Before my recent trip to Provence, I didn’t know much about the area other than it was known for its lavender and pastis. It’s only 3.5 hours from Marseille to Nice, so I figured it couldn’t be that hard to find a place to stay. Despite its relatively small size …

The bull running, local village fêtes, pastis and rosé drinking aren’t slowing down just yet. Here is my selection of the many events going on this month, primarily in the Bouches du Rhône region of Provence. As you can see, I’ve favoured village festivities because these are the hardest to …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: The lovely Canaletto exhibition at the Hotel Caumont has been extended to 20th September giving us all an extra week to enjoy these masterpieces. See review here. Next up is ‘Les Collections du Prince de Liechtenstein’ which will run from 7th November until 20th March. …

We had barely walked 3km from our meeting point, but we were utterly lost in the architecture and history of Arles. My husband and I were in Arles for our annual trip to the sous-prefecture to request the forms for the renewal of our long-stay visas. This process involves getting …

Samantha Mureau’s career in search of the latest fashion and style trends brought her to Europe on too many occasions to count. Now, she runs Trendline Europe from Aix en Provence in the South of France. You can read more about Samantha and Discovering Designers an event that she recently …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: Marseille-focus next weekend begins on Friday night with a special edition of Thalassa on France 3. Called Marseille plus belle la mer, it’s the first in a series of programmes celebrating Thalassa’s 40 year run. It is one of France’s oldest TV programmes. Starting at …

This year has been the toughest yet to get into a blogging rhythm. For many reasons. Firstly I’m eight months pregnant and if this last week is anything to go by our little one wants to come and meet the world sooner rather than later. Around the same month…Continue reading …

Contributor blog post by aixcentric: Welcome back to the blog! I hope that you have had a good, restful summer despite the high temperatures in town. No such problem in Angleterre this summer! Walking around Aix this week was lovely – I had almost forgotten how blue the sky is, …

Contributor blog post by Access Riviera: Ouch. Cannes has been voted Number 10 place in the list of 2015’s unfriendliest cities of the world as rated by a Readers’ Choice Awards survey by Condé Nast Traveler (and in 2014 they did not fare much better; they claimed Number 2 spot …

Now is the time to pick wild figs in Provence. White and violet figs alike are ripe on the wild ‘figuier’ trees that grow anywhere close to water sources here in Provence. I’m always amazed how these resistant (almost invasive) trees can root themselves between rocks and grow 30 feet …