Provence

Just inland of the Cote d’Azur’s sun-kissed beaches and hardly a stone’s throw from the airport, is a different Provence, a land of wonderful and often surprising landscapes, and beautiful gardens and Châteaux. We’ll stay in one such, the elegant Château Saint Roux, a perfect base to explore the Massif des Maures, an astonishing “wooded savannah” where large red-ochre rock slabs emerge from a landscape unique in Franc. A mosaic of rare ecosystems is protected by the National Reserve of the Plaine de Maures.

Immense forests of Cork Oaks dotted with both Stone Pines and Maritime Pine surround two lakes, these with reedbeds and riparian forest that attract many birds. Temporary streams and ponds host rare plants such as Durieu’s Quillwort, Revelière’s Buttercup and the Portuguese Adder’s-Tongue Fern, as well as several species of frog. Helianthemum lawns are covered in a superb show of Tongue Orchids, notably the pretty pink Serapias neglecta, along with Serapias olbia, Serapias cordigera and Serapias strictiflora. We can find Hermann’s Tortoise, Ocellated Lizard, European Roller, Honey Buzzard and Short-toed Eagles.

Chestnut groves have a special flora with two lovely vetches – Vicia melanops and Vicia laeta, as well as Doronicum plantagineum and Tulipa sylvestris. Provence’s oak forests are rich in lovely spring blooms. Under a fine show of pink Cistus albidus are the tubby bells of Fritillaria involucrata as well as Iris lutescens, Leucojum pulchellum and purple Romulea arnaudii. Amongst Genista linifolia and Adenocarpus telonensis, Anenome hortensis and delicate Anacamptis longicornu flower.

For the second part of the holiday we move to the Prealpes de Grasse. Again we’ll have a somewhat luxurious pad to enjoy, the lovely Hotel du Clos, in the hamlet of Le Rouret. We’ll explore coastal sites where we’ll see the highly endangered Jupiter’s Beard and equally rare Leucojum nicaeense. In the Mountains amongst swathes of Narcissus poeticus are Gladiolus dubius, Romulea revelieri, Tulipa agenensis, and plentiful orchids with MilKy Orchid, Woodcock Orchid, Yellow Bee Orchid, and the local endemic Ophrys splendida among them.

The exposed limestone rocks of the Plateau de Calern hosts a fabulous spring flora with Colchicum bulbocodium mixing with Crocus versicolor. Abundant Gageas bloom amongst Burnt-tip Orchids and Toothed Orchids, Elder-flowered Orchidsand the gorgeous fluffy Pulsatilla halleri. The important part man has played in shaping Provence’s landscapes will not be ignored and we’ll visit some of the most beautiful examples of the estates and gardens that embellish these sublime landscapes, notable amongst them the Domaine du Royal.