Holiday apartment in Languedoc-Roussillon, France. Penthouse apartment at Port Vendres

Port Vendres, a deep-water working port with a population of 5000, has a large wholesale and retail fish market complete with a customer seafood bar serving excellent wines. The palm lined yachting harbour has shops, cafes and seafood restaurants and the Place Castellane provides a venue for open air dances and other cultural festivities. There is a market at the Place de l'Obelisque on Saturdays. It is an excellent year round location for visiting the many other places of interest, such as Ceret, Carcassone, Montpellier, Toulouse, Barcelona, Girona, Andorra and Perpignan which is only 20 miles away. There are excellent bus and train services, a ferry between Port Vendres and Collioure (a delightful little town where the painter Matisse and many other artists worked), as well as a weekly ferry to Tangier in the summer. There are daily Ryanair low-cost flights from Stansted to Perpignan, Girona or Carcassone.

The region
Sheltered by the Pyrenees, this part of France has an exceptionally mild climate and more than 300 days of sunshine a year. The Tramontane wind comes from the North West and chases away any rain clouds. Port Vendres lies in the foothills of the Pyrenees, on whose steep slops are grown some excellent wines, notably the delicious fortified wine of Banyuls. You can walk the many mule tracks through the vineyards or along the cliff tops and experience breathtaking coastal views of the Corbiere mountains to the North and the Costa Brava to the South. There are small beaches in Port Vendres itself, restaurant-bedecked beaches at Collioure and Banyuls, a nice family beach by a vineyard with a bar and restaurant at Paulilles (five minutes by car or can be reached on foot along the cliff tops) and long sandy beaches four miles to the north at Argeles sur Mer.

In summer, a little yellow train runs from Port-Vendres to the historic town of Collioure, passing through the vineyards. Famous for its clock tower and ancient castle, where many artists can be seen at work around the harbour. The region is steeped in history and many interesting excursions can be made to its medieval villages, fortresses and beautifully restored Romanesque abbeys.

Accommodation
There are two bedrooms (one with a double bed, the other with two singles) and in the lounge there is knoll sofa which can sleep another adult.

There is a bathroom with shower and bath, a separate WC, a fully equipped kitchen with washing machine.

TV (excellent BBC 1 and Radio 4 reception) with CD/DVD player, all of a high standard, with an allocated parking space right outside the apartment.

Rental tenants have to provide their own bed linen and towels or they can be hired from a local agency.