The Tarn
The Tarn is a varied region which supports a wide range of plants and bird-life. From where we are -- to the west lie the Gaillac vineyards, to the east the Sidobre national park with its granite resources and La Montagne Noire, to the north the Tarn Gorge (and the spectacular road-bridge at Millau), and to the south the foothills of the Pyrenees and many of the Cathar castles.
There are many sites in the Tarn which figure prominently in Cathar history (Albi, Castres, Lombers, Ste Juliane near Roquecourbe to name but a few) and there are many royal bastides, such as Realmont, which were established to revive the area after the devastating suppression of the Cathars and their supporters.
Other bastides are hill-top villages of great interest and beauty such as Cordes-sur-Ciel, Penne and Puycelsi.
The latin-based Occitan language developed in the South of France and it is still spoken in the Tarn in a variety of dialects.
The land around Albi and Lautrec suited the cultivation of pastel - a plant from which the blue dye known as woad was derived - and this temporarily brought great wealth to the area in the C15th and C16th.
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