Almost the whole of South west France, south of the Garonne, north of the Pyrenean peaks and west to the Atlantic was know for centuries as Gascony. In 1972 it was divided into two by the French government for its own bureaucratic convenience with no historical identity. Toulouse the new capital of the Midi Pyrenees more comfortably belongs to the Languedoc and Bordeaux is now considered as the capital of the new Aquitaine. The inhabitants, however still call themselves Gascons and would have it no other way.

The landscape is more varied than anywhere else in France, gentle undulating hills soften into a plateau that is interrupted by a range of magnificent mountains. At the south-western corner The Pyrenees tumble into the sea and to the north the largest pine forest in Europe the Landes, carpets the terrain all the way to the mouth of the Gironde, the estuary the Garonne flows into. The land is fertile and lends the region to agriculture. In summer the fields are bursting with sunflowers and corn and the vines ripen in the everlasting heat. Every now and then sits a sleepy bastide town, which burst with energy on market days and at times of annual festivals. Coupled with all the historical evidence that Gascony offers, there is no excuse to be bored, just relaxed.

The springs are partly damp and partly like an English summer. In June things really hot up and seem to last forever drifting slowly into a crisp autumn. Occasionally strong Atlantic winds force activities indoors and clear the last of the leaves from the trees ready for a short winter that can be anything from mild or wet to freezing with frost and temperatures as low as minus ten, sometimes with snow. But it never really settles. The Pyrenees in contrast have snow that sits from December to May and now boasts some excellent ski resorts all over the mountain range.

Winters are sleepy but summers are crazy with the population doubling and every town sporting a festival with meals in the street and music in the air. The sizes vary from localised to internationally acclaimed events attracting major stars, such as the Marciac Jazz Festival and the vibrant Tempo Latino with musicians from South America setting Vic Ferzensac on fire for an entire weekend. Fuelled with Spanish influences Gascon festivals are exciting experiences and everyone is made welcome and encouraged to participate. There are even two kinds of bull fighting appropriate to its strong masculine traits, the Spanish ‘corridas' and the bloodless ‘course landaise’ evolving from The Landes. Christmas can be a pretty time with each town trying to outdo its neighbour with sparkling luminous displays.

With low cost flights and new airline routes opening up Gascony is being pulled screaming into the twenty first century, but this is only really evident in the bigger towns and cities. The Gascons pride themselves on their gentle lifestyles and their family priorities. Children play safely in the streets and old people sit on benches in the shade and comment on the latest current event taking place in the world outside. There is a fierce stubborn streak running through the blood of every Gascon, which is highly infectious to the cosmopolitan inhabitants they share their daily lives with. Change is only necessary when it is necessary and to date in Gascony there has been nothing introduced as yet that is better then the way it is. The towns bustle and the countryside relaxes. Gascony remains as diverse as its landscape, as warm as its summers and as generous as its fields. No wonder the French have tried to keep it a secret from the rest of the world.