Provence’s pine forests, Mistral winds and the summer symphony of the cigales fuel Tracy Rawles’ creative writing. Rawles published her first book Charlie’s World of Glittering Powers, in November 2015. Charlie is a cigale, a cicada (or at least inspired by the cicadas), this is a description of the book’s central …

I’m a real Francophile and have stayed in more than one hundred towns, cities, villages and hamlets in France. Twenty-two of these have been in Provence, the shortest for one night, the longest for four months. Every time I plan a trip to Provence, the dilemma is where to choose… …

Recently, we introduced you to Shutters and Sunflowers, a blog about the Provencal landscape and many other things that inspire Caroline Longstaffe to write. Please read the full story here. The Longstaffe family lived in Provence for about 18 months in 2012-13 and were smitten. We asked Caroline if she …

What promises did you make for 2016? No dessert? More exercise? Less rosé? (are you crazy!) Or is this the year that you have decided to learn to speak French? If your resolution is to improve your Français communication skills, then Véronique Bienfait is here to help you with language services …

Before we moved to France I had read Peter Mayle’s account of his idyllic year in the Luberon region of Provence, and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, when planning our great escape from the grey-skied rat-race that is the City of London we never contemplated moving to the Luberon. Somehow it …

The Chief Tasting Officer (CTO) at Scaramouche Artisan Glacier is Author Elizabeth Bard’s husband Gwendal. This Franco-American couple is jointly forging a sweet career path in the village of Cérèste. Fueled by the seasonal flavours of their new home in Provence, Elizabeth and Gwendal determined that their careers should be …

We’ve been back home for a week and our tans are fading, so it’s time to return to my own A-Z of the Vaucluse as a way of helping to keep me going over the next few weeks until we travel down for another visit. This week I move onto …

What could be more relaxing than a massage in the heart of the Parc naturel régional des Alpilles? Nancy Gandon was born across the Rhône River from the Palais des Papes, in Villeneuve lez Avignon a village with this tagline “La Provence côté Languedoc.” The mighty river serves as the …

It takes vision to launch any new business. In Provence where tour companies are as plentiful as olive trees and sunshine it also requires passion. Dawn Slieter calls her company Simply France with Dawn as that is what she is trying to share with clients – the simplicity of life …

France got in the way of Spain. That might be the way Paul Shawcross would describe his first taste of France in 1979. His plan was to drive through France en-route to discovering Spain. He stopped at a campground in Millau, part of the amazing Tarn River Gorge. It was …