Painter’s Retreats
Le Monastère offers the highest value painter’s retreats for groups or individuals anywhere. These vacations run for two weeks and include accommodation at Le Monastère, all breakfasts and 12 suppers, the use of easels and camp stools, pickup and dropoff at Toulouse international airport, transportation to locations for on site work; free anytime use of our professionally designed studio and, of course, wine tastings. In addition, the hotel is completely closed off for the group of painters during their stay.

Groups are limited to 11 artists..... You will paint several days in and around the picturesque village of Limoux, with its medieval bridges and churches, colourful narrow streets, animated market days and surrounding vineyards. On other days your hosts will take you to quiet villages in the region, not too far from Limoux. The sites have been chosen on the advice of the many artists and art teachers who have come to Le Monastère over the years. Each site offers a wide range of subjects from unique and intriguing architecture to typical southern French landscapes: wildflowers, sunflower fields, vineyards, forested hillsides, seaside marshes with exotic birds or waves crashing against rocks surrounding fishing villages, the Pyrenees mountain range on the horizon and much more. In addition the sites have been chosen for comfort. On two or three days you will be taken on a longer excursion to some exotic site such as the high Pyrenees or a Catalan village or one of our famous medieval castles.

Because of the high number of quality sites we have researched, we aren’t tied down to a fixed itinerary. We go where the weather is best. On the few days where it may not be comfortable to sit for long periods, we often go sketching here and there and return to the studio at the hotel to work.
 

  Linda Kemp CSPWC, OSA, SCA
Linda Kemp is internationally recognized for her unique contemporary watercolours and innovative use of negative painting. She is the author of the #1 best-selling book, Watercolor Painting Outside the Lines -A Positive Approach to Negative Painting (North Light pub.) and the accompanying video (Teaching Art Videos) by the same title.  She is a contributing writer/demonstrator in Watercolor For the Fun of It - Easy Landscapes by Jack Reid. A full time artist, she frequently instructs and lectures at national symposiums and watercolour workshops throughout Canada,The United States and The United Kingdom.

Kemp is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, The Ontario Society of Artists and The Society of Canadian Artists and is an honorary member of the Society for all Artists. Her paintings and articles have been featured in, Color and Light for Watercolor Painters by C. Schink  and in publications such as Twenty Wonders, American Artist, International Artist, Watercolor Magic, Watermedia Focus, Palette Magazine and The Watercolour Gazette. This artist is profiled in Canadian Who's Who, Who's Who of Canadian Women, The Dictionary of International Biography, The 20th Anniversary Edition of Trivial Pursuit and 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century. Her award winning paintings are in private, public, and corporate collections around the world, including The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, U.K.

Linda's home and studio are nestled in the woods on the Niagara Escarpment in southern Ontario, Canada.
Contact Linda by email studio@lindakemp.com

Limoux -This is the Provence yet undiscovered
The town of Limoux is the home of our base, Hôtel Le Monastère. The medieval streets of Limoux offer every amenity while maintaining the simple charm of a traditional southern French town, unspoiled by tourism. The central square is ringed with cafés, pastry shops, a book store, a variety of specialty food shops and other merchants. Throughout Limoux are restaurants, shops, banks, markets, and a cinema to serve its population of about 10,000. Limoux is a safe and interesting place to stroll on warm summer evenings when families are out in the squares and men play the game of boules on sandy courts under canopies of ancient chestnut and platane trees.

Geography and Climate
The French know the region as "La Petite France" because its relatively small area contains nearly every type of geographical feature existing in the rest of the country. Limoux is located in the Aude River valley, about 100 kilometers from the Mediterranean beaches to the east, the high Pyrenees frontier with Spain to the south, the Toulousean plain to the west and the Cevennes forests to the north. In the nearby Corbières is the semi-arid garrigue where the scents of wild thyme, rosemary and lavender fill the air. A "must visit" is Carcassonne, the largest restored fortified medieval town in Europe, just 25 kilometers to the north.

The weather is pleasant and sunny. Rain is an exception. April through October temperatures generally range from 18° to 30° Celsius (65° to 85° Fahrenheit), with occasional days of 35° C (95° F) in mid-summer.

Hôtel Le Monastère
3, rue de la Mairie, Limoux, France

  Hôtel Le Monastère is situated in the medieval quarter of Limoux, a three-minute stroll from the town square. The Inn is an integral part of the town, as it was in the Middle Ages when it was a monastery. In the 1300s, most of the property was garden and orchard, with the Cordelier Order using the building for grain storage and a wine cellar. The vaulted wine cellar, which appears much as it did 650 years ago, has been described as the best in Limoux for its constant temperature and humidity. In the Middle Ages, the garden was entered through the still-existing stone portal. In the centre of the garden was the monastery's well, which now feeds the Inn's fountain.

