My folks are going pretty ballistic in France. The pool house must, naturally, be ready for The Muse and my arrival in June.

A suitable alternative to the view from The Safe House

French men operating adorable machinery

Our place (named Bastide Les Amis) is in Menerbes, which is a part of the Luberon Valley (forms part of the Tour de France, I might add). You’ll remember the movie A Good Year with Russell Crowe? Ja, it was set in the same area. The film was directed by Ridley Scott , who lives in Menerbes, funnily enough.

Take a little stroll, why don’cha?

A little bakery for the team!
“Aah, make it deux croissants, my good man!”

Phil Collins is spotted from time to time at the local market and Princess Caroline and the scrumdiddlyumtious Princess Charlotte also have a house in a neighbouring village.

Oh, and what’s MORE, The Surfer’s mum lives down the road!

It’s quite nice, all of it.

Oh, I should make mention of the fact that the mayor of Menerbes is a fellow by the name of Yves Roussel-Rouard. He produced the entire Emmanuelle series of films. Yup, he basically FOUND soft porn! What more would you want from your mayor!

Aah, bonjour!
Let’s “put another shrimp on the barbie!”

Anyway, the point of this article is to highlight their website. So follow their journey, as they renovate the “bastide” and attempt to unpack a truck the size of your office!

CLICK HERE for LivingStylishlyWell.

ps. a bit of background to the content of the site for the newcomers : my sports mad dad was originally a school teacher and after various positions found himself as International Marketing Director of The Clicks Group for a number of years. He came up with the Clicks Clubcard and other clever things like that. The most loyal readers will know all about my mother – the Yorkshire Terriers, the 1,000 antique porcelain dolls etc. Couple that with a killer business CV and you’re looking at one smooth operating ship in the South of France!