Pézenas

Pézenas is a town of about 9,000 inhabitants about 20km north of Béziers in the south-east region of France known as Languedoc-Roussillon. It has a big theatre and arts thing going on and is the main town for a major wine and heritage area (but then again, aren't all the areas in France major wine and heritage areas). It's quite well located, with the sea (Cap d'Agde, Sete, Serignan), the mountains (and an amazing lake at Salagou), the Canal du Midi and Beziers all being about a 15-20 minute drive. Montpellier is only about 45 minutes away and you can probably get across the border into Spain within a couple of hours. Everywhere you drive, there are vineyards including a Muscat area at Frontignan.