Coast and Country in France

St Paul de Vence in Provence is a fortified hilltop village with views across to the Mediterranean from Nice to Antibes in the heart of the French Riviera.

The mild climate with an average of 300 days of sunshine a year, wine from vineyards some of which were planted over two thousand six hundred years ago and a quality of life born of two thousand years of trade and visitors (not all as peaceful as today) has created a vibrant community and one of the most popular villages in France.

The fortified walls are first described in the 11th century and were constantly strengthened until the late 19th century. To avoid the fate of many other medieval walled villages in France and with great foresight the city fathers then bought these great stone fortifications in 1872 for 400 francs off the French government to prevent them being demolished for building materials.

These imposing fortifications and ramparts rise out of the countryside of Provence. The quality of the light which attracted so many great artists gives the walls this beautiful Mediterranean village a unique luminosity.

Vence is in fact a slightly larger village 3 kilometers from Saint Paul, but as there are many towns in France called St Paul or Saint Paul de “” the village is known throughout the world as St Paul de Vence.

Today the fame and popularity of St Paul de Vence is not only due to its imposing position, once important for protecting the village but also as a strategic defensive position, but for the importance of the village in the early part of the 20th century when it became a great favorite of many important artists.

During their time in St Paul de Vence, Picasso and Matisse extended their lifelong friendly rivalry. Many other painters and writers came to St Paul de Vence - Dufy, Chagall, Picasso, Braque, Hartung, Bonnard, Miro, Leger Dubuffet, Carzou, Arman, Anthony Mars, Andre Gide, D.H. Lawrence (who died in St Paul de Vence), have all been part of the scene in Vence. Some artists left their work as payment for food and drink and these can still be seen on the walls of the hotel La Colombe d’or

Mark Chagall is buried in the Saint Paul de Vence cemetery.

When he was 77 years old, Henri Matisse devoted four years of his life to designing the Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence, saying, “For me, this chapel is the achievement of an entire life’s work, the outcome of tremendous, difficult, sincere effort.” The story of Matisse and his involvement through the encouragement of one of his models, who became a nun is a powerful and moving documentary.

This rich artistic heritage can be seen in the world famous Maeght Foundation which was created in the 1950s by Aime and Marguerite Maeght, art collectors and dealers who knew all the great artists who worked in Provence. The collection includes works by Braque, Miro, Chagall, Leger and Matisse. The building, gardens and sculptures make this an absolute “must” to visit and another reason for living in this magical area.

When you first come to Saint Paul de Vence, you know you will have to come again, so why not talk to us about owning a property in one of the world’s most special places.

It took under six hours for me to drive the 600 km from my son’s ski chalet in the Alps by Mont Blanc to my home by the Mediterranean in the village of Montblanc today, that included two stops and a long phone call.

France is a big country, but there are so many different regions and changes of lifestyle and scenery that it is a pleasure traveling along some of the best roads in the world.

Each of the twenty regions offers something completely different to all the others and each department in each region, all ninety five of them, have a unique character.

Although Paris is the capital, no other city thinks it is second to Paris, each city has a fierce pride and independent character and “knows” it is simply the best town in France with an assured certainty. Perhaps they are all correct in their thinking, each place in France has a character as individual as the hundreds of different cheeses or wines you can taste, who is to say which is the best.

I am often asked where are the best places in France to live, or my recommendations. It is a difficult question as a home will depend on your personal preferences and dreams. However I can suggest ways that you can “look” at France and then make good plans to travel and visit.

Here is a recent mail I answered…

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Hi Tony,

My husband and I are planning to buy a house in France to live in - not to renovate and not to rent out. Just a small village house or apartment for us.

We have identified that the Languedoc is a great area for us for all the same reasons you like it. We also want a town that is not too big and not too small.We don’t wont a place that closes down in winter.

We think around population of 10,000 would be good. We think the town of Limoux would suit us with it’s coffee and restaurant culture and music and art festivals. What we want to ask you is if you know which other towns in the area might have a similar flavour to them, be of similar size and if you would recommend we look at any other towns???

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. I hope your health is good now.
Kind regards.
Desiree

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Hi Desiree,

Thank you for your very interesting mail. Languedoc is a large region and each department has different characteristics. Limoux is a charming town and I agree, you need a population of at least 10,000 or more to have year round animation.

It can only ever be a personal choice which village,town or city is perfect for you. My advice is always to travel slowly, stop in local cafes and hotels as much as you can, look at the libraries and museums to get a feel of the activities and see what the local Mairie and Information offices offer and how friendly they are (or not).

A good source of information on 36,000 towns in France is the French website

http://www.linternaute.com/ville/

This gives fairly recent information on the demographics of the town.

Using www.maps.google.com, or downloading Google Earth http://earth.google.com/ , with a reasonable Internet connection you can “hover” over the countryside and “see” towns which may be interesting. There is a good French portal at

http://www.geoportail.fr/ but this site is not as friendly as Google and you cannot save the pages, although in many places the satellite definition is better than Google.

The geography is vary varied in Languedoc and this effects the climate, the Tramontane wind to the West and the Mistral to the East are important considerations, as is the altitude and proximity to the sea. Temperatures can drop on degree for each village north from the coast - I notice when driving down from Paris that there is always a ten degree centigrade difference as the temperature rises over the last 50 kilometers as I head south. In winter I have driven from snow and ice to warm sunshine in under an hour.

