Holiday Home in Vaucluse, Provence

 We recently stayed a week in this holiday home in Provence, in a small village called Sablet. The village is pretty, not far from Orange and Avignon, and has the basic amenities: baker, butcher, small supermarket and a chemist. Sablet is perched on a hill and the views from the top of the village, near the church are spectacular.

I found the holiday home on Owner's Direct, and the pictures and description sounded promising. On arrival in Sablet, we met the charming owner, received the keys and had our first look at the house. To be honest, when we saw the house we were a bit taken aback, there did not seem to be many windows and I did wonder if it would be very dark.  

When we entered the hallway through the attached garage it did seem a little bit gloomy but we were so charmed by the pretty stairs with the painted tiles that we hardly noticed.

On the ground floor was a decent sized bedroom with two single bed and an ensuite bathroom that the children claimed for their own. We could see that the house had been recently renovated, in 2006 I believe, and that the owners had put a lot of thought and money into it. The bathroom was small but lovely, the beds were old but comfortable. The bedroom also boasted an airconditioning unit, as did the other rooms of the house which we rarely needed to use as the house did not really get very hot. We put the AC on for an hour or so just before we went to bed to cool the bedrooms down.

Upstairs, on the first floor we found a wonderful, light and airy room with a large dining table, wooden dresser and a two-seater couch with a television. There was also a desk that held brochures and information about the surrounding area.

The dresser held plenty of dishes, cutlery and a good selection of kitchen and serving utensils. I was impressed to find not only a quiche dish but also a cake tin, although I am afraid that I did not use it. More to the boulangerie in another post.

Also on the first floor was the well-equiped kitchen with a dishwasher (hurrah!) a gas/induction hob, a oven and a microwave. And of course for the Brits, the all important kettle. The owner had supplied the basics - tea and coffee, salt and sugar, and had not removed the items that previous renters had left behind so that there were many other basics already there. Even a basil plant. The only thing that we missed was a tea pot but that is just us being British. Or me anyway. I used one of the jugs but there is something just not right about doing that.

In the fridge we found a bottle of water, and a bottle of the local white wine which we found a lovely touch. There were also candles and matches for those romantic Provencal evenings on the terrace.

Outside the dining / kitchen area was a large private terrace. It was enclosed on three sides so was very sheltered, both from the wind that whistled around the corners in Sablet and from the hot Provencal sun.  We ate here every day and enjoyed relaxing with a coffee and an Aperol Spritz after our meal, when the children were downstairs getting ready for bed. The opening to the street meant that we could watch the sun setting - and have a good nosy at the people passing by.

The large picture windows were open to the terrace so that the house was very light without one having the feeling of being observed by the neighbours.

Going upstairs again, we reached the second floor and the Master Bedroom. The bathroom is not strictly ensuite, but it is just across the stairwell. Again the bathroom was beautifully finished, with double sink unit and a large shower.

The bedroom was pretty and again filled with light, due to the large windows that led out onto another terrace, which offered a view of the terrace below and up into the sky. It was here that I would sit in the evenings once the children were in bed to read, drink  wine and gaze dreamily at the moon and stars.

We had a couple of slight problems - the WC next to the children's room would not flush and the tap of the kitchen sink flew across the room if it were not held tight but when we informed the owners, they came around and fixed it immediately.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the holiday home in Sablet. The standard of the accomodation was high, the little touches of decoration and the attention to detail turned the small house into a proper gem.

Our little dog was welcome, as were the children although it has to be said that the house would not be suitable for younger children due to the many stairs and the fact that the bedrooms are so far apart. There was another bedroom in the attic of the house, suitable again for older children as the stairs were a bit steep.

Ok, so this is a smug and boastful post. So shoot me.

After all it is not every day that one's husband cycles to the top of Mt Ventoux.

Architects are never on holiday

Seen on a beach on the South of France

Not sure if that is his wife looking resigned and bored in the background,

 but the castle was a work of art

Gisele's Law - Enforced Breastfeeding for the first six months

Just what we have all been waiting for. A breastfeeding model to encourage more women that breastfeeding is wonderful, to put pressure on governments to fund breastfeeding clinics and train counsellors. To denounce greedy corporations who promote formula feeding in the developing world (Nestle, I am looking at you here). What a fantastic role model that would be. A young famous mum, stunningly attractive with a great figure and a sweet and happy baby.

