Every design for Castres

Castres grew rich on wool, leather and paper, and the houses its weavers, dyers and tanners built in the seventeenth century still stand with their feet in the Agout. The river crosses the town from north to south together with the Durenque, while the Thoré traces most of the south-eastern boundary before joining it.

Few towns of this size hold quite so much. The town hall occupies the former bishop's palace designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the architect of Versailles, and its Jardin de l'Évêché was laid out by André Le Nôtre. The Musée Goya is one of the country's important collections of Spanish painting, and the Centre National et Musée Jean Jaurès honours the socialist leader born here, whose statue stands in the centre. Add the Parc de Gourjade, a busy industrial base, two Natura sites in the hills around and Castres Olympique, the rugby club that has stayed in the top division for decades, and you have a town with plenty to be proud of.

Wherever you follow the CO from now, take a little of this with you: the houses on the water, Le Nôtre's garden and the river that made the town.