Check the local weather with http://www.meteofrance.com and search through archives to see which towns have cold winters and/or frequent high winds. As I personally loathe the cold and wind only the department of Herault suits me, South of Narbonne or West of Nimes does not suit me. Also being under 20 minutes from the Mediterranean gives a climate I like. However you may like brisk walks in chilly bright winter sunshine with a stimulating wind in your face. Search keywords like “Tramontane” and “Mistrale”

All towns have completely different characters, this can be largely the result of the local Mayors and a change of regime can dramatically change the character of a community. You must get a “feel” for the local politics, the cafes will help, go to the Mairie and ask to meet the mayor or one of the deputies - ask them questions about their community - you may be a voter one day so usually they are very helpful - if they are not then this is a bad sign.

There are many towns I would advise you visit and some “virtual flying” over the satellite maps will show many others. For my personal choice I like Pezenas (34), Beziers, (34) Montpellier (34), Narbonne(11), Ceret (66), Uzes (30)

Do keep in touch and let me know how you get on and remember, I am a registered Immobilier now so will be very happy to find a property for you.

My health is fine now, the doctors says “I am perfect” - which is a big surprise to my family.

I am working with the best agency in France for real-estate, http://coast-country-france.com/ and can help you find your perfect home.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Tony

It is impossible to describe my feelings when these two are together - I am very proud of them both.

Here is a link to the album of their day Skiing on March 9 2007

Skiing on March 9th 2007

Still on top of a nice warm mountain, if only snow was as warm and fluffy as it looks I would happily be out with my two sons skiing over the glacier into Italy for lunch.

However I an snug in a warm chalet looking out over clear snow to the top of Mont Blanc. The work today is getting all the email addresses sorted and secure for everyone. We are moving to the Google servers as twice in the last 12 months I have had my hosting servers hijacked by criminals using them for spam, this gets them blacklisted and this can mean not only a bad name in Google but can give problems with my own ISP, or one I am connecting to when I am mobile, by not allowing me to use my own email servers.

This will mean hours of sorting out my computers and those of friends and colleagues I work with - on top of this Eudora are stopping their software and merging with a Mozilla/Thunderbird system, plus with Coast and Country we are using the racjspace server as well as looking at ways to sort out their websites and indexing.

My main mission today is to get the forum work and blog writing in the right places so I can get my newsletters out again, it is four months since I was able to get one together

It is three days since I wrote in this blog - my aim is to try to add something every day plus keep a record of useful information and links to other stuff - I expect there will be many excuses for not writing, today’s excuse it we are reconfiguring some of the sites and this blog has got shifted to another directory so I could not log in for a while, plus yesterday I was driving from Montblanc in the Languedoc to Mont Blanc in the Alps.

All I can see out of the window is snow and I don’t like snow - so why am I here ? Because my son Tony has a chalet by the ski slopes and my son Jack loves to be with him and to ski - where they get this enthusiasm from is a mystery - I can think of few things I would want to do less than sliding down cold wet hills - however, sitting here in a warm chalet with the freezing white stuff outside good double glazing is OK by me.

A big advantage living in France is that we can go from the Mediterranean to some of the best skiing in the world in a few hours, and thanks to 3G technology I can work on my laptop just as effectively from just about anywhere - France is usually more expensive than most places for mobile phones and communications, the package I am using from Bouygues seems to give me a fair speed and good coverage although I find uploading slow and they don’t let me use the voice services on Skype so I also need the mobile phone to talk. But they would do that, wouldn’t they.

So much is happening at the moment - I am testing other blog software - this is using Wordpress, we are creating a new website for new build properties with interactive maps - all the Coat and Country websites ae being overhauled and we are strengthening the marketing and I am building up the Languedoc real-estate business plus Carole is working on a new website for mobile homes - which is a whole new subject I shall write about. Right now I have to write a description of a gite and stable complex near Montpellier we visited last week

Writing a daily blog about life in France, making a living in France and answering questions from readers is a full time job - unfortunately making a living and supporting a family in France is also a full time job - so one of them has to suffer (sorry kids).

It is not the problem about having something to say, just the opposite, there is so much to write about which even after nearly 20 years living in France I find fresh, frustrating, fascinating, fun and foolish, that I could fill a three volume Victorian novel every day - luckily no one would ever read it.

My work is to build what is already the best real-estate agency in France Coast and Country into the most successful estate agency in France. it is already very successful on the French Riviera with their main office in Mougins and others in Nice, Cannes and Hyeres.

They asked me to help with their Internet marketing last year, and after a delay while I was out of action late last year, I not only took over the optimising and marketing of their websites, but I am now building their Languedoc agency in France - this is a real case of the poacher turning gamekeeper as for years I have been less than flattering about the French real-estate business in my blogs.

My experience of property in France has been coloured by the large number of English based companies who parasitically leech onto the French immobilier (estate agents) - some (who I cannot name for legal reasons as they have big legal departments and keep threatening to sue me, although they know I am telling the truth which is why they worried in the first place - my advice is simply do not bother with anyone offering French real-estate who cannot show you a licensed Carte Professionnelle in France).

So now I am an immobilier, a blogger, an old fat red-faced geek and very happy to be living in France.

This is the first posting on a new site - there is so much to write about, especially as I have not written my usual blogs on www.Nizas.com or www.harmonyOwnership.com for over four months now.

All my time has been used trying to get our Key website, www.Coast-Country-France.com sorted out and running properly.