Contributor blog post by Jemma: Vous devez croire! Ah, oui, vous devez absolument croire! Sabine says across the lunch table. Her rich, tenor voice is insistent. She spreads her bejeweled fingers wide. You have to believe! You. Absolutely. Have. To. Believe! The LIFE machine will revolutionize my, well, life. Or …

This place is just gorgeous. It was the home of Pierre Salinger, President Kennedy’s press secretary and spokesman, and his fourth wife Poppy. He chose this 17th-century mill on the river Sorgue for retirement in 2000, having sworn that if George W Bush was elected president he would quit the …

Well, it’s missing some art on the walls, and a few finishing touches. This is the result of the upstairs room from our renovation in Provence. Behold the Bedroom Reveal! I just love the stairs. Blue wasn’t planned. It just seemed to happen! The high ceilings make the room feel …

As a treat for Robin’s birthday, and the ongoing thanks he deserves for our renovation, we stayed for 2 nights at a charming boutique B&B, Mas d’Augustine, near to Uzès in Languedoc-Roussillon. Mas d’Augustine is a former silk farm that was built in the late 18th century. …Continue reading here for …

This tiny garden of ours has endured quite a lot since we started renovating last December. There’s been so much debris, stones, machinery, and all sorts to the point where we often could barely get in and out! It’s not much to work with, but I think it’s improved enormously. …

Friends often ask me “how do you spend your day in Uzes? Since you’ve asked, here’s an example of one day this week. I started the day with café crème and a treat, pain au chocolate, at a local cafe with friends. We were all heading for French class at …

Cantilevered to a Luberon hillside are the striking remains of an ancient oppidum and its defensive dry-stone walls; Gordes can rightly boast about its ranking among les Plus Beaux Villages de France. However, at the height of Provence’s tourist season this town, with its single thoroughfare, becomes a ghastly traffic …

Have you ever thought about owning a B&B? I certainly have. For years I could see myself entertaining guests in an antebellum mansion. Or in a sprawling Victorian farmhouse. I’d serve a breakfast stacked high with crispy bacon and fluffy pancakes — “your choice of banana, berry, or chocolate chip …

Hidden high in the hills above the village of Rustrel lies a true Provençal oasis of tranquillity. Enveloped by woods, hills, and fields of lavender, le Clos de Rohan is the Provence you are looking for. From the moment you enter the grounds, this soothing retreat will delight the senses, whisk …

Contributor blog post by Access Riviera: I’m a non-smoker and always have been. I’ve lived with smokers, I have family members who smoke, I have friends who smoke. I don’t begrudge anyone’s choice to smoke cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars or pipes. What I DON’T like is when smokers think its their …