Expat living is not for the faint of heart. Surrounded by a new environment, comfortable routines are gone, and even mundane daily tasks require extra consideration and effort. Where to grocery shop? What are the best schools? What about health care? Add a foreign language and different cultural norms to …

Perfectly Provence is the name of this website; it is also a community of over 40 contributors each of whom has a personal connection to the region. The list includes expats who have chosen to make the South of France their home: Phoebe Thomas who writes about travel with kids, …

Paul Shore is a Canadian with a taste for adventure and a flair for writing. Some 20-years ago, he jumped at a work opportunity to live as an expat near the French Riviera. He chose to rent a place in the hill-top village of Saint Paul de Vence. The town …

It took 20 visits to Provence before Keith Van Sickle and his wife decided to make the region their part-time home. A Northern California native, Van Sickle spent his early years on an island in the San Francisco Bay – Alameda, California. “It’s a sleepy town, an oasis of 1950’s …

We asked author Coco Blignaut if she would write a guest post for Perfectly Provence readers about her latest book Puss in Boots in Provence. This children’s tale may spark a travel bug in a few small people, and if you are lucky they may even let you read this novel about …

Susan Guillory does not let a little thing like a mountain range stand in her way. Shortly after returning from an adventure and self-admitted challenge of a lifetime – hiking in the Italian Dolomites – Susan published her first book “Searching for Peter Mayle’s Provence.” Guillory is a Perfectly Provence contributor, …

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 Margo Lestz: The summer holidays are over and it’s time for another “Margo’s Musings.” In these occasional updates, I share news of my books and other projects. This summer was a difficult one in Nice because, as you know, our July was marred by the horrible terrorist …

Patricia Sands is one of those people you cannot get enough of, she is warm, open and always ready for discovery. Bitten by the European travel bug at age 21, Sands spent a year backpacking and exploring local cultures, many miles away from her home in Toronto. Through life’s twists …

Those of you who travel to Provence or fancy a trip sometime soon–or who are lucky enough to live here–no doubt are acquainted with the Provence Guru. The Guru–aka, Jamie Ivey–and wife Tanya traded their London lives for adventures in Provence that spawned four books, and a glossy magazine about …