It takes just under 2 hours to get to Uzes from Aix and is well worth the visit. It’s a charming little town (pop. just over 8,000) which is unspoiled by modern developments. And it has a terrific Saturday market. So what is there to do? Perhaps because it was …

Now open! The 2016 show at the Carrieres de Lumieres at Les Baux de Provence – it’s ‘Chagall: Songes d’Une Nuit d’Eté’. What a treat this should be! If you haven’t visited before, this is a unique venue, a disused quarry where 100 projectors transmit images across the 14m high walls and …

Network Provence has been set up for local women to promote their businesses. I attended one of their meetings in Aix back in November and really enjoyed learning about activities being set up. There are so many women who find themselves in Provence and set up businesses to fit around their …

The number of large cranes gives us a clue to the scale of the construction projects going on in Aix at the moment. Thirty projects are underway on just ten of them, including the building of a great new music venue, a new centre for digital industries and start-ups, a …

Last autumn, it was announced that two mansions in centre ville were for sale. The town authorities wished to divest themselves of buildings which weren’t functional and cost too much to maintain. Now there is some progress to report on one. The Hotel de Valbelle, currently the sous-prefecture, in rue Mignet, …

The repaving of the area outside the tourist office has been completed and I was really hoping for something a bit more attractive and tourist-friendly – some benches for instance wouldn’t go amiss. And why has Cezanne just been plonked down on the ground? The Cezanne statue and the market …

Aix-Centre-ville has been graffiti-free since Madame le Maire waged war on the taggers, paying a company to remove them within 48 hours. And she was surely right to do so, as much of it was just a mess. But increasingly, resourceful shop owners are decorating their store fronts by using …

This doesn’t take place until June but, if you are into this kind of event, it might be worth putting on the calendar now. Dozens of planes will converge on the Istres Air Base for this show, which takes place every five years. There will be Mirage jets, drones, and …

Here’s a recommendation for lunch, which will take you right off the beaten track and far away from tourist groups. Don’t read on if you are looking for fine dining and sophistication. Chez-le-Garde won’t offer you that. But for me, it was a truly Provencal experience a great lunch place …

The traditional cafes in the Cours Mirabeau rarely serve patisseries with their morning drinks… and I never have the nerve to produce one out of a bag, which is what you can do in so many French villages. So I am often on the lookout for somewhere to get a …