Pierre-Paul Riquet offered his workers sick pay, holiday pay, monthly pay, equal pay, and he expressed a preference for employing females. Why did he make such a generous and enlightened offer?

Follow this 22-kilometre circuit in Toulouse and discover eight magnificent pigeonniers built between the 17th and 19th centuries. ​

Raimon de Miraval was a troubadour who truly lived his art. This poor knight fell hopelessly in love with the wives of the two brothers who owned the bigger château next door, and in his old age he was tempted to come out of retirement in a bid to save the world, the Cathar world, from destruction by Simon de Montfort and his crusaders.

The obelisk in the lake at Saint-Ferréol only shows itself during times of extreme drought (eg 2022) or when the lake is drained for maintenance (last done in the winter of 2016-17). What is its purpose?

In English, isatis tinctoria is commonly known as woad. In Toulouse it was pastel. Extracting the blue dye from these green leaves was a long and complicated process, but it generated enormous wealth for the region.

Today, it is rare to find the mesturet on the shelves of a boulangerie-pâtisserie or on a restaurant menu. This is a traditional dish made almost exclusively at home, and every ancient family seems to have its own recipe and continues to use it. In many cases, the recipe is a closely-guarded family secret, but I can reveal my own unique version, based on oven-roasted butternut squash.

On 16 October 1685, Louis XIV dispatched four companies of infantry to the town of Puylaurens, 45 kilometres to the east of Toulouse. Their mission? Demolish the Protestant temple and force the townsfolk to convert to Catholicism.

If you visit the parliament building of Toulouse – Le Capitole – you can enjoy many fine and extremely large paintings in the public rooms on its first floor. But on your way up the main staircase, take a moment to admire the painting in front of you. It depicts the first edition of the Floral Games, held in 1324.

How did Pierre Assézat become so rich, he could begin building one of the finest Renaissance mansions in Toulouse? And why did he run out of money halfway through the project? Discover the ups and downs of the pastel trade and the damaging effects of the Wars of Religion.

THE RUINS OF LIANTRAN: DISCOVER ONE OF THE OLDEST PASTORAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE PYRENEES / Liantran has been used by shepherds for around 7,000 years, and it was surveyed by archaeologists for the first time in 2018. What they discovered makes Liantran one of the largest and most complex pastoral sites discovered in the Pyrenees.

WHY ARE THE PYRENEES CALLED THE PYRENEES? / This question has been debated since Classical times, and there is still no clear answer today. Back in the 16th century, the future King Henri IV of France thought he knew why. These mountains were called the Pyrenees because one of his ancestors had ravished a princess inside the cave of Lombrives.

TRANSHUMANCE: THE LONG WALK HOME / The word transhumance derives from two Latin words meaning across (trans) the ground (humus), and more precisely, it refers to a form of mobile livestock husbandry in which herders move their flocks regularly and repeatedly between defined seasonal grazing areas.

PIGEONNIERS: THE INSIDE STORY / Arguably, no creature has had more beautiful homes built for it than the pigeon, and the 6,000 that remain in our region display an astonishing variety of shapes, sizes and styles. This raises an obvious question: why did so many people go to so much trouble to house a bird?

HOW DID LAUTREC GET ITS PINK GARLIC? / ​​Exactly when pink garlic took root in Lautrec is unknown, and its miraculous appearance is, perhaps inevitably, the subject of a legend.

WHAT MAKES ROQUEFORT CHEESE BLUE (OR GREEN)? / Cheese is often associated with bread, either in a sandwich, on a croque monsieur, or during the cheese course at the end of a meal. With Roquefort, this connection is made long before the cheese reaches the gourmet’s plate, and the origin of this fortuitous alliance is the subject of another legend.