Provence; anyone been there?

Hi,

Just go, you'll love it. Avoid July and especially August if you can. But any other time of the year is fine.

http://www.gites-de-france.com/gites/uk/rural_gites

This site will give you some ideas.

Yes avoid between June and September I would say - its too hot and too full of damn tourists. High season (July and August)and you have to queue to get in and out of Gordes, Bonnieux and Menerbes. Watch Russel Crowe in 'A good year' or 'Jean de Florette and Manon des Source' which were filmed around Vaugines or Mirabeau and you will get an even stronger dose of the Provence bug.

I've just returned from a week in Provence. We drove from London (~700 miles) and had a huge amount of fun staying in Rasteau.

Thanks for the responses, guys, esp. the pics John.

Acad, you almost read my mind - I just finished reading A Good Year, and watched the DVD last night! Part of my interest in going there has been fermenting in my little brain for a long time, planted when I read the Avignon Quintet by Lawrence Durrell. Then the Peter Mayle Effect. I need to do some more reading, as I don't really know Aix from an aubergine yet. I thought perhaps October might be a nice time to go, a sort of "Indian summer" perhaps, warm but with a breeze heralding the approach of Autumn and the coaches of summer holiday-makers heading home.

Read it whilst out there shortly after it was written. Stayed in Arles, where Van Gogh did a lot of painting. Fab place, enjoy.

Regards

Nic

Bhazen,

I think you have the right idea there. I also adored the books of Marcel Pagnol about his childhood in Provence My Father's Glory & My Mother's Castle which were made in to a couple of delightful french films - Le chateau de ma mere / La gloire de mon pere

provenceweb is a good place to start for learning and planning . Books and other info here Guides

Well I moved here in April, and haven't looked back. In fact, I have returned to London three times, once to run the Marathon (nice hot weather) and twice more, work related once and dentist(!)parents/friends the other. On each occasion - although I gather the summer in England has not been one to write home about - I am convinced my move here will be permanent if I can possibly engineer it.

I live in Roquefort-les-Pins which is a titchy village on the country/mountain side of the Côte d'Azur and even after fourteen weekends of dedicated exploring I am still coming across amazingly beautiful and wonderful places and things to see, do, swim in, eat, drink, cycle around, run through, and relax in/at/by. The food's better, notihing is any more expensive (although specifically here not much cheaper either), the people I like, my French has improved imeasurably - to pretty much fluent, the hi-fi has not been struck by lightning, and I can count the number of times it has rained, on the fingers of one hand - and I could still do that if I were Dave Allen.

Now that Sarkozy has got in the country's economy may even get sorted out! And in Winter I shall be an hour from the nearest skiing resort.

There are a few downsides, of course. But all added together they wouldn't be as bad as a single tube journey in the summer.

So come for an extended visit, and if it's to my bit I'll happily recommend some specifics.

Last Sunday, I took my latest visitors (one seems to acquire lots more friends!) for a three country(ish) day. Lunch in Italy in a medieval village near falling off the sie of a mountain, a gentle drive down through Monaco, to the beach at Villefranche, which although crowded is possibly the cutest town beach/harbour in the French Med. And all within less than an hour of home.

I used to live in Harringay...

Santé

Rod

quote:

Roquefort-les-Pins

Hi Rod,

I have been to Roquefort-les-Pins - I have friends next door to you in Le Rouret (look out for a bald madman in a TVR) - I love the whole area especially Grasse, Mougins, Antibes, Villefranche and Cap Ferrat - If I had the dosh I would move there.

What colour is the TVR, I think I may have seen it..? Bet your friend regularly has a drink at the Cappuccino - everyone else seems to!

Roquefort is a slightly nothingy place, but great to live in. Some of the surrounding villages are just fabulous however, including the touristy Gourdon (thrice voted the most beautiful village in France (amusingly anachronistic website though)), St Paul de Vence (where Matisse and Picasso drew on the restaurant table cloths in exchange for their meals), and Valbonne where the popluation is more English than French. And then there are some much more wonderful un-touristy villages such as Bar-sur-Loup, Châteauneuf and Gréolières.

From where I am sitting right now at my desk in Nice I can see snow on the mountains in one direction and the Mediterranean in the other - can't be beaten!

This is of course the very eastern extreme of Provence (Alpes Maritimes) and apart from the wine designation, architecture, and 'salades' that aren't Niçoise, there are differences between here and, for example, Aix and Arles.

I needed to be where the work was, and although in advance I thought - hmm - the Riviera a bit built up, touristy and crowded. Now, however, I have come to love it. I have a true (and lovely) city one one hand, the coast and spectacular countryside on the other, both easily accesible and yet everything is avoidable if I wish to.

Twelve flights a day to London if needed, and one of my customers gave me a go in his Bugatti(see other thread), so am having a ball...

Cheers

Rod

quote:

Originally posted by rodwsmith:

[QUOTE] What colour is the TVR, I think I may have seen it..?

Its a light blue RHD Tamora (you will hear it long before you see it) - I used to borrow it before he moved it down there. Not sure about The Cappuccino - I will ask him - he commutes as he still still has a UK based business, but his wife and daughters live down there. All things going well I shall pop down there myself before Christmas.

I regret not having taking an IT contract to work in Sophia Antipolis a few years ago when I had the chance. My dream house is in Mougins - see you when I win the lotto!

I've been to Nice a couple of times and really liked it. We didn't venture too far but think we could live in the region when we retire. Went to a wonderful restaurant 'Le Petit Maison' and shared a spectacular Chateaubriand. Would like to hire a car and hack about to see the coast and part of the interior.

I went to the Gorges du Verdon at the weekend. Worth the entrance money on its own. It is the second largest (read deepest) canyon in the world after the famous American grand one. Will post a picture or two soon, although you may have already seen it on telly - Jeremy Clarkson once raced a climber up it - he in an Audi-something by longwinded road, they on a rope, about a kilometre vertically up. Absolutely spectacular. At the end is a huge emerald green lake the water in which is 24°, and an exquisite little town called Moustières Sainte Marie whose only flaw is that it has been discovered by tourists.

Still no complaints about living here!!!

I don't think that Mayle does the place justice. It really is special.