Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: The pottery market at Bonnieux is one of the many events happening this upcoming Easter weekend in Provence. This is one of my favourite pottery markets not only for the artists but for the location. Bonnieux is one of the hilltop towns located in the …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: The bakeries are full of hand made chocolate, the church bells have stopped ringing last Thursday only to burst to life on Sunday morning, and just about everyone is planning a large meal that is sure to include some local lamb and spring veggies. The …

Contributor blog post by Access Riviera: The first Festival des Jardins de la Côte d’Azur is a new event for the region and will take place from today until 01 May 2017. Debut edition of the Festival des Jardins de la Côte d’Azur The theme is ‘L’éveil des sens’, translated …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: La Jeune Fille de XVIII Siecle: The Young Girl from the 18th Century I found this curious book some time ago. When you search for it on the internet, it’s prefaced with “nos petites grandes mères” or “our little grandmothers.” I love etchings and engravings …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: Punnets full of the best tasting strawberries you’ve ever imagined have arrived at the local veg shop. There are new leaves on the trees and yes, it’s my birthday month! The locals say that the season officially starts at Easter. To mark this, it …

In the centre of the pretty village of Saint Saturnin les Apt is a peaceful square (home to the vibrant Tuesday morning market), and to one side is a small garden area that sits in front of a dramatic stone wall, which is a memorial to the dramatic and devastating …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: The ‘Festival des Jardins de la Cote d’Azur’ looks to be an interesting new venture. It runs every day from 1st April to 1st May in Nice, Cannes, Grasse, Antibes and Menton. There are two sections to this festival. The first will be 10 gardens specially …

It’s Academy Award season, and as it was with me a year ago when I wrote of Marcel Pagnol, I am drawn back to Provence, in fact to his hometown of Aubagne. On this occasion it began last fall when I was discussing with my wife Benedicte, who is French, …

Pierre Bonnard loved his home at Le Cannet – he painted his wife Marthe in the bath, the cats in the dining room, the splendid colours of his garden and naturally his view of the sparkling Mediterranean. Le Cannet now has the world’s only museum dedicated to the artist, …Continue …

In the past, most language classes followed a similar scholastic approach, typically involving the memorisation of verbs, tenses and sentence structures. The process is the same whether students were attempting to conquer one of the romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian or Catalan), a Germanic tongue, a Slavic dialect or …