We will be based in Vaison La Romaine, a lively town not far from Orange and Avignon, in a centre long used for choral singing.

It's a fascinating town with well-preserved Roman remains, a medieval old town and a bustling centre with plenty of bars, restaurants and a fabulous market. The surrounding countryside is wonderful for walkers, cyclists, climbers and river sports. We are easy walking distance from the centre but bikes can be hired if you want to explore further afield.

Vaison is well used to the sound of singing as, every three years it becomes the setting for “Les Choralies”, a week long festival for choirs, culminating in a mass concert held in the Roman arena. The arena, buried under earth until the beginning of the 20th century, is still under going restoration but is open to the public and is used for outdoor performance in the summer, including a contemporary dance festival in July.

We will be based at le Moulin de Cesar, a commercially owned and well run cultural centre. Accommodation will be in shared twin rooms and the price will include breakfast and a buffet style lunch. Though the food at the centre is excellent, with such a wealth of places to eat out to suit all budgets we have not included dinner, with the exception of the arrival evening, as we think people will prefer to make their own arrangements. Subject to availability a limited number of single rooms may be had for a supplement. We strongly advise very early booking!

We have chosen the venue carefully to make travel as easy as possible. To minimise the carbon footprint and (in our opinion) to have the most stress free and easy journey, we recommend you take the Eurostar to Lille, then change onto the TGV to Avignon. The new St Pancras station is now finished so anyone arriving at King’s Cross won't even have to change stations. It takes about six hours from London and we can arrange shared taxis for those people arriving at the same time. Vaison is a little under an hour’s drive from Avignon.

Various airways fly to Avignon including Jet2 from Leeds and Manchester.

Those wishing to make an extended holiday of it might wish to take their own cars and though it’s a long drive, much of it is on motorway or fast roads.