Plenty of villages in the Luberon Valley lay claim to les plus beaux villages de France (the most beautiful villages in France), and many of those proudly display Villages Fleuris (flowering villages) emblems on local street signs. Enchanted by weather-worn scenes of charming hilltop hamlets and gently numbed by a glass of …

Diving into Provence Ten years after Peter Mayle’s book “A Year in Provence” was published, Georgina Causton and her partner decided to spend a sabbatical year (1999) in Provence. Completely enchanted by the lifestyle in the South of France they never returned to live in London. Suddenly, they found themselves …

Provencal Coastline Images Even a photographer born in Provence, Camille Moirenc, a South of France native who has spent 30 years photographing the region and has published the same number of books, was surprised at the math. His most ambitious project to date might be “Exposition 438, Notre Littoral” a …

Here’s a suggestion for an interesting art lover’s outing, about an hour’s drive from Aix-en-Provence.  La Commanderie de Peyrassol is not only a successful Var vineyard producing 500,000 bottles of wine a year but is a fast-growing contemporary sculpture park. Continue reading here for details from Lynne’s visit to this vineyard’s modern …

I have always loved gardens, although I have to admit to not being a great gardener myself. A summer garden with deep herbaceous borders, filled with the scent and colour of roses is always a delight and we have some delightful ones around us in the UK, such as this …

Les Vacances! Holidays in Provence en Famille The trip is booked, finally a chance to spend some time in Provence with the family. However, you want this experience to be one that everyone (and every age) will remember with equal amounts of joy. Touring old Provencal villages in a hot …

Goût et Voyage Culinary Travel Martine and I have lunch once a year in Provence, it was my turn to pick the spot and L’Aile ou la Cuisse was a safe bet. Located in the heart of old St Rémy de Provence it’s a restaurant that we had both tried …

Almost 30 years ago, Peter Mayle introduced many of us to the arrière-pays Provençal (rural countryside) for the first time with his internationally best-selling novel A Year in Provence.  The success of that book and his subsequent novels had many primed to book flights to the South of France. If …

The Hotel de Caumont has been open for 5 years now as an arts centre, and this current exhibition,’ Nicolas de Stael in Provence’ has to be the best I have seen here. It focuses on the short time this interesting painter spent in Provence, July 1953-June 1854, when he discovered the …

“The Allure of Provence and its Wines” was previously published in Culinaire Magazine (June 2016). This updated article includes additional reading, travel tips, and details on wine colour production and terminology. Mention Provence to a friend and they likely have a mental image that involves cobalt skies, cicadas and lavender …