Tillac provides the ideal base for exploration, an hour from the Pyrenees, an hour and a half from Spain, two hours from the Atlantic coast, as well as the medieval villages of Gascony and the surrounding vineyards closer to hand.

St Jean du Luz in January 2002 -yes those really are bathers!

The north of le Gers has a number of pretty bastides which include Larresingle and Fources, well worth a visit.

Larresingle -a fortified village

Another feature of the summer in le Gers is the night market, which as here in Aignan is usually accompanied by music and everyone eating out in the square

Going south you can be in the Spanish Pyrenees for lunch in the walled town of Ainsa (below) in 2 hours or going west to St Jean du Luz,  just down from Biarritz, seen here in January last year .