Mon ami, Jan was surprised I had not read A Year In Provence after she visited our new/old farmhouse in the Kettle Moraine region of southeast Wisconsin. Chronicling the first year which author Peter Mayle and wife Jennie owned and restored a rustic, two hundred year mas (farmhouse) in Provence, you’ll be treated to a colorful and quietly detailed vision of the new homeowner’s trials and joys. Situated at the foot of the Luberon Mountains between the villages of Menerbes and Bonnieux and within the boundaries of a 247,000 acre national park, the property offered the Mayles a bold lifestyle change from their native England. It was both sanctuary and a work in progress on six acres of vineyards.
From crowded, clogged roads in summer, with hilarious descriptions of French driving technique, to depictions of wine-enfused games of boules, to a detailed account of a Grande Course de Chevres (Great Goat Race) through the streets of Bonnieux.
So apropos to my view of the typical NYE scene, the author begins his tale,
“The year began with lunch. We have always found that New Year’s Eve, with its eleventh-hour excesses and doomed resolutions, is a dismal occasion for all the forced jollity and midnight toasts and kisses. And so, when we heard that over in the vilage of Lacoste, a few miles away, the proprietor of Le Simiane was offering a six course lunch with pink champagne to his amiable clientele, it seemed like a much more cheerful way to start the next twelve months.”
Food & Restaurants
- Lacoste – Le Simiane, New Year’s Eve lunch
- Lambesc in a converted mill with an 80 year old female chef
- Auberge de la Loube – an ancient Mairie, Buoux
- Deux Garcons, Aix
- Old Station Cafe, Bonnieux
- Bistro du Paradou, Massane
- Markets in Cavaillon, Apt, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and Coustellet
- Food guide: Gault-Millau, L’expert gourmand
Vineyards/Caves
- Gigondas and Beaumes-de-Venise
- Chateauneuf-du-Pape
- Vacqueyras
People
- Faustin, the neighbor/farmer
- Antoine Massot, the old mountain man
- Monsieur Menicucci, the plumber
- Ramon, the plasterer
- Bernard,The pisciniste (pool man)
The Year’s highlights
- January: The Mistral – winter winds, Frozen water pipes;
- February: The kitchen is gutted, the cold continues;
- March: Planting new vines, Truffle hunting;
- April: Cherry blossoms and the house guests arrive;
- May: Cycling in the countryside;
- June: More house guests;
- July: a trip to Saint-Tropez;
- August: Grande Course de Chevres;
- September: Tourists leave, Hunting Season begins, Grape harvest;
- October: Les Champignons
- November: Chevaliers’ dinner in Burgundy, a visit to an olive oil mill -Cooperative Oleicole de la Vallee des Baux, Maussane
- December: The wiles of the wife, the ways of the worker and the job gets done!
And so the Mayle’s year closes and I fret that I may be approaching the same feelings as I look around our place.
“There comes a time in the restoration of an old house when the desire to see it finished threatens all of those noble aesthetic intentions to see it finished properly.”
Bonne Année mes amis!
Yes! Food & wine and gardens (no goats – yet)!
Wow! The similarities between “A Year” and Erin are so many! Cycling, 6 acres/7 acres, national park/state park, gutting a kitchen, and of course, the worker and his wiley wife! Looking forward to another great year!
Ce’est vrai, Steve et Ann! Steve, your mention of Dickens classic beginning to a Tale of Two Cities brings to mind Ann’s goddaughter, Julia..(my daughter 🙂 ). She chose those very words to begin her salutatorian speech to her classmates last May… she had us all (well, her family for sure) riveted as she spoke of their years together in high school. You definitely need to get up to Erin and God’s country in Wisconsin. Ann and Mark have a treasure there and you will be surrounded by nature in all its lovely serenity….unless of course Mark is grilling and there is a party goin’ on! Brats and beers for all cheese head guests!
Bonne Annee!
Jan
I wish you could post Julia’s speech right here on epr. She’ll be famous one day soon, and we will have to document her early years and say “We knew here when…”
Wow, that was fantastic. Before we visit the “New Wisconsin” in 2015 we’ll need to read the book for a better understanding of what you got yourselves into.
Now my recent accomplishment started and ended with these famous lines below.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
And
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
I don’t have to tell you the book because everyone knows the opening lines, they could be considered the most recognizable opening lines in the world. But what I found fascinating was the last two sentences of the same book. Almost as recognizable. Has there ever been another book where the opening and closing lines are so memorial? I can’t think of any other. I’m sure many of you already know this, probably learned it in 5th grade. But i think i was cutting school the day this was covered in class, so I’m a step behind.
Wonderful book, I recommend it for all.
Steve
Wonderful insight on Mr. Dickens’ powerful tale! And a tie-in with Paris, no less!