Community Spirit - Toulouse Property Focus for French Property News

Toulouse is the capital of the Midi-Pyrénées. As the fourth largest city in France after Lyon, Marseille and Paris, this city and the nearby Tarnaise locations of Albi and Cordes-sur-Ciel can offer everything you could want in a place to call home.

To the west you'll find the spellbinding countryside of Gascony and the Atlantic, to the east the Mediterranean Sea, to the south the Pyrénées, and heading north you'll find Fronton, famous for its wine from the Négrette grape.

Flower Power
"Toulouse is one of the most pleasant places to live in France. In French we say où il fait bon vivre," says Emily Kopec, estate agent for Agence Mercure in Toulouse. The city is a mixture of cosmopolitan, contemporary, chic and cool.

Known as the pink city because of its distinctive red-brick architecture, during the Renaissance Toulouse was one of the richest cities in France due to the sale of a unique blue dye made from pastel plants, which flourished on Tarnaise soil.

The merchants were so wealthy they constructed incredibly beautiful and impressive mansions in the city, many of which are still standing today, such as the Place d'Assezat. Toulouse became the centre of this trade and a 'pastel triangle' was identified from Albi to Toulouse to Carcassonne and called the pays de cocagne (the leaves of the plant were formed into a ball, called the coques).

In downtown Toulouse itself, you will find a buzzing cafe culture, chic boutiques and Michelin-starred restaurants as well as trendy cafes that spill over onto the streets, second-hand vintage shops and even a vegetarian restaurant, La Faim des Haricots. If you want to get away at the weekends, you can jump in your car and lie on a beach, hike or ski in the Pyrénées or pop down to Spain - there's a diverse range of choices.

Flying High
Aside from the city's gastronmic attractions and heritage, it is also a world centre for aerospace. Toulouse's international airport in Blagnac is home to Airbus - which employs approximately 15,000 Spanish, German, French and British workers - and is host to the biggest space centre in Europe. It is a place where people come to work as well as visit and this also means property in Toulouse itself can be expensive.

To read the rest of this article, please read this digital version of the July issue of French Property News magazine.