A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle

Among the vines stood an old stone farmhouse, weathered by wind and sun to a colour somewhere between honey and pale grey. In the afternoon sun, with the wooden shutters half closed like sleepy eyelids, it was irresistible…

First, a dream of a life in Provence… and then a home to match the dream. Moving in to an old farmhouse, at the foot of the Luberon Mountains betweeen Avignon and Aix, was the beginning ofan exotic and bewildering new life for Peter Mayle and his wife – the beginning of A YEAR IN PROVENCE.

It was a year that began with lunch. By its end they had survived the buffetings of both the Mistral and the soupy accent of the native Provencal, overseen the planting of a new vineyard, endured invasion by builders and guests, and eaten and drank both memorably and often.

A YEAR IN PROVENCE is Peter Mayle’s own hilarious description of their pleasurable and occasionally frustrating experiences – an account that attempts to answer the question:

What is it really like to live in Provence?