Featured Barge: Athos du Midi

Barge Athos du Midi offers private charter cruises for 8 to 10 guests, as well as individual cabin bookings, cruising the Canal du Midi.

The Athos is designed for outdoor enjoyment of the Canal du Midi with a spacious deck and top quality bicycles. Having five cabins makes the Athos the perfect barge for family or friends reunions or the possibility of workshops for painting or writing for instance . Every land visit from Carcassonne to the Mediterranean port of Marseillian is exceptionally well organized and informative.

Danielle and Julian Farrant run a tight ship. Captain Julian entertains guests as a raconteur telling 20 years of anecdotes gleaned while cruising the canal, complete with all the accents. Guests love it. Danielle oversees every aspect of the day to day operations from staff to kitchen to staterooms to maintain their high standard of service.

Athos' chef knows that sublime food and wine is a principle reason to come to France. Each meal aboard the Athos is special, inspired both by the tradition of rich, French cuisine and fresh Mediterranean ingredients. Chef takes passengers on a journey through the very best of the Southern French culinary tradition.

What Makes Athos Special

• Best choice for family gatherings or groups of friends wanting to travel together.
• Excellent for individual cabin bookings as more guests offer more social choices where a party atmosphere quickly evolves.
• Every evening the two hostesses set a very elegant, candlelit table enhancing the delicious gourmet French cuisine and wines.

Learn more about cruising on Barge Athos du Midi, or book your trip at Boutique Hotel Barges.

Recipes from "A Week on the Water": Sticky Toffee Pudding

Founder of Boutique Hotel Barges and "A Week on the Water" author, Hazel Young, is a graduate of the French National Cooking School in Beaune. She has run numerous cooking seminars and culinary cruises aboard her former barge Fandango, and planned the boutique barge's extraordinary menus for over two decades.

STEP ONE Cake Batter

• 175 g (6 oz) dates, chopped in mixer
• 2 cups of water
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 175g (1/2 cup) white flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 50 g (2 oz) butter
• 150 g (6 oz) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put water into a saucepan with salt, add dates and bring to a boil, simmer 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Add baking soda.
Mix butter, sugar, eggs, flour and vanilla into a smooth paste.
Blend into cooled date mixture.
Bake in oven (375ºF190ºC/Gas 5) oven until brown and risen, approximately 35 minutes

STEP TWO Butterscotch Sauce

• 125 g (5 oz) butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 250 ml (1 1/2 cup) cream
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• 6 mint leaves for decoration

Put butter and sugar in saucepan, stir constantly so it doesn’t burn, caramelize until a nice light brown color
Add cream carefully so it doesn’t splutter, bring back to boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off heat, set aside.
To serve, ladle the sauce onto dessert plates, cut squares or circles out of the cake and place onto the warm sauce. Sprinkle with a little icing sugar and place a mint leaf on each.
Serve warm.