The village is situated in the le Tech river valley, close to the East Pyrenees. The district belongs to Catalonia - the same cultural heritage and language as the Barcelona area - and is part of Lanquedoc-Roussillon Province of France. The distance to the mountaintop (border to Spain) is 5 km and to the Mediterranean some 20 km. The distance to the Roussillon province capital, Perpignan, is some 25 km.
The area is part of the Mediterranean culture & climate, still seen at the small villages at the coast and cultural places around. Eg the king of Mallorca had his summer residence at the beautiful Colliers village. There are still marks from Phoenician, Cartage and Roman presence around. There, in a nearby village, is still a hot bath (senatory) founded by Romans some 2000 years ago.
From a climate point of view, the coast which has been built since the 60's as a 'supplementary Rivera', is one of the warmest regions in France with most sunshine hours during the year. In the summer months the temperature may reach 35-40 degrees C, and you feel it rather hot even in a stone house. In August the whole area & streets & coast & camping areas are crowded by tourists, so if you prefere a mild temperature and peace, choose another season.
The village St Jean Pla de Corts has been founded in the 16th Century, while this part of France was still part of the Catalan semi-kingdom (the centre of which was Barcelona), and was named after a widow Pla de Corts. Here on the mountains where also the Christian Catarrhs hiding, in the 12th century, while the Pope and his Inquisition tried to root out this fraction.
The nearest villages (small towns) are le Boulou (3 km to the east down the river le Tech), where you have the entrance/exit to the Perpignan-Barcelona highway, and Ceret (3 km to the west up the river). Ceret was in the 20's a favourite place for many great painters, like Picasso (who was a Catalan from Barcelona himself), Matisse and others. Still now Ceret is a beautiful small cultural town with a Museum of Modern Fine Arts. Driving the narrow roads for some 2-3 hours, you may reach Andorra, a tax-free heaven between France and Spain.
The Province Languedoc-Roussillon is the largest vine producing area in France, Europe and the World. Ith produces some 40 % of all wine in France, most of it Vine Ordinaire for daily use. Wine is inexpensive (for one Euro you may get two litres of low quality wine direct from a cooperative), and there are many vineyards to visit and wines to drink & taste.
Our house is 100 year old, built of stone, it has a basement and two floors. On the first floor is the living room, a bedroom, a bathroom and a large kitchen, from where you have an entrance to the garden in backyard. Upstairs there are two bedrooms and an empty 'atelier' attic room - which can be used as an extra bedroom or working room.
All necessary equipment & furniture can be found in the house, waiting for the user. Only the own sheets for the bed the visitor is recommended to take with him/her. In the garden it is nice to spend time & eat during the warm season and we have some chair and a table for that purpose.
For the cold season - from November to April - we have an efficient central heating system, which warm up the whole house. For heating we burn oak firewood, to be found in the basement. Oak firewood can be burnt also in the large fireplace in the kitchen.
In the small village you can found almost everything you may daily need: a food shop, bread shop, meat shop, a drugstore, a gasoline station, 3 bars and restaurants, a car garage. Further on you have supermarkets - the nearest some 2 km to Ceret direction - for easy shopping.
While the village St Jean Pla de Corts is situated at the Le Tech River, you have there also a fine and large artificial lake for swimming & bad, or eat in a restaurant. There is another lake for fishing. License for fishing in the river can be obtained from the sport shop in Ceret village (opposite to the Cafe de la Post). For village lake, the license can be obtained from the local Mairie (city hall) office.
In the village you can enjoy many free-time hobbies & sport. You may swim in a lake or the sea, go trekking to the mountain and follow the paths along the Pyrenean trekking system and overnight in small collages & resthouse (Gran Randome). Or you may use one of the four bikes found in the basement of the house, walk along the small roads trough the vineyards, rent a kayak at the sea coast, hunt wild boards on the mountain valleys, and so on.
How to get there ? An easy way from Helsinki is to take a plane to Barcelona, and then take a train or bus to Perpignan. The buss (two connections daily) starts from the opposite to Barcelona Saints (central railway station). In the Perpignan end, the Bus Office is situated 100 meter from the main railway station entrance. The train goes along the coast where you have fine view over the Mediterranean villages. You may also rent a car at Barcelona airport, and drive in two hours (200 km) to the French side of the Pyrenee Mountains
From Perpignan you make a local buss going to Ceret and drop at St Jean Pla de Corts village. The buss stop is just in the front of the railway station entrance, where you have some cafeterias nearby for waiting.
The house is owned by six families, about half of the house users are owners & family, the other half our friends. The house is used yearly during some 25 weeks so it seems to be popular. The owners make their reservations before 15 April and the rest weeks are allocated to our friends, according to the reservation order. On our web pages you can see the Reservations List, telling when it is in use or free. After choosing a week, please send a email to your Host (one of the owners) and to the webmaster, (bert.bjarland@kaapeli.fi).
We charge the visitors a fee for house use, now 10 Euro/day/person, plus a fee for the electricity use (6 kWh = 1 Euro). Look at the el-meter while entering and leaving the house for that purpose.
Our Guests Visitors can use everything found in the house, including the bikes. On the other hand, we expect the visitors to keep the house in a good order. If you use and consume something (wines etc), please find some replacement for you part for the next visitor.
At the house you may found various literature and maps. If you like to make yourself familiar to that district, you may find a Michelin Guide about Roussillon, southern part of the Province. At the web pages you can also read old and recent reports & comments from house visitors.