Villages in the Sky

If you look closely at the map of southern France, focusing in on the mountain ranges behind St Tropez and Fréjus, you will discover clusters of little hilltop villages rising out of the soft-shouldered mountains of inland Provence: Callian, Fayence and Seillans are hidden away in the hills between Draguignan and Grasse; just a little further to the east, behind Cannes, you will find Mougins, and then Pèillon. Now look west to the hills of the Lubéron, and you will come across the most magical hill towns of them all: Bonnieux, Lacoste, Ménerbes and Oppède-le-Vieux, each set like a jewel on its peak. Here in the high-thrown mountain villages you will find a Provence that might have existed hundreds of years ago; where silver olive trees dot the arid hills and green and purple grapes and orchards of plum, apricot and almond cover the lower slopes. Today it is a land of plenty, of carefree living and hedonistic pleasures, based around a glass of chilled rosé wine and a plate of delicious little crinkled black olives, bathed in chopped herbs and a caressing glaze of the extra-virgin olive oil that is the pride of Provence. You do not have to be rich to get the best out of Provence.