Some Rambling Notes of a French Road trip

We left Paris without a plan. Daylight took us as far as Bourges, a medieval town several hours south of Paris where we stayed in a two-star chateau on the outskirts that hadn’t saved any of its old interior charm and I believed couldn’t technically call itself a chateau because it didn’t have any towers.…

Meet the Girl from Ohio who Became a Star in 1960s Paris

America’s loss is France’s gain. I’ve had Nancy Holloway playing on repeat this week. Nancy who? Oh, only one of the biggest names in mid-century French pop culture; an idol of the Yé-yé music craze. She’s remembered in France as “la Perle Noir”, the ‘black pearl’ of the sixties with a distinctly American accent that…

Abandoned French Countryside Village Sold for the Price of a small Parisian Flat

It boasts 19 buildings with traditional French features, including a swimming pool, tennis court, stables, a chapel, village hall and acres of land, but only had an asking price of 330,000 Euros. At such an outlandish price, the abandoned hamlet of Courbefy soon caught the attention of the international media, interest sky-rocketed and gave the…

Let’s visit every inch of this Chateau in Provence

Warning: This post may cause severe temporary displacement. The Chateau Moissac, a seventeenth-century noble family’s home nestled in the hilltops of haute Provence is nothing short of dreamy. I thought it was necessary to show you every available photograph this French baroque residence to make sure you really get the idea of just how great it…

How Monarchs and Their Mistresses Avoided the Walk of Shame

There’s no denying that history’s juiciest stories often have roots in-between the sheets, and as general rule, whether you were ruler of the kingdom or head of the Catholic church, having multiple lovers still required a serious escape route to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment. Ever intrigued by a secret passageway or a hidden staircase, we’ve compiled…

Free Wine & Cheese! The Ultimate French Road Trip in a VW Camper

I had you at ‘Free Wine & Cheese‘, didn’t I? If you’ve been umming and ahhing over what to do this summer, I might have an idea for you. Through the grapevine (mind the pun), I heard about France Passion, a society of more than 1,750 friendly private wine-growers and farmers across France that invite…

Get Schooled by the World’s First Sexology Institute of 1920s Berlin

They called him “the Einstein of Sex”. The German doctor who went (quite literally) where no other had gone before in his research, founding the massive Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or Sexology, just before the Nazis eclipsed bohemian Berlin and its costumed, sexually liberated splendour. His name was Magnus Hirschfeld (see the dude with the glasses…

The Vault

Don’t be a Tourist in Provence: A Weekend Guide

How easily I could slip back into my sleepy Provence, to a village called Vers, next to the Roman aqueduct I used to swim under, near the medieval town of Uzès where my mother bought our vegetables, in a garden where an imagination could run wild. I’ll find my way back, with silver hair and…

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Here’s Someone Selling a Belle Epoque Chateau on the French Version of Craigslist

I‘ve been keeping a watchful eye on the monumental Château d’Aubiry since it first hit the market in 2011; a stunning 1500m2 Art Nouveau palace complete with Gustave Eiffel-designed greenhouses situated within a 12 acre park. I was taken aback this morning however, upon discovering that the property is now being peddled for nearly half the price on Le…

A Secret World Hidden Beneath the Vineyards of Champagne

The Champagne region of France is one of its most famous; home to such grand wine houses, as Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, Krug, Pommery and Ruinart, as well as dozens of smaller vineyards that make the sparkling wine known the world over. But underneath the lush, rolling landscape lies a secret world : miles of complex tunnels,…