Early afternoon , Bastille Day, 1989. I have been standing on the roundabout next to my house for nearly 3 hours. The moment I have been waiting for weeks is finally arriving. Le Tour de France, also known as La Grande Boucle, is passing my hometown, and on its way to Marseille, the finish of […]

Nature is fragile, let’s preserve it. This sentence is the introduction to my video as well as my conclusion after having spent most weekends in the past 5 month in Camargue. Patiently, I explored most areas the park: its lakes, channels, tracks, beaches and salt flats, in search of the best locations. And when the […]

It’s no secret that France, and to be more precise Provence, and to be even more exact Les Alpilles offer some of the prettiest landscapes in Europe. And while they’re fine enough from ground level, they’re even better if you’re a bird – or in this case a drone – expertly piloted by our France […]

March 17, 2020. France has just entered into confinement with strict rules: we are locked down for the foreseeable future and limited to 1 hour a day outside our homes and within a 1km radius. Difficult times ahead for keen travelers and nature lovers like me. … May 11. The French government has eased the […]

There are rich pickings in the countryside north of Uzès, where Provence meets the Languedoc, and combines the best of both. Villages, vineyards and views; lavender fields, rivers and mountains; cafés, restaurants and  chambres d’hôtes…  It’s almost an archetypically French mini-region, of which there are so many to explore, and which are always so hard […]

We’ve invented a new sport: extreme art appreciation. In this case, viewing Andy Goldsworthy Land Art in the remote hills of North Provence, by helicopter. A new concept of the term day-trip for the art-enthusiast staying in Provence or on the riviera. Since 1995 Andy Goldsworthy, the British-born ‘land artist’, has been coming to the town […]

Remember summer? It’s fun at the time, but I enjoy it even more in the winter, scrolling through photos of bright blue and bright green with the odd glass of pastis gleaming in the foreground. Uh oh. My body is in January in the office; my mind’s in July in Provence. And not in just […]

Arles is a perfect French town: architecturally beautiful, rich in history, full of great restaurants, lively beyond the tourist trade, and offering a brilliant privately owned and run hotel from which to base yourself: L’Hôtel Nord Pinus. Even the name tells you to expect something different. The poster in the Napoleon room tells me not […]