A Provence Diary

Spring has sprung

We spent the third week of April in Dorset. Before we left Provence the vines were sending out silvery stubby grubs of life. When we returned the grubs had unfurled in to the greenest of leaves, a reminder of the warm rosé-fuelled evenings to come.

The April blossom, which had covered the trees like shaving foam, has disappeared and cherries are on their way. Roadsides are awash with poppies and irises – a living Van Gogh cliche. And after a winter of fried potatoes and the resulting lardy feeling around one's midrift, the markets are a dream for detox-addicts: asparagus, artichoke, the sweetest of peas, rocket (though we pull this weed wild from the stony walls) and first strawberries. Spring has sprung.

An amazing, historical Provence vacation rental

I have just seen the most amazing rental property in Provence (probably)!

The owners have asked me to take care of the marketing and bookings for La Forteresse in Menerbes.

This is both an intriguing piece of Menerbes’ history, and a beautifully furnished vacation rental for 2 (plus kids), with an unbeatable location and view.

See more of the house here: La Forteresse

The house is perched high on the ancient rampart walls of Menerbes, looking straight across at the Luberon mountain opposite, with the valley’s vineyards and orchards straight down below at the foot of the village.

It is a totally peaceful, quiet part of Menerbes, beyond which are only the church and one of the best positioned final resting places in all of France. If you know Menerbes, it is the last house on the left before you get to the church at the top. But it is only a 3-minute walk down to the life of the village with its shops and restaurants.

La Forteresse sleeps 2 adults and can also accommodate children. The bedroom, a splendid vaulted room, is long and split into two parts either side of the stairway. On one side is a sumptuous bed and en suite bathroom, and on the other, separated by curtains, are three single beds. So this is appropriate for families who do not mind sleeping in the same, large space, as there are only drapes between them.

The bedroom is downstairs, in the walls of the village. Running the length of this room, within the outside wall, is a sentry’s corridor. This is a fascinating relic of medieval times, when sentries would keep an eye out for invaders during the wars of religion that swept this region. (Menerbes famously withstood an army for 5 years at that time).

To preserve the historical character of the house, there are some items missing: no dishwasher for instance; no TV stations but a TV with video/DVD to watch movies. There is a phone.

La Forteresse is available for vacation rentals by the week, all year round. Rates run from US$600 to US$1200 per week, all inclusive. If you want to stay there, email me at [email protected]

Here is the link to a page of pictures and information for La Forteresse: La Forteresse

Provence Pout

Went to dinner the other night with 11 French women – an impromptu ‘soiree filles’ – and an excellent opportunity to get some initial research done. We went to cool hang-out ‘Le Garage’ in Les Beaumettes, which is close to Goult.

My excitement at the thought of a proper grown-up evening away from whining kids and toy-strewn house faded as it became clear that the theme for the restaurant was cars. Toy cars. An entire wall was decorated with toy cars. I spent cocktail hour twitching to tidy them all up.

But I think I might be on to something regarding these sexy French women. Down here in Provence, a greeting of three loud cheek-to-cheek kisses is the norm and two on departure. So dinner for twelve, that’s a total of 660 kisses, 55 each. That’s a lot of puckering up. That’s enough to put a pout on even the meanest of mouths.

Making an organic garden in Provence

Husband seems to think I’m here for some ‘Good Life’ experience spent mainly in the fruit & veg patch, but I’m really here to hang out in cool Luberon cafes, learn how to fence, and carry out a study of French women – do they really deserve their reputation as effortlessly well-groomed, sexy and chic – and if so, how do they do it?

But first I have to do my time on our new project – an organic fruit & veg patch to feed our ravenous children. A gardening novice, I’ve adopted the methods of square foot gardening guru Mel Bartholomew, and in doing so, have managed to create a mad patchwork of dead herbs and dying flowers.

Still, I’m very much looking forward to when the real planting begins at the end of April, and I get to kill various varieties of bean, pea, tomato, pepper and aubergine. In Provence, gardening is a year-round challenge.

As a confidence booster, our organic patch borders that of Albert, a proper local; a man who in mid-winter picks frozen olives with his bare hands for days on end. He’s already declared that an organic garden in Provence won’t work, that strawberries don’t grow here, and he spends much time chuckling at our ‘Versailles Palais’ of square plots and little brick paths.

So our aim is to prove him wrong. Or right.

Our Provence garden project, week 1:

Return to The Beautiful Game

This week in Provence word got out that I used to play football (that's soccer) in England. So on Wednesday evening a very nice chap came to pick me up and take me to play in the next village.

It turned out to be exactly the same game as I had left behind in London - a bunch of middle-aged clodders ambling around an uneven field in pursuit of a ball. Except here there are floodlights and a spectacular backdrop of a medieval village framed against the looming mass of the Luberon mountain. The only spectators are the villages's two churches, their bell-towers glowing orange in the dusk.

Wednesday is a fun game, the real thing is Friday nights, when they play in the local Provence veteran's league. To be considered for that I have to serve my apprenticeship, and then somehow displace a proper local. My legs have long gone, but so have everyone else's.

A nice place to run around - Maubec FC headquarters: