Mas Cabardès has always welcomed incomers and there are long term residents from Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland within the village.  More recently expatriates from USA, Australia, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Canada, Ireland and elsewhere, as well as other parts of France have established themselves on a full or part time throughout the year.  The following tells us a little about some of them.

Joyce and Mike Timms.
Joyce and Mike are a complete vindication for reputation of the Irish.  Their wit and charm is legendary. They have a full time home in Ireland but they have owned a house in Mas Cabardès for over 12 years.  During that time they have become important figures within the village.  Mike is a member of the Petanque club and can be relied upon to enliven any match though possibly not help his team win it.  He is also an authority on wine and it is always a pleasure to go to a local domaine with him.  Within minutes he will be exchanging anecdotes with the vigneron.  The only downside is that tastings can go on for rather a long time.  Since retirement Mike has become interested in pilgrimages and has completed some extremely impressive long distance walks in France and the UK.  Some notes on his walks in France / Spain can be downloaded here  and details of this English pilgrimage here.   More importantly he has resumed his acting ambitions and examples of his work are also available.  Joyce has also now retired from .work but that has in no way reduced here activities.   She does a huge amount of voluntary work is an enthusiast at keeping fit, a qualified first aider, a superb hostess and runs youth activities in Ireland.  She also enjoys her role as grandparent of Leo.  Their daughter Suzanne likes Mas Cabardès so much that she chose to have her wedding there in 2012.  Some photos of the Irish teaching the French how to have a fun wedding party can be seen in the photo galleries section of this site.

Margaret Woodward and Justy Phillips
Margaret and Justy are about the most distant expatriates in Mas Cabardès coming all the.way from their full time home in Wagga Wagga, Australia.  They have a charming house in the village and are doing extensive restoration work on the property.  They are both working artists and have plans to set up an artists retreat within the village. They are both keen gardeners and manage to produce superb vegetables despite not being here all the time. They have a blog about their restoration works which can be read here

Chris, Monica and family
Chris and Monica come from London. Chris was introduced to the village by his sister Felicia Russell North who used to run the Fleur de Felice chambres d'hote next door to the post office. He immediately decided that he had to have a place of his own here. In addition to previously working in local government and as a wedding photographer he is an enthusiastic do it yourself expert. Though he is not a professional the standard of his work would put many tradesmen to shame. He has helped many of the other ex pats in the village with technical advice and practical help.

Paulette Pielquin
Paulette who originally came from Belgium has now returned to Mas Cabardes.  Last year she decided to move to Narbonne but now she has seen the light and realises where here friends are.She has a business correcting the grammar and prose of her clients websites and publicity documents. We are all glad to see her back again.

Celia and Brian Cohen  
Celia and Brian come from Oxford.  Celia was The OpenUniversity's Director for Students in the South of England before she retired and has since become one of her own students!.  Brian is a software designer and though partly retired retains his fascination with computers.  For his sins he has designed this web site.  They have two sons,  Zeb and Zac both of whom love Mas Cabardès and come whenever work permits although Zac and his soon to be wife Sarah will be in Thailand for two years from August 2105.  The Cohen's remaining dog Lulu, the most amiable of animals maintains that she is in charge of the whole village from her command and control position next to the statue of David on their terrace

Ken and Maura Cooke
Ken and Maura are the second Irish family to come to Mas Cabardes.  Ken is an inspirational   schoolteacher still working in Ireland but coming to Mas to recover each year from the stress of modern teaching.  It is impossible to chat with Ken without regretting that you did not have a teacher like that.  He is an authority on wine and has spent much time enjoyably exploring the region and the nearby secondary region of Minervois.  

Lance Sims and Mary Offermann
Lance and Mary come from California and have a delightful farmhouse on the road to Miraval. Lance is an architect and has used his building skills in developing and improving their property. They seem to have at least a century's work planned. Mary is a distinguished painter who has run many painting courses firstly in La Bastide and then their house in Miraval.  Mary's work can be seen on her website here

Thierry Lardin
Thierry returned to Mas after many many years in Canada, continuing his Canadian work as a steel specialist in the  construction industry but based in Mas. He is  bi lingual and we hope he will be able to translate this site into French and further bridge any gaps between the French and English speaking residents. 

