Simplicity still reigns in the yellow fisherman’s cottage with pigeon blue shutters, but comforts have been neatly added. Where once a donkey was stabled after carrying fish back from the boats, there’s now a super bathroom. Up a flight of steep stairs is an open plan living and kitchen space, and up again are the little bedrooms and another bathroom. Interior designer Ruth has had fun furnishing the cottage in quirky retro 60s style; she and husband Gilles stay here sometimes so it’s well thought out for couples or for a family with older children in the bunk room. It’s fun to sit just outside on the pavement and soak up the evening sun, only one street back from Mèze’s bustling waterfront, where oysters and mussels are brought in from the lagoon. Guests have their pick of wonderful fish and seafood restaurants, street markets and small shops, and the beautiful sandy beach the other side of the lagoon is an easy walk too. Retrieve your car (the nearest parking is a few minutes away) to head inland and visit vineyards, the narrow streets of historic Pézenas or elegant, seductive Montpellier, only 35 km away.
