When you leave a place for several months, however much you love it, even somewhere as special as Lourmarin, you wonder. Wondering if it is as magical as the images you have so firmly imprinted in your mind. Wondering whether you’ll feel the same when you return. And then you do …

Orgon is a Provencal town with a reputation problem. To appreciate the town’s history and its dramatic natural backdrop, on the edge of the Alpilles, you need to veer off the Route Nationale 7 (N7) and stroll through the old streets to discover the charms of Orgon. Steady vehicle traffic …

As you know I’m a real sucker for the local markets and can happily spend a whole week visiting them in turn, sitting in a café having a ‘grand-crème’ whilst watching the world go by and heading home with a basket full of the wonderful local produce, perhaps with a …

One day while driving through the Gorges de la Nesque, we “needed” a place to stop to have an apéritif before heading to Venasque for dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, les Remparts. My husband suggested Monieux since he had passed through the village on his bike in the …

Over the summer one of our favourite cycle rides took us to the delightful boulangerie at Simiane-La-Rotonde, just across the border from us towards Banon in the neighbouring Department of Alpes de Haute Provence. The boulangerie itself is worth the hour-long uphill cycle, but it’s not the only attraction as …

At the top of Banon, located in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department, there is the prettiest group of houses all bedecked with flowers, whose colours change depending on the season. This is absolutely one of the most photogenic spots if you are looking for charm. Additionally, as you continue to walk up …

Our village in Provence is surrounded by small wine-making villages, the closest of which is Séguret, about 1.25 miles northeast of Sablet. As you can see in the picture below, Séguret is elevated above the vineyards that separate Sablet from Séguret and wraps around the bottom of a steep hill topped …

What we’ve realised since we bought the house this time last year is that there is no really bad time to cycle in Provence. Yes Summer is hot, but speaking as a‘mad dog’ I’m very happy to go out in the mid-day sun and to be honest it gives us …

Contributor blog post by Michel: We frequently take day trips from Sablet to explore the hilltop villages of the Luberon. To get there, we drive down the D4, a scenic route that takes you across Carpentras before it becomes a narrow winding road flanked by cherry orchards until it passes below …

Bedoin is a village, in the Vaucluse, that grows on you. At first it may not appear to be as polished or refined as some of the other popular villages in the area. But give it a chance. Wander the streets and enjoy the atmosphere, the frenzy of excitement as …