At the other end of the spectrum

A lovelly little cottage in the hamlet of Foncaudette, a perfect hideaway for two.

The cottage belongs to our good friend MT (My-teay) and is also often booked together with the Mas au Four or the Mas des Romarins as extra accomodation.

Just click on the links to have a look.
La Maison du Marie-Therese
Mas des Romarins
Mas au Four

An extra 3 bedroom house

The owners of La Chapelle de Bruoux have decided to let the central part of thier house as a stand alone entity in the mid season in order to maximise thier lettings. You get a deluxe provencal house with own it's pool and tennis court sleeping 6 for £1,990 in June. Great value!

Click on the link to see details on our web site.
La Maison Fanny

We're still busy adding new houses

This house is in Ilse sur la Sourge, the antiques capital of France which we've mentioned before (http://real-provence.blogspot.com/2009/05/idylic-lunch.html)

The house is called La Carestie and is in an ideal situation for the western end of the Luberon.

It sleeps 8. Do have a look at the details on our web site, we're sure you'll have a great holiday at La Carestie

La Carestie

Le Mazet de Saint Antoine added to our Luberon Houses

Have a look at our new house in Isle sur la Sorgue

Le Mazet Antoine

Provencal House with own pool, Isle sur la Sorgue Sleeps 10

Check out the details by following this link
http://www.provenceholidayhouses.com/Mazet_Antoine.htm

Here' another new one from our Luberon portfolio

L'Ermitage

De luxe Provencal house with own pool, Roussillon. Sleeps 6. Large and comfortable house with gorgeous views of the Luberon valley.

Click on the link above to see details of this great property to rent.

See! There is life in the Luberon

You thought that everything closed down after All Saints day didn't you? Well here's the proof you're wrong!

Good live music in our own village. How we've not known about this is amazing or perhaps an example of of how insular the different communes are from each other. Each one a best kept secret ... but not from Real Provence!


Best of the night were Rue Royale. Think of Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny meets Fleetwood Mac plays Ellis Kennedy. Very nice.

http://www.myspace.com/rueroyale

And free downloads

http://www.rueroyalemusic.com/Rue_Royale_/Home.html

And more to come. A Christmas bash. Any one for reggie? When we hear more we'll post it in this blog, their secrets are safe with us :-)

P

Lagniappe

In the old provencal language, "Lagniappe" means Welcome.

This house certainly does provide a warm provencal welcome for our clients. It has four bedrooms comfortably sleeping 8 and has it's own private swimming pool. Located in the countryside about 3 miles from Roussillon it makes an ideal Luberon base.

Please follow this link for more information;

http://www.provenceholidayhouses.com/Lagniappe.htm

Our Featured House

I'm going to tell you about our new houses.

Our featured house is Domus Alba, a four bedroomed house sleeping 8 with it's own pool, own tennis court. It also has a seperate gite sleeping 2 for your granny, extra friends dropping by, or the childrens nanny? The house is situated in the countryside near to the village of Chavel Blanc with great views and set in a fantastic provencal garden.

This is the link to the page on our web site that will give you all the details;
http://www.provenceholidayhouses.com/Domus_Alba.htm

November Already

All Saints day has come and gone and the season is well and truly over as a quite calm descends on the Luberon villages. However there are some visitors still around enjoying the autumn colours. We always find autumn so attractive here in the Luberon because the colours last so long particularly the various varieties of oaks which only loose their leaves in the early spring as new growth pushes through. Somehow the sunsets are special at this time of year too.

It maybe end of the season but we're still open for business with clients in a few of the houses enjoying walks and cosy evenings by a log fire. Meanwhile we work hard to develop our portfolio of houses we offer for rent. More next post.

Fabulous Provencal Autumn reds and golds

From the fabulous red creeper at the wine Domaine de la Fourmone in Vacqueras to the gold and yellows of the vines in the Cotes du Rhone vineyards

and the gorgeous trees against the blue blue sky on the road driving up to Mont Ventoux.

These are the colours of Autumn in Provence.

The wild food of Provence

Fantastic peppery wild rocket adds a hint of bite to a simple salad, and gorgeus feathery fennel for a lovely aniseed flavour - its all just for the taking in the hedgerows of Provence.

