Val Wineyard Publishing

 Published 23rd June 2014  Sold out 31st December 2017

   As a result of her interest in the region of Rennes-le-Château and it's mysteries, Val started exploring other villages and hamlets in the region, leading to the conclusion that the whole area resonates with - what?  Something very special - perhaps the way one mystery always unfolds and reveals another.

  Alet-les-Bains is situated between Carcassonne and Quillan in the High Valley of the Aude, specifically between Limoux and Couiza.  It has a by-pass so maybe that's why so many people miss it.  English-speaking people go there as The Angel Gallery is a popular venue, a healing place, a gallery for Lorrie's paintings and sculptures, a beautiful boutique and a tea garden.

   
  The gallery - and Lorrie herself

 But also, in the rest of the town you find yourself in another world, one that played a prestigious role in the history of the region, being a major trading centre in Celtic and Roman times, a religious centre in the Middle ages, a healing centre and a masonic town in the late 19th century.

  That sounds very dry!  As you wander around the village centre, with incredible 12th century stonework and 16th century half-timbered houses, you will start to see strange signs everywhere and unusual statues that will send you on a fascinating voyage of discovery, much more pagan and heretic than one would expect from a cathedral town.  What, for example, is the significance of the lion?  Val tells all!

      
  Chapters explain the trading centre on the River Aude, the Roman road over the mountain, the Black Virgin in the church, the burials under the cathedral floor, the Secrets of the Lion, the man who told the future, (Nostradamus), the American who gave his life for France, the man who worked as a cook for the Tsar of Russia - and maybe even the place up the hill where Jesus and Mary Magdalene passed so long ago.

  Well, the last copy of this book has sold on the 31st December, 2017.  It was already out-of-date, for The Angel Gallery, often called "Lorrie's Angels" closed in September 2015 - just days after I moved to Couiza to be near them!

  We will not be publishing another edition.  Alet-les-Bains is not so interesting without Lorrie's Angels, I miss them still.