Armchair Travel Provence Orgon Village Alpilles
Books on ProvenceDeborah LawrensonInspire

Provencal Armchair Travel: Mary Stewart’s Madam, Will You Talk?

I love Mary Stewart’s romantic suspense novels: their sense of adventure and intriguing storylines, their strong-willed heroines, and most of all, their transporting settings. Her first, published in 1955, was Madam, Will You Talk?. Book Review The narrative takes place around 1950, in a hot, dusty Provence where Roman ruins …

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Nicolas de Stael Menerbes view Opede le Vieux
Artists Inspired by ProvenceInspire

Who was Artist Nicolas de Staël and his Connection to Le Castellet in Ménerbes

One trail always leads to another…and so my discovery that the cookery writer Elizabeth David lived for some months in a large house in Ménerbes far more associated with another famous name from the 1950s inevitably made me want out find out more about the artist Nicolas de Staël. Who …

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Author Elizabeth David Menerbes Sketch
Books on ProvenceInspire

Discovering Author Elizabeth David French Country Cooking at Ménerbes

Of all the British women writers of the mid-20th century, perhaps cookery author Elizabeth David brought the most colour and sensuousness to the page – and the table. When she wrote about aubergines, courgettes, garlic and aromatic herbs, these were exotic rarities in the grey of Britain’s post-war rationing, and …

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Resistance Wireless operators @deb_lawrenson
Books on ProvenceDeborah LawrensonInspire

French Resistance WWII Secret Landings in the Vaucluse

Tales of the French Resistance during World War II have an enduring appeal. The wooded paths and mountain plateaux in the Vaucluse made ideal terrain for the secret fight to liberate France, and clandestine airdrops of arms and agents by the British RAF are the stuff of legend around the …

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lavender fields provence @deb_lawrenson
Deborah LawrensonInspire

Provencal Lavender – off the beaten track

When the lavender is harvested in Provence at the end of July, a heavenly scent is carried on warm evening breezes. Alerted by the first wafts of perfumed air, from our terrace we can sometimes see the smoke rising from the other side of a small ridge. The distillation has …

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Luberon Views @deb_lawrenson
Deborah Lawrenson

A Hamlet in the Luberon

Almost ten years ago, we bought a run-down house in the Luberon. Actually, it was rather more than a house: it’s un hameau, a hamlet of several buildings overlooking the long sweep of the Luberon hills and the valley. ‘It has a very special atmosphere,’ said the agent who took …

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