Contributor blog post by Caroline Longstaffe: Many people dream of owning a winery; a romantic illusion of strolling through carefully tended vines sharing your vintages within the shadows of a sprawling château, which for me would have to be in Provence. Of course, dreams like this seldom come true, such …

Contributor blog post by Caroline Longstaffe: When you leave a place for several months, however much you love it, even somewhere as special as Lourmarin, you find yourself wondering. Wondering if it is really is as magical as the images you have so firmly imprinted in your mind. Wondering whether you’ll …

Contributor blog post by Caroline Longstaffe Don’t you ever wonder when you ask your friends how they are and they always say ‘wonderful’? Really, always wonderful, no-one’s life is wonderful all of the time, is it? I know I’m a sharer, I write a blog after all and admittedly I mostly write about …

Contributor blog post by Caroline Longstaffe: Back in March I wrote about the excitement of returning somewhere special, to Lourmarin, quoting from Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’ “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” I also mentioned that I had an appointment with a real estate agent…. A great deal has happened since then, but …

Contributor blog post by Caroline Longstaffe: It’s December in Provence, snow has already sprinkled its magic across the villages and as the nights draw in and daylights fades each day, a bitter chill drapes itself like a frozen mantle across the dark golden, sprawling vineyards. By early December in Provence …

‘The Sunflower Field,’ my debut novel, is written to honor the ‘few’, of which there were thousands, who during World War II, in words inspired by Winston Churchill, “gave so much, for so many.” In particular for three of those ‘few’, the Polish mathematicians, Jerzy Rozycki, Marian Rejewski and Henryk Zygalski, with …

Contributor blog post by Caroline Longstaffe: I am often asked if I could help to plan a stay in Lourmarin, so voilà! This itinerary would work from any of the nearby Luberon villages, I’ve planned it round my favourite market days, listed below. But don’t rush around too much, allow yourself to …

Contributor blog post by Caroline Longstaff: Last time I told you about Provence’s first Renaissance château, the Lourmarin Château and promised that next time we would peek inside. Here you will find a fascinating and sometimes quite surprising, eclectic collection of treasures, thanks to the legacy of its last private owner, Robert …

Contributor blog post by Caroline Longstaffe: The Lourmarin Château lies on the edge of the fairy tale village of Lourmarin, nestled under the gently rolling hills of Provence’s southern Luberon. Visit it to admire its beautiful antiques, discover its fascinating history and enjoy a musical soirée within it ancient walls. …

Contributor blog post by Caroline Longstaffe: In 2016, Carrières de Lumières hosted the incredible art of Russian Marc Chagall. Yet another maestro’s talent splashed upon the towering walls and floor of a former bauxite quarry in Val d’Enfer, by Les Baux de Provence.  Set to a mystical, musical background the spellbinding spectacle was …