely village, yet splendidly private and quiet on its own hill. Amazing views, spotlessly clean, superbly equipped and with the best pool we’ve ever had!”

“Lovely stay at Château du Pic de Rigaud, such an impressive building and even more fabulous views!!”

“The château has been incredibly comfortable and provided everything we needed. We have enjoyed exploring Najac including the Wednesday evening market.”

“It is with a heavy heart that this 3-generation family are leaving this wonderful and magical place! The château itself is truly gorgeous and to be lucky enough to stay in one with magnificent views is a dream come true.”

“This is by far the cleanest property we have stayed in over the past 20 years visiting France.”

It’s important not to be complacent and we’re always working to improve our guests’ experience at the house, but the Christmas and New Year holidays are a chance to catch our breath.

In winter the village is much quieter than during the busy summer holiday season but in the last couple of years the Mayor and village council have made a concerted effort to make sure that the amenities are open year round. As a result, the two bars, various cafes and restaurants, the epicerie (now incorporating the post office) and the boulangerie are still plying their trade. Meanwhile the Sunday morning market in the Faubourg carries on as a kind of focal point of village life and a reminder of the glorious summer night markets when the village and its visitors get together to eat local food, drink local wine and listen to live music during the long warm evenings.

For us, the early spring is a quiet time during which we can begin preparations. Amongst this year’s projects are a significant upgrade to the electrical wiring and, we hope, the arrival of fiberoptic internet in the village and at the Chateau (it was due to be connected in the autumn but the contractor didn’t dig the cable in deep enough and a local farmer accidentally ploughed it up!).

In May we’ll open up the pool and the team will get to work on a deep clean to ensure that everything is pristine and spotless, ready for our summer guests. Bookings are open for 2025 and 5 weeks are already reserved, so please do get in touch directly if you’re interested.

Maison Labastide

12 October 2024

The Son et Lumiere at Maison Labastide

The weather in Najac can be a bit hit and miss at this time in year but, as is often the case, the forecast of clouds and showers turned out to be wrong and 11 October in Najac was sunny and warm, with the air at about 22ºC and the pool at 26ºC. To take advantage of this, after swimming and sunbathing, we decided to make a small excursion to a wine cooperative in the Gaillac region.

Very little wine is made around Najac. The area was badly affected by the Great French Wine Blight of the 19^thcentury and never really recovered, but surrounding regions did make a comeback and Gaillac is the closest of these. The terrain there is probably better: lush rolling hills rather than the forests and somewhat steeper, more precipitous, gorges which characterise the environs of Najac.

The co-op we visited is in Labastide de Lévis, about an hour’s easy drive through beautiful countryside. The wine they produce is popular locally and widely available in nearby supermarkets and we’ve become big fans: it’s well made, drinks easily and comes at a good price.  

Although there has been a cooperative on the site since at least the 1930s, the current business has been going since 1949 and has developed a strong reputation in the region. It’s an impressive, mainly modern complex (the original co-op fermentation building dates from 1934 but the rest is newer) run by a friendly helpful team,  and there is a tour  which can either be self-guided with an iPad issued at reception or, once a day, with a human guide. We took the self-guided version which lasted about an hour and took us through the ‘vine garden’ where they have examples of the four principal grape varieties used in Gaillac, the fermentation plant, the bottling plant and the maturation cellar. It’s all very slick and illustrated with videos and a ‘son et lumiere’ in the cellar to give the wider background to what’s going on. 

And – of course – at the end you get a tasting. Part of the motivation for our visit was to buy some wine to take back home with us (and some to leave here for our next visit) and, with the 5% discount for bulk buying and including 15 bottles of a bin-end organic (‘Bio’ in French) red which we’ve had before and liked which was being cleared at €2.25 a bottle, our purchases averaged €4.20 a bottle, for wine which I suspect would cost about £8-10* in a British supermarket. 

Definitely worth a visit if you’re interested in wine.

*It turns out Majestic sell the Maison Labastide ‘house’ red, and for £14 a bottle!

Link: https://www.cave-labastide.com/fr

The season starts

June 2024

Our first guests have arrived and the house was looking immaculate to welcome them. The new side tables in the library work perfectly and everything is gleaming. To cap it all, as the final polishing cloth was wiped, some hot air balloons floated by.

We still have a few weeks left to rent in July – contact us via this page to find out more.

Spring is in the Air!

11 May 2024

It’s spring in Najac. The winter work: repointing the chimneys; replacing a chimney pot; cleaning the pool house roof; and clearing lots of trees, is almost done. Meanwhile, the other residents of the Chateau grounds are thriving including one we hadn’t seen before: a salamander:

And we’ve come across some others too: western green lizards hiding in the bushes on the path to the pool.

This year the Buzzard is back at the end of the drive, if you watch out, you will see it take to the air from its favourite tree as you dare to drive past!

They will soon be joined by Mauser and Gussie who love poking around the garden unsuccessfully hunting hedgehogs and sunbathing by the pool.

After we have enjoyed time at the Chateau, the big spring clean begins, ready for our first guests who arrive in June.  We love the fact that so many people comment on how immaculate the Chateau is: it’s just as important that they enjoy the house as much as the garden and the pool.

Winter in Najac

30 December 2023

It’s winter in Najac and we’re staying at the Chateau to start the process of getting it ready for the summer. It was -2º C when we arrived early in the morning on 27 Dec but it’s warmed up a little and we’ve had some gloriously sunny, crisp, winter days since then.

First priority, now that the new floors in the library and salon have been finished, was to get the books back onto the shelves of the library. This time we’ve managed to impose a little order into the arrangement but it’s still an eclectic selection.

We’ve also planted some new fruit trees in the garden – and felled some of the old ones which were barely alive and too decrepit to produce much fruit – which we hope will yield some delicious figs in the years to come.

And, of course, we’ve been down into the village to see old friends and have a quiet drink at the Bar de la Plage.

Full speed ahead with the new floors

Our news from Najac is that work has pressed on with the new floors for the library and salon and should be completed by mid-November. It looks slightly alarming but the craftsman doing the work is a local man who has worked on the house before over many years.

So all looking good!

2023 at the Chateau du Pic

Now we’re at the end of the 2023 summer season, time to look back at some of the thoughts our guests had after staying at Chateau du Pic:

“We have spent a week here and we all agree that it was not long enough! The chateau itself is truly gorgeous and to be lucky enough to stay in one with magnificent views is a dream come true”

“An exceptional holiday”

“We also had great days out at the surrounding attractions”

“It’s gone too quickly!”

“We’ve had perfect days at the pool. The chateau has been incredibly comfortable and provided everything we needed”

One guest even told us it was the cleanest rental property they’d ever stayed in!

The Wednesday night market with its plethora of stalls, variety of food choices, live music and communal tables proves a hit with guests every year. It’s a real chance to feel part of rural French life and have a fun night out, within walking distance of the chateau.

The Base de Pleine Nature continues to offer a fantastic variety of activities including kayaking, accrobranche and many other ways of amusing children and adults alike.

For us, the autumn is a chance to undertake essential maintenance as well as improvements and we’re currently upgrading the floors in the library and salon so that they’ll last another 130 years!