Maison d’etre
Malcolm Rogers takes a tour of Provence.
 By Malcolm
Rogers
A couple of years back the French government, keen to improve the country’s
image in the tourist stakes, persuaded members of the travel industry
in every arondissment to sign a hospitality contract. This included an
undertaking to adopt a friendlier approach to visitors with “Bonjour”
signs displayed about the premises.
The strategy didn’t work particularly well — the “bonjour”
sign tended to be used as a substitute for bonhomie. When a visitor appeared
receptionists would retain their air of studied insouciance, merely jerking
a thumb in the general direction of the sign.
Not a hint of that in Pierrefeu du-Var however. This little Provencal
hillside village slumbering in the shadow of the Massif des Maures is
well off the much-trodden tourist trails of the south of France and is
more than welcoming to visitors.
Pierrefeu is entirely self-sufficient in restaurants — five establishments
provide everything your tastebuds you could possibly want. A handful of
streets are stuffed with boulangeries, patisseries, delicatessen, poissonerie
— plus market stalls on certain days of the week selling local products.
Fortunately enough there are also a couple of bars where you can drink
all day (although well within government advisory limits) for a few euros.
As regards sight-seeing I have to say that Pierrefeu is my kind of village
— a church, St. Jacques le Majeur, into which I imagine you could
fit most of the villagers but apart from that there’s nothing else
you have to see. It’s a sleepy, southern town where cats doze in
the shade, the fountain in the square tinkles in the sunshine and members
of the local constabulary take the weight off their feet outside the local
café.
You can spend a happy time wandering the old streets, looking into shop
windows, quaffing espressos on terraces and studying the tanned faces
of the old men as they play boule in the village square.
The coast and nearest beach is a 20-minute drive through vineyards and
woodland that surround the village on all sides. Roadside stalls will
delay your journey as you stop to stock up on wine, olives, fruit and
vegetables.
If you’re feeling energetic a 9-mile walk along country tracks will
bring you to the coast. But you don’t even need to bother with the
Mediterranean beaches if sunbathing is your thing. Or at least not if
you stay where I did — at A l’Olivier a four-bedroom village
house set on two floors with terraced garden and swimming pool. The pool
is on the fifth terrace so you can look down on the village from the comfort
of your sun lounger. The local drink is Rosé, so cheap and so readily
available that you’ll be laughing all the way to the bottle bank
in the morning.
Inside the house is full of look-at-me furniture, including a huge dining
table where you imagine that many points of philosophy have been discussed
over the years until dawn breaks over Provence.
A drawing room upstairs has beautiful views across the large private garden
with plant life enough to bewitch any botanist. As you might imagine from
the name of the house olive trees predominate; but mimosa, fig trees,
acacia and eucalyptus also adorn the terraces.
Of an evening you sit by the pool an watch the sun set over the mountains
and wait for the bats to come swooping down in the diffuse light of the
garden lanterns.
An occasional breath of air will carry the scent from the almond trees
into the drowsy night and the only noise will be that that of crickets
clicking.
Actually the correct word is stridulating and a complex equation exists
from which you can calculate the temperature from the number of cricket
stridulations per minute. Truly can it be said travel broadens the mind.
Day trips will take you to St. Tropez, Nice, Cannes, Antibes and Italy;
to the west St. Maximin/St. Baume, Arles, St. Remy, Avignon, Aix en Provence
and Marseilles. Northwards there is the Les Gorges du Verdon — a
scaled down Grand Canyon — and pretty Provencal villages. To the
south the Iles d’Or are easily accessible from Hyeres which is a
lovely town nearby ideal for strolling, sightseeing or hanging out.
The proprietor of the house is an absolutely charming Breton gentleman
Dany Dandin (a man boasting many connections with Ireland). He can be
contacted on 0207 487 5186; address 2 De Walden Street, London, W1G 8RJ.
e-mail: enquiries@provenceholidayhome.com
website: www.provenceholidayhome.com
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