My hometown: Montreal, Aude is French

Cathy Bitton isn't sure what forces brought her to charming Montreal, but she's sure it led her to the right place…

Finding it was completely accidental. We lived in London and sold our long-term apartment in Paris. We started looking for something in France for our work with certain criteria, including proximity to an airport for access to London and Paris. I have a music management company, so I manage artists and produce and promote concerts in France. I can work remotely most of the time, but also visit Paris regularly. My husband Jean-Marie wanted to ski, I wanted to swim in the sea, and I also had the idea of ​​organizing vacations because I had been to several places and loved the atmosphere.

My friend posted a photo of himself in this ward as a guest on Instagram. I asked where he was and he told me that he was sad because one of his best friends owned the property and was selling it. I don't know what got into me – I was just like “let's buy!” I said.

Our village of Aude is one of the six Montreals in France. We are about 20 minutes from Carcassonne and Limousin and an hour from Toulouse. This is an old Qatari village, with small streets, very quiet, on a hill – you can see the Pyrenees in the distance.

I like to be in the heart of the countryside, not in the countryside. Jean-Marie sees it differently. I like having neighbors and being able to walk to places. I don't want to get in the car to do everything. I think this is my part of town, I'm used to walking everywhere, so I like to walk to the grocery store, the bakery, the doctor, the dentist, the pharmacy. Our village has all that. Not all villages do this, and if you're in a rural area, everyone has to drive.

I can walk five minutes and there are beautiful roads with views of the Pyrenees and hills of vineyards and sunflowers. It is really beautiful, the landscape is very unspoiled. Many expats have bought here, so there is a large expat community, so it's easy to make friends.

The village has a beautiful church on the hill, with a very unique organ; In fact, the organist of Notre Dame does it, he lives in the village. By car you can go to Carcassonne, then wine tasting, all Qatar history and palaces, markets in different towns and villages every day. The Canal du Midi is very close, so it's only 4 km by bike. One hour drive to the Mediterranean Sea, one hour to skiing. We run our bed and breakfast from April to October, so when we close for winter we can look out the window, check for snow in the Pyrenees, get in the car and go. Toulouse is also very close, just an hour away when I need a little injection of city life.

The area is famous for its cassoulet. The wine here is also very good and they have excellent local goat cheese. There's also delicious fresh produce, asparagus, strawberries…and then there's duck! I was vegan before I moved here and quickly realized it wasn't going to work.

How authentic and unspoilt the landscape is and how friendly the people are compared to other areas like the French Riviera, which I visit often because my mom lives in Cannes, it feels a lot less rushed than here.

La vie est belle. This is not an expression, but a thought.

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Cathy's B&B can be found at camellaslloret.com