This was our destination, the sunflowers of Provence. Follow Shutters & Sunflowers

When I wrote my first thoughts about living in Lourmarin, in Provence, France, I asked: ‘when do you know that you are somewhere special and what makes a place special?’ Of course the answer is different for all of us. …

Uzès, the charming town where I was fortunate enough to spend 4 treasured months in 2012. This vibrant, Duché d’Uzès, the oldest remaining Duchy in France, dating from 1572, steeped in a rich history, was as special as I had remembered it. …

People across the globe love an outdoor market, especially when in a beautiful world famous city like San Francisco which holds a Farmers Market several times a week right beside the Bay. There is something special about purchasing hand grown, …

As you leave the vineyards and olive groves behind, speeding northwards, driving through to France, the countryside gradually begins to change. Golden, clay tiles roofs are replaced with slate, church spires seem thinner, reaching higher, the trees and plants become more …

Have you ever wondered what is behind ‘that door’,  if you turned the door handle who you would find?And if you did, how many people the property enfolds, how old they are, what their lives involve, how the house is …

Life perspectives change maybe just like the seasons. Right now Uzès is bursting into life. The new leaves have gently uncurled, already beginning to form their natural canopy of shade along the streets and in Place aux Herbs. Shops and restaurants, …

Our lovely daughter Kate, back in the fold to enjoy ‘La Belle France’ with us again and come with us to visit Le Palais des Papes in Avignon! Happily posing with a T-shirt from Daddy, recently purchased in some far off …

As I woke on Wednesday morning, contemplating the day ahead and my life in Provence, I thought that to celebrate the year’ s extra day, February 29th, I should be doing something special, other than focusing on work. Then I remembered …

Uzes in winter, a wonderful time to sit over a coffee, when it’s cold outside spending time with friends whom you met many years ago, before children, mortgages, health care issues and all the messy things called ‘life’ have deposited …