The Good Week- A week on The French Riviera.

So when everyone else is embracing the new season and are happy with the change (like really?) and leaving Summer behind, I am still harping on about the Summer and hanging onto those last days of sunshine. For me those said Summer days took place in a sleepy French Village in the Cotes D’Azur. Six adults and a little Miss ( my three year old niece was in tow) resided to a beautiful villa in a little village ten minutes from Grasse, twenty minutes from the gorgeous beaches of the French Rivera and half an hour from Nice….The situ couldn’t get much more perfect. We lived and laughed our time away in what felt like the movie The Good year, minus Russell Crowe and the fact we weren’t there for a year….So let me tell you about the The Good Week!

As a family, growing up many a holiday was spent in the South of France, so as well the welcome warm weather, it was also a really reminiscent holiday, a happy familiarity to be back spending our days very slowly, with melon, croissants, pain au chocolate, baby belle, ( I know you can get them here but they just taste better away ) jumping in and out of the pool all day, and with our heads lost in book after book. It did not take long to immerse ourselves into this way of living, just very chilled and relaxed. Wes and myself tend to move about a bit when we travel and never really stay in the same place for more than three or four nights, so it was so lovely to actually unpack and hang all my clothes up in the wardrobe and really settle in for the week.

We picked up the car, and after a bit of a wait, (3 hours!!!) Europe Car, this needs sorting! We were off to our home from home for a week. Happily we got to chilling in our old, provençal and charming villa, complete with a heated pool surrounded by palm trees, a huge garden with many a nook to relax, read a book or sleep. A huge outside eating area, La baule area, (like how French) a swing, all encompassed by the villa with as many shutters as windows and well add the fromage and the Rosé wine and there you have it.

What I love about this part of France is the ease, yes it can be filled with glitz and glam and a price tag to go with, but if you look closer there are a many tiny really French hamlets to explore, as well as beach after beach to choose from and it is all under many palm trees and with a lot of ease, under two hours from London. Literally the bluest sea spotted from the plane and the backdrop of the Cotes D’Azur just calls for a head scarf and convertible car from the 1950’s…… From landing you know exactly where you are and what you are getting, I love that. It means your holidays starts before the plane has even landed and you are suddenly but casually living life in the French Rivera.

We spent our days around the pool, rolling from the bed to the pool, croissant to the pool, pool to fromage and pain at lunch and then back to the pool. In the evenings we feasted on BBQ’s whilst playing La boule and cards and ventured to tiny, romantic restaurants in Grasse. When we felt a little more energetic we ventured to the beaches of Théoule-sur-Mer and Mandelieu-la-Napoule, with views out to Cannes, boats and yachts for the ‘other life’, bobbed in the water. The water which was so warm, blue and clean as clean, I happily swam about in for hours, until the call of coffee and doughnuts came. Games of bat and ball, to burn off those doughnuts and well beach days in France really are quite wonderful.

We were also only about a twenty minute drive from the beautiful town of Valbonne, which we ended up going to a couple of times. Valbonne translates to the Good Valley, perfectly fitting for our time away. I am not sure you could find a more idyllic and pretty French town as Valbonne. An old little village, peaceful and so very chic, with cobbled winding streets, a beautiful square surrounded by cafes with locals drinking coffee, smoking and quite frankly being wonderfully French, C’est Chic!

The antique market is held every first Sunday of the month, which we were lucky enough to take a wander. Of course you want to bring as much home as possible, it’s at this point it dawns on your why people drive to France. The fruit and more everyday market is on Tuesdays and Fridays which we obviously hopped back too……So after buying towels, local honey, baskets, bags, peaches, strawberries, you name it we brought it…..Luckily my sister was one of those peeps who drives to France. Valbonne is a very beautiful provincial town, and I absolutely recommend a trip there if you ever get the chance.

So after seven wonderfully glutinous days, we were all a little sad to leave our French home. With hot sunny days with my family, lots of fun and memories made, I could not think of a more truly perfect way to spend the last days of Summer.