Sadly we did not get that, we got Gisele Bundchen, who is advocating a law to ban formula feeding for the first 6 months of babies lives. Ok, she may have been misquoted, she may be in the first glow of enthusiasm of the mother of a Precious First Born, she may look back on her comments in a couple of years and cringe. We might give her the benefit of the doubt.

 Still, the whole quote is pretty gobsmacking. 

"I think breastfeeding really helped (me keep me figure). Some people here (in the US) think they don't have to breastfeed, and I think 'Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?' I think there should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months." 


Particularly when combined with her boast of making pancakes the day after the birth of her son (Big deal, Gisele. Some of us are doing the school run, keeping the house and looking after several older children, without the help of a nanny or cleaner).

Meditating helped her prepare for labour, she adds smugly


"It's called 'labour' not 'holiday' for a reason, and I knew that. You want to go into the most intense physical experience of your life unprepared? That doesn't make any sense to me. Then I was ready and I thought OK, let's get to work'. I wasn't expecting someone else to get the baby out of me."

 Perhaps she should have asked her yoga teacher or spiritual adviser for help in locating her empathy button, as it seems to have been misplaced. Her comments that she found labour so easy because she was well-prepared insinuate that those who have difficult labours were too lazy to plan for the birth. That is right, we were all sitting around eating carbs and watching Jeremy Kyle.

Here is a newsflash, Ms Bundchen. Not everyone is as lucky as you. Not everyone has easy labours. Not through bad planning but through a mixture of bad luck, physiology and/or substandard medical care.

My first labour was long, hard but lovely and my daughter was an easy child who slept well. She did not take well to breastfeeding and after 6 weeks of struggling with little support and after suffering several bouts of mastitus, I gave up. It was not an easy decision but it was the best one for me at the time. If I had the knowledge then, and the online support and advice that I would have now then I may have made it, who knows?

When my waters broke with my second child, it was a completely different matter.

Perhaps Gisele would like to put herself in my shoes and relive the day that my son was born. Would she have meditated through the difficult first stage, the lack of progress, the induction. Perhaps her preparation would have helped her cope with the worry when the baby seemed to be in distress and  the decision was made to do an emergency caesarian section. Would she have remained serene and in control as the doctors ran with her on the gurney to the operating theatre, leaving her shell shocked husband alone in the labour suite. Surely she would have meditated through the fear, the bright lights of the theatre (not so different from the catwalk after all) and not have been fazed by the speed that the General Anaesthetic was administered.

Would Gisele understand and empathise with a woman who awoke from the GA, woozy and unsure what had just happened, unable to hold her newborn son, not even sure if he were alive. Far from making pancakes the day after the birth, I was unable to get out of the bed without assistance, unable to feed my son without assistance, traumatised from the birth and far from the happy and peaceful new mummy of my previous labour and birth.

I would hope that Gisele would find empathy for the difficult and traumatic birth that I went through, and understanding for the fact that I decided not to breastfeed. My birth experience is not that rare, and certainly not as bad as some other mums have gone through. Again, with support and help a woman in this position may be able to come through it and establish breastfeeding, but without some kind of assistance it is very difficult.

Calling formula milk "chemicals" and advocating prosecution for those unable to breastfeed makes Gisele sound completely lacking in any knowledge or empathy for any mother who struggles with breastfeeding. If she does not want to use her celebrity status to draw attention to the miserable support for breastfeeding mothers, she should keep her opinions to herself and just be thankful for the simple and easy birth and the wonderful start to her son's life.

Top Ten Provence Souvenirs - how many of these items did you buy?

After two weeks in Provence we realised that there are some things that almost every tourist buys. Just as visitors to Germany try the Bier and the Wurst, visitors to Scotland are obliged to have a wee dram and visitors to Switzerland just have to purchase lashings of yummy chocolate. These are our Top Ten Provence Souvenirs.

1. Nougat with candied fruit

2. Wine from Chateauneuf du Pape

3. or Côtes de Provence

4. Soap, mainly the big blocks of Marseilles Soap, but these flowers also caught our eye

5. Homegrown Garlic

6. Lavender

7. Sea Salt

8. A Stripy Straw Bag

9. A tablecloth or item of clothing in Provencal style

10. ceramic cigale - cicadas - which I forgot to photograph but here is the real thing

Who has visited Provence, and how many of the 10 items did you buy?