Flowers of Autumn

Fabulous golden autumn crocuses dancing in the sunshine. Just popped their heads up in the last couple of days to enjoy the beautifuly balmy days of late September in the Luberon and they couldn't look more delightful nestling against the old provencal stone.

Gastronomy by the sea

Gastronomare in Marseille - a feast for the eyes and the stomach! Cooking demonstrations from the top Marseille chefs, food and wine tastings and the best fun of all, street food along side the Vieux Port. From Palestine to Sicily, Italy to Algeria and lots more - stalls from all around the mediterranean with great food accompanied by a glass or two of the refreshing local Cagole beer. What better way to spend a sunny September afternoon.

Two Lon! Two Lon! Two Lon!

Yes, Toulon v Toulouse at the Marseille Vellodrone stadium. With a near capacity crowd of 55,000 and incredibly patriotic Toulon fans the atmosphere was electric – all jolly good fun! A certain Mr Wilkinson played a leading role for “our” Toulon boys too.

God knows why French rugby seems to be on such a high roll these days. We can’t understand what has brought this about but there seem to be more and more foreign players down here and money to pay them. Perhaps it’s the influence of the “Top 14” games on Canal+ television or the success of the game after the world cup. Either which way there is even an English language web site now with a news feed which continues to prick our interest. http://frenchrugbyclub.com/

That's our man!

Oui!

As the Toulouse team gaze upon the face of Jonny and think .....

As you see the Real truth is that Provence has exciting big cities as well and we even play rugby!

Medieval Fete, Monieux

5th September. - This wonderful event at Monieux was the first of what we hope will be a biannual happening. We'll keep you posted when the next one comes around.

Vendage 3

When the press breaks down there's nothing for it but to get in there and squash the buggers down with your feet!


Who is that fat bloke anyway?

Vendage part 2

And back at the press the fruits of our labours are unloaded. Today its Roussanne and Rolle for the 2010 white.

The vendage began more than a week ago

And the weather has been perfect for picking. Early morning starts to pick the grapes before they get too hot, a boozy lunch with chez F, and an afternoon snooze. Eat your heart out Anglo-Saxanoy!

Who are these people?

This woman looks familiar

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Late availability at Maison Vignes - 29th August 2009

Maison Vignes link

Link should now work - I hope!

Thrills and spills!

What a spectacle! Stock car racing at Cabrières - incredible they even make it onto the track, never mind race against each other. Super Sunday afternoon entertainment.

Sunday 6th September 2009 - Cabrières-d'Avignon, France

Another spiffing find Mr B!

Real Provence & ProvenceHolidayHouses.com brings you another little resturant gem

This time in the village of Caseneuve - LE SANGLIER PARESSEUX
Téléphone :04 90 75 17 70 Have a look at on our site for more details but the "Menu du Marche" at 24€ is pretty good

Our Restaurant Guide

A little culture too...

Ok, so Woodstock it's not, but for the Real experience, the "Festival International de Piano de La Roque d'Anthéron" is really rather special

On Friday we went to a recital by the young pianist Olivier Moulin at Parc du Château de Florans in Roque d'Anthéron. Well, a splendid performance for such a young man. At €15 a ticket you might say it was rather good value!

For the record the programme was;
Fauré : Thème et Variations en ut mineur opus 73
Schumann : Davidsbündlertänze (Danses des compagnons de David) opus 6
Rachmaninov : Sonate n°2 en si bémol mineur opus 36

The biggest lunch in Provence!?

Paella with attitude! Enjoyed Sunday in Gordes at the annual Fete des Vins.

A day in Marseille

Around every corner in Marseille there's a postcard waiting to be published.

... And hands off! Real Provence copyright. Thank you.

A new house for us following shortly

This beautiful village house will shortly be added to our portfolio of houses to rent. I'll "retweet" as soon as it's on our site but just had to add this post while I'm still smiling.

The owner of the house maintains a comment book and I just had to repost this.

