Sid and I set up Sidsmums in 2001 having spent the previous year working hard to turnaround this former “pressoir” from a long uninhabited building into a warm, welcoming and homely base for you to stay.  

Having been fortunate enough to travel extensively in New Zealand, I armed myself with a notebook and made copious notes of what was good, what was bad and what I hoped to find for myself when travelling.  Hopefully you are in agreement and will find that Sidsmums provides you with exactly what you want to make your stay as pleasant as possible.

In order to keep the cost of your holiday to a minimum, we provide you with a fully equipped kitchen so that you can cater for yourselves.  Tea and coffee are provided, as are the basics for your cooking needs - salt, oil, vinegar, spices and herbs, which you can pick yourself in the garden.   There is a small supermarket at the end of the lane, or if you don’t feel like cooking, Le Relais is a first class traditional French restaurant in the village, there is a pizzeria about 10 minutes walk or the truck stop, Chez Leon, is only 3 kms walk to the next village.

The accommodation is varied to suit all pockets and requirements and ranges from dorm beds for the independent travellers, twin and double bedded rooms for couples and cabins for couples or families, or groups of friends wishing to share….  Our guests vary from young travellers on a break from uni, young couples looking for a reasonably priced holiday, older couples wanting a break away from home but with the companionship of other like-minded guests, to families or groups of friends who enjoy the sociability of Sidsmums, and the privacy their room or cabin gives them.             

We have a large garden, with a sunny south facing

terrace and plenty of quiet private areas where you can hide away with a favourite book, or simply doze!  A small library of books is available:  we have cards; we have board games; you can even try your hand at pétanque (boules).

Sidsmums is in the hands of only its second owners!  We bought the property from the grandson of the man who actually built, and then occupied the part we use as the hostel.  The area down below – at street level – which we use as the dorm, is the old wine press.  Preixan vineyards are operated by a variety of owners who used to bring their grapes here to be pressed and made into wine.  When you are sitting on the terrace, soaking up the sunshine, you are actually on the roof of two of the old caves where the wine was stored!

Having explored the area ourselves, we are happy to help you plan walks and tours and  provide detailed maps of the area. We have our own excursion book which we hope you will help us to expand and improve, and we can point you towards castles, caves and abbeys, we can hire you a pushbike or even lend you the dog!   From the best biking roads to the most spectacular view, we are in the know.

Carcassonne with its shops, cafés, restaurants, bars and the medieval Cité are 10kms away. Sidsmums provides a lift each day into Carcassonne to complement the buses

which operate to and from town every day, except on Sundays and public or religious holidays.

When your day of exploring is complete, we are confident that you will find Sidsmums to be a welcoming place where you can relax and unwind - and it is our sincerest hope that you will make some new friends - or get re-acquainted with old friends - while doing so.