SO YOU think it's only a matter of time before you sit down and dash off that best-seller?

Book signings, awards and millions of pounds await if only you could discipline yourself to sit in front of the computer and compose the next Da Vinci Code.
 
If your ambitions are a little bit more modest and you just want someone to have a look at what you can do, give you some tips on the best way forward and have a great break in the sun all at the same time – then here is the holiday for you.

Learning holidays are now all the rage and, at the French House Party at Domaine St Raymond in France's beautiful Languedoc region, you can sign up for a whole range of courses including art, digital film-making, golfing breaks, wine tasting, health and beauty and the one that really caught my eye . . . creative writing.

Just 20 minutes from the astonishing fortress city of Carcassone, home of the Cathars and setting for the Kate Mosse time-switch bestseller Labyrinth, I couldn't imagine a better setting to get the creative juices flowing.

Spending five days of your precious holidays with four complete strangers might not be everyone's idea of a good time but, as I said hello to my fellow classmates over a glass of Champagne as the sun set on the Languedoc, I knew I was in for a treat.

Like characters in a book we had gathered from all corners on Britain, and no one knew how the story would turn out.

There was Ann, a retired English teacher, who had always promised herself such a course. Stef, a lovely outgoing probation officer with a wicked sense of humour.

Tom, an advertising copywriter used to telling his stories in 20 words or less and Stephen who worked in HR and was the recent proud winner of a creative writing award.

We all had one thing in common – a love of words and literature, and a niggling thought in the backs of our minds that one day we might create something for other people to read.

But there are three more vital parts to this story. The house: beautiful, airy and very comfortable. The fantastic food and wine, which was put together by chefs Carl and Debbie Hargreaves and which made every meal memorable.

New-found confidence

And the heroine of our tale is course tutor Sarah Hymas who, from the start, put everyone at their ease and used an amazing array of techniques and games to allow us all to tap into our own creativity.

A poet, puppeteer and published author – to name just a few of her skills – Sarah had us reading out our work within hours of meeting each other and she even found time for a one-to-one tutorial to give advice on a piece of writing we were particularly proud of.

The sessions flew by and we laughed a lot and learned a lot in our open-air classroom which looked out on fields of corn flowers.

An afternoon trip to Carcassone was a particularly brilliant writing exercise where we all combined our separate experiences into one story which spookily fitted together as if written by one person.

No visit to this part of France would be complete without a visit to this magnificent medieval city but it was so crammed with tourists it made Disney World look deserted. I promised myself I would come back and explore on a quiet winter's afternoon when the narrow streets are quiet.

By the time the course had come to an end I had some new friends, a new-found confidence in creative writing and a tighter waistband on my trousers thanks to all that good living.

I'd even started to scribble down the beginnings of a children's book based on bedtime stories for my seven-year-old daughter about a glow worm… called Graham.

The Graham stories have never been committed to print and are purely on-the-spot creations designed to make daughter promise to go to sleep - but after this course who knows? He might be unleashed to a waiting world.

The French House Party has quite rightly been named top learning retreat in the 2008 National Geographic book “The 100 Best Worldwide Vacations to Enrich Your Life”.

Beautiful countryside, lovely people, amazing food and a really gifted tutor, all combined to release that inner author.

I flew home imagining how long the queue would be at my first Waterstone's signing...

See www.frenchhouseparty.co.uk for more details on all the courses.
The next creative writing course is from June 24 to June 28. It costs £750 for an individual booking but is cheaper for larger groups. The cost includes all meals and wine and transfers to and from the airport.
Flight costs are not included.