Mature Flâneur
Forty Shades of Ochre (in Roussillon, Provence)
Painting the town red, literally
The towns of the Luberon Massif in Provence are the prettiest little places you can possibly imagine: grey and tan stone houses perched on a hilltop, clustered around a medieval château or cathedral, with vineyards and orchards in the green valley below.
This is the idyllic land Peter Mayle wrote about in his famous memoir, A Year In Provence. The book described what it was like for an Englishman (him) to move to a rustic region of France. The Luberon was severely impoverished after WWII, and was still poor when Mayle arrived in the eighties, so “rustic” is putting it mildly. His best-seller (and two sequels) inspired tens of thousands of Mayle’s fellow anglais to follow in his footsteps and move to the Luberon. He was better than a Taylor Swift concert for the local economy! 35 years on, tourism and real estate are still major drivers of growth in the region.