The Cordeliers were an order of both monks and nuns under the Franciscans. In Limoux, the order consisted of nuns, who prospered from their flourmill on the Aude River. By the early 1600s, the nuns had amassed enough wealth to construct a new residence on the property, adjacent to the granary and wine cellar. The building was unique in Limoux, following a style popular in Italy employing double-tiered stone arches facing onto the courtyard. At some time during the 1700s, the garden's forged iron pergola was added. After the French Revolution in the late 1700s, the monastery was taken out of religious use and served as a way station for Napoleonic soldiers. It was later bought by a wealthy local family who remodeled the interior as an elegant maison de maître. This latest renovation produced the current 19th century guest rooms, as well as the beautiful spiral staircase to the second floor, with its steps carved from the volcanic stone of the Mediterranean town of Agde.

The London Financial Times describes the Inn as "a luxurious small hotel". Each of its five spacious guest rooms has a tiled walk-in shower. The beds are custom made in the Louis Philippe (sleigh bed) style of the mid-1800s and can comfortably accommodate tall guests. The Inn has a dining room, and several common reading and relaxation areas facing the courtyard. The courtyard garden, with its central fountain, nooks and crannies, and pergola covered with flowering vines is a favourite spot for guests to relax. The generally balmy evening temperatures usually allow us to enjoy our evening meals in the courtyard.

To provide the maximum in comfort and space, we never accept more than 10 guests and no smoking or pets are allowed in any part of the Inn. There is no access to the general public. Our guests have a key to the front door and are free to enjoy any part of the Inn as they would their own home.

This painting adventure is limited to no more than 14 guests. Accomodations are shared. Preference to those people paying for instruction i.e. artists.

The price of our adventures, in addition to guiding and support, includes Saturday morning airport pickup and drop off at Toulouse International Airport, four-star quality hotel accommodation, all breakfasts and dinners (wine included).

This is a Le Monastere Artists Adventure
Welcome to Le Monastère Adventures
We live in one of the most interesting, beautiful, and climate-friendly areas of France. The extraordinary success of Le Monastère Adventures is built on a simple philosophy. The infinite system of country roads is quiet and ideal for cycling. The countryside is semi-wild, full of flowers and birds and wonderful for walking or hiking. The history is deep and fascinating. It is still an authentic area, unspoiled by development. If you want to know what Provence, our next-door neighbour, was like 50 years ago — this is it!

We see our task as eliminating all the pressures and stresses usually associated with visiting a new and foreign region, and allowing our guests the freedom to simply to enjoy everything it has to offer. We meet you at the airport or pick you up at your hotel in Toulouse or Carcassonne on Saturday morning arrival and take you back on Saturday morning departure — so no car rentals or train and bus connections to worry about. Our small, intimate hotel is outstanding in quality and is reserved solely for our 'Adventure' guests. The food and wine is fabulous and you don't have to worry about paying for 'extras'. The principal owners, Chris Georgas and Fabienne Montserrat, and their staff are there to interpret, guide, explain and support all our activities in the region.

An enormous advantage to our guests comes from Chris and Fabienne being a part of the local community. This presents you with a rare chance to 'get under the skin' of a wonderful culture, and even to make friends in and around the town. It is no accident that no less than seven Canadian and American guests of Le Monastère have bought semi-retirement residences in Limoux and have integrated themselves into the local hiking, cycling and painting associations, as well as the wine and food scene.

A Le Monastère Adventure is for the mature and the thoughtfully discriminating person who enjoys new experiences and learning about the local history and culture, as well as having good fun and getting a well deserved rest from the busy life and pressures of home.
 

Adventure
Hôtel Le Monastère will be our home base and painting studio for the duration of the trip. Gord and Linda will lead daily watercolour/sketching lessons and demonstrations in the studio or garden. Then it's off for the day (by van) for sightseeing and painting!

Every day is a new adventure organized by your convivial French and Canadian hosts, who take care of the time-consuming and stressful details usually encountered on self-organized vacations. Each outing has an historical or cultural focus, sometimes coinciding with fairs or other celebrations in nearby villages. You visit wondrous gorges and mountain meadows, ancient villages and hilltop towns, fortresses and castles, abbeys and cathedrals.

Some of our "sorties" are entirely by foot — over an ancient riverside Roman road or along the scenic ridges overlooking the Aude River valley which allows you to breathe the fresh air and meld your spirit with that of the countryside — smell the flowers, hear the birds, feel the breeze on your skin.

Guided outings are offered every day except Wednesdays. But if you wish to go off on your own on a particular day, we provide you with maps, other information, and a bicycle, if you wish.

Tender, Loving Care

Our itineraries are relaxed and provide lots of time to take pictures, taste the delicious local wines, or even pick roadside berries, rosemary and thyme. Your hosts are highly knowledgeable in the history, geography and culture of the region, and liven the outings with interesting history.