Alix, Hocine, Eliot, Naim and Jasmine Allalou
Alix, Hocine and family come from Toulouse. They bought their house in Mas Cabardes in 2001 and have done extensive renovations. Their delightful house is typical of Mas Cabardes in that it is cut into the mountainside with the interesting effect that you go up two stories in order to get into the back garden. Alix is a librarian and teacher in a Toulouse Lycee and she is  bilingual.  Hocine teaches drawing, painting and pottery in Toulouse cultural centers. Eliot works in the printing trade and the other two children are still at school. Like all the other expats they have fallen under the spell of Mas Cabardes. They come as often as school and work allows.

Jane and David Weir
Jane and David came here through Jane’s longstanding friendship of 46 yrs. with a Languedoc family. A property within striking distance of Beziers was sought in 2006 and the French couple, and the Weirs, were drawn to Mas Cabardes. A Scottish couple, David had a career in insurance, including his own business.  David now writes novels, comedy sketches and currently produces comics.  He recently published a new comedy novel, Journal Off An Island Spinster. They have two adult children a grandaughter and a rescued French dog, Miel, who comes from Beziers. Sadly, after a long illness Jane died in August 2018. 

Emeline Fevotte and Patrick Schroeter
Emeline and Patrick bought the forge in the village and have renovated it. It is now a fully working metalworking design and fabrication busines. Patrick is a metalworker and furniture designer. Some examples of his work can be seen on his website here .

Their son Achille was born in 2014 and with Fedora the dog are often seen around the village although  Emeline has now returned to her work.

Mike and Jacqui Langley
Mike and Jacqui come form Vermont in the United States.  They have lived in various parts of the USA having moved to Vermont from Hawaii by way of New York City.  They have an elegant house in Rue Basse which they are extensively renonvating.  Jacqui is a Professor of English and also teaches videography, hopefully she can be persuaded to provide some video clips for this site.  Mike works in sales and marketing in real estate.  They have three adult children. Like all people who have come to Mas Cabardès they have fallen under the spell of the village.

Michael Whiteside and Vivien Carter
Michael and Vivien come from a hill village on the border between Yorkshire and Lancashire called Todmarden.  Being used to hills and mountain roads they feel fully at home in Mas Cabardes. Michael is an engineer, which is as well, as they are doing a very major renovation project on their house in the Impasse de Caniard.  His skills will be put to good use there.  In the past he was a showjumber and is also an expert designer of showjumping courses.  Vivien is a teacher who broadened her experience by working in industry for many years before returning to teaching. She is also a magistrate and a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester. She was awarded an MBE in the 2007 honours list.  Despite her distinguished career she still finds time to enjoy the peace of Mas Cabardes.

Anne Kerleo and Nathan Richmond
Nathan is an American academic, a professor of political science. He teaches at Utica College in upstate New York for the fall semester and teaches online from Mas Cabardes during the spring semester. His special subjects are International Relations, European politics, and Russian politics. He has also taught political philosophy at The American University of Paris. He had a great Petanque ‘debut’ in July 2015! Anne is from Paris and a former journalist in the field of new communication technologies. She is totally bi-lingual. Anne fell in love with Languedoc in 2001 when visiting her daughter who lived then in Narbonne. In 2002, while visiting houses in several villages, she fell under the charm of a Mas Cabardes home which, she says, was ‘just there’ waiting for her. After retiring as a journalist, she taught international journalism and French as a foreign language. Nathan and Anne were married in Mas Cabardes in August 2011. They are both very attached to Mas.

Albert and Gilmore Williams
Albert and Gilmore come from Shefffield.  Gillmore worked for many years for the Royal Mail and then later as an administrator for a cycle training company.  He is a keen cyclist and is looking forward to exploring all the local paths.  Albert has a degree in fine arts and worked as the administrator and front of house manager for an art gallery.  They have two adult sons.  They are carrying out huge renovations to the house they have bought in Mas Cabarded and look  to be working on it for a long time.