Just below the famous hilltop fortress of Les Baux sits the boutique luxury hotel Benvengudo.  The name means “welcome” in the local language and it couldn’t be more appropriate. Walking into the manicured grounds of Benvengudo is like stepping back in time, to a more simple and gracious era.  The …

If you’ve visited the Saturday Market in Uzes during tourist season and hate the crowds, you should be here in February. The market is almost the same, minus the throngs of people. This weekend’s market day was sunny and cold — a crisp 45 degrees when I set out. …Continue …

Yeah, I won’t lie, there are certainly some perks to being a chef’s wife. You get to be the guinea pig for his latest recipe obsession for one. I get to watch him perfect his talents while I indulge in little tastings. And while my wardrobe may not always be …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: It can be difficult to find stores near you in a foreign country. Your common knowledge of simple store names just isn’t there. If you’re renovating a house in France, depending on where you’re located, this is where you’ll find your building materials: DIY Stores …

Contributor blog post by Vaucluse Dreamer: The last 2 days have gone by in a blur of builders, rubble & dust, but it’s been worth it. Having got rid of the hideous pellet burner (affectionately known as Growler) back in August, we’d been keeping our fingers well and truly crossed …

Almost ten years ago, we bought a run-down house in the Luberon. Actually, it was rather more than a house: it’s un hameau, a hamlet of several buildings overlooking the long sweep of the Luberon hills and the valley. ‘It has a very special atmosphere,’ said the agent who took …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: 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 …

Admittedly the first time I met Ashley Tinker I was a bit distracted, nine (9!) of my girlfriends were visiting Provence, and I was attempting to keep everyone on schedule. Subsequently, I discovered more about Ashley via her blog Curious Provence – a good name for her limitless marvel at the …

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 …