The Canal de Midi , that incredible engineering work by Paul Riquet, flows by Beziers only a few kilometres from Thezan. One of its great attractions is that, to get past Beziers the canal has to drop dramatically and it does this by dropping through seven locks just outside the city.
This place attracts a terrific fascination to all comers , just the movement of canal boats and barges through the seven locks is a marvel of hydraulic engineering , all the more so when you realise that it is unchanged since Riquet opened it in 1681- a breathtaking 330 years ago.

Once the canal has dropped through the locks it then passes towards Beziers where it then performs another feat of wonder by passing on a Pont Canal over the River Orb.

Síle and I decided to walk along this canal path for the first time yesterday.
It is a lovely walk and the tow path over the river gives superb views of Beziers. (Not at it’s best yesterday though , being dull and overcast)

But it was when we were walking along the side of the canal , on a wide part obviously intended to be somewhere that barges could be moored , called the Quai de Port Neuf when we spotted across the water an extrordinary building which we went to investigate.

On closer inspection it proved even more extraordinary. In what I suppose is the Art Noveau style it was decorated in a wonderfully flamboyant fashion.
The stairway window was protected with a marvellous iron grille .

The door was a masterpiece on its own , and the walls were decorated with beautiful over the top medallions and cartouches .

Over the door was the name of the building, Villa St. Felix.

There was a car parked outside and the house showed every sign of being cared for and lived in.

I would love to know something of its history.