Le Domaine du Cedre

If you’re seeking watery antics further afield, there’s more trout to be caught on the Tarn at Lisle-sur-Tarn and Lautrec, 20 minutes’ and half an hour’s drive away. At a similar distance, Cap’Découverte leisure base has wakeboarding and windsurfing as well as a terrific selection of terra firma stuff, including zipwires, go-karts, artificial ski and snowboard slopes and a luge ride. For quieter times, head down the mines at Cagnac-les-Mines (25 minutes) where tours take you deep down and far back into the hills and their history, or get up high at the fortified Cathar town of Cordes-sur-Ciel, half an hour away. There’s a trail of sites related to local lad Toulouse-Lautrec in these parts: elegant little Albi (20 minutes) has a museum devoted to the artist and tours of the house where he was born. If you’re a museum addict, make for Toulouse to see collections devoted to decorative arts, medicine, aviation and outer space alongside taking boat rides down the Garonne and scoffing local treats in the massive covered market. Not wild enough? Head over to Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val (45 minutes) for canoe trips through the Aveyron gorges, or lose yourself in nature on walks and bike rides through the canyons and valleys of the Causses du Quercy Regional Natural Park, an hour away.