"Well, we are finally in your lovely home. We have had quite the adventure today. When we arrived in Avignon and picked up our leased vehicle, we were served by a very young woman who spoke no English. Fortunately, our daughter speaks French -however we were not given any details of the vehicle...only a set of keys and a curt look. As we attempted to familiarize ourselves with it we discovered that the fuel tank was on empty. Sadly, because we rarely use diesel fuel in Canada, my husband filled the tank with regular fuel. We made it about 200 meters when the engine quit. We pushed the vehicle back to the petrol station and spent 4 hours trying to get some help from Renault. Finally we were told that the vehicle would need to be towed and the tank to be drained etc.. and that that could not happen until Monday.

We were obviously distressed as Georgette was expecting us and also we were delivering our daughter to Montpellier tomorrow. Following numerous failed attempts at an interim rental...we ended up with a Mercedes....the only rental in Avignon and 1500 euros later.

But oh, it gets better!

After we made our way to Roussillon - we knocked on Georgette's door, only to be informed by her and her daughter that the house had already been rented and that the occupants arrived earlier today. I told her that couldn't be possible, as I had confirmation from you only last night. Together, we knocked on the door and found the "occupants" out by the pool. A young British/New Zealander couple with a toddler were enjoying a swim and a beer. As Georgette (and her daughter) spoke no English, I asked the couple about their reservation and the husband told me that they were to meet his sister in law here - that she had booked it and they were arriving shortly. When I explained that I had booked this home for the month he replied that he had "know idea what I was talking about." All the while, my husband was illegally parked...waiting for info to the car park.

The most bizarre moment of the day happened when the man's wife, emerged from the pool - naked! She had quite a girth and was trying to balance a naked child who was slipping and sliding and the towel she had fetched...while the husband scowled and finally shouted at my daughter and I that he would just go back to England. He then stormed down the garden steps sopping wet.

Fortunately, our sense of humour was tested today and won!

Eventually we discovered that of course they were in the wrong house. Apparently, as they were wandering down the street earlier trying to find their address, Georgette appeared and asked them if they were the renters. They replied that they were and the rest - is history! Certainly one for the books to be sure. The wife was very apologetic (but of course all I could still see was her dripping nakedness) and the husband, clearly embarrassed, said nothing as he banged and threw things into bags and boxes.

We waited while they packed their bags and food (they had filled the fridge already) and after the woman had retrieved the paper with the correct details, Georgette assisted them in finding their rental.

I hope that my rendering of our adventure does not upset you. I am hoping that you will have a chuckle...as we all just did over pizza and a bottle of wine next door. Tomorrow we head to Montpellier. And then back to Avignon on Monday to collect our Renault. With diesel fuel. Mon Dieu!
We are thrilled with the home and love our new neighbours already. Poor Georgette - all she could say was "je suis desolee". She and her family were wonderful. We are certain we will love Roussillon."

--------------

P.S. Dear Real-Provence and Provenceholidayhouses clients, swimming naked in our pools is not obligatory but it might be better to make sure you have the right house before "plonger"!

Is this real Provence?

On my way to work at 7 o'clock this morning.

M. Caldi does have other means of transport but on a hot summer Saturday morning there's nothing better than to be out with "Gigi". It all looks a bit early for "Netto" however.

Mas Bernardo

Have you seen the new house on our houses web site?

Mas Bernardo

http://www.provenceholidayhouses.com/Mas_Bernardo.htm

We have some late summer availability

Phew what a scorcher

Time to head for the shade and relax. 37 degrees and its hot, hot, hot. The swimming pool beckons or the shade of the oleander. Summer in Provence is well and truly here.

They're Spoiling My Fun!

Or is the power of the Real Provence Blog so great that even the city fathers of Roussillon are following our twitterings?

http://real-provence.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html

Photographing the Photographers

A few fields away from us M. Cavana decided to plant some sunflowers for the first time in eight years. Despite everybody’s picture of Provence with sunflowers, the “tournasol” crop yield is far better in the south west of France and thus a field of sunflowers is quite rare in the Luberon these days. M. Cavana’s efforts have been certainly appreciated this year, I don’t know if it will be profitable for him but everybody has certainly taken away some great shots.