For a small medieval town set on a hill above the Mediterranean coast, Biot enjoys an impressive reputation more usually associated with far bigger and better-known cities. But Biot is no ordinary town, as anyone who knows anything about real estate Biot will tell you.

Built up to 2,500 years ago on a hilltop four kilometres from the coast between Antibes and Nice, the town has become and epicentre for glass-blowing in France.

Historically Biot, which has become extremely popular with house-hunters looking for South of France property for sale, was associated with pottery, its fine soil, rich in clays, sand, manganese and volcanic tufa lends itself to the manufacturing of ceramics.

But more latterly the town, which is surrounded by some of the most luxurious South of France property for sale, has become famous for its glassworks.  The glass made in Biot is typically clear or coloured transparent glass with small bubbles inside, distinguishing it easily from other glasswork.

The first glassmakers settled in Biot in the 18^th century, where they began to make functional glassware such as oil lamps and jars. Initially their work was not thought of as anything beautiful, but merely functional.

But the glasswork created in Biot today is widely regarded as some of the most beautiful in the world.  There are now more than a dozen glass workshops in the town, where visitors can watch the glass being made.

La Verrerie de Biot, which was founded in the town in 1956, is one of the largest workshops in the south of France. After a busy day viewing real estate in Biot a tour around the family-run business is highly recommended. La Verrerie de Biot also runs glass-making courses where you can learn to make glass yourself.

Another string to Biot’s bow is the Musée National Fernand Léger, where many of the works of the French painter, sculptor, mural mosaic maker and film producer are exhibited. Léger’s widow donated the collection to the French government after the artist’s death in 1955 and five years later the museum was opened in the presence of Léger’s close friends Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall.