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Ambialet, Vallée du Tarn, southwest France

AMBIALET is a tiny village in the Tarn Valley, some 30 minutes by road east of Albi. This is the region of the Cathars, a heretical religious community of the 11th to 13th centuries who famously clashed with the Roman Catholic Church, and whose few remaining castles and settlements still draw visitors to the Southwest. Albi, a beautifully preserved medieval city built from brick, and with an ancient bridge over the Tarn, has one of the most magnificent cathedrals of southern France; the city is also the home of the Henri Toulouse Lautrec museum.

Comparable present-day architecture and engineering is close by at Millau. At the point where the valley widens, at the foot of the Massif Central, another bridge crosses the river, the towering Millau Viaduct. Designed by Norman Foster, and opened in 2004, it is the tallest road bridge in the world, with supporting pillars higher than the Eiffel tower.

The Priory

At Ambialet the Tarn river makes a loop around an outcrop of rock – creating a presqu’isle, almost an island – where in the 11th century a church and priory were built by the Benedictine order, and where a village was established between the encircling arms of the river below. From the courtyard of the priory there are magnificent views across the valley and over to the far hills and fields behind. In 1860 the Franciscans rebuilt the Priory, preserving the Romanesque church.

Today the church is fully functioning and the priory buildings have again been restored, with a new dining room, a large highly efficient kitchen,
and accommodation for 30 people; there are plans for further restoration to include gardens and a small vineyard.

• Music at Ambialet offers accommodation in the newly restored, 11th-century Benedictine priory in the village of Ambialet, in the Vallée du Tarn.
• "Students have returned year after year. Clearly this is one summer school that could become addictive" - BBC Music Magazine
• "The place, the people, the weather, the food, everything was memorable."