Dreaming of...

ABOVE THE CURVE Arches are a feature, as is gourmet food

Is it the soft colour palette of the oleander shrubs? Or the heady scent of the lavender fields? Perhaps it’s a chilled glass of local rosé and a good book in the shade? Whatever your personal ‘aah, Provence...’ moments are, it’s a place where memories linger long after you have alighted the plane or train home.

Surely there can be no finer, more timeless place to allow the soothing warmth of the South of France to restore some post-Covid sanity than the five-star Hôtel Crillon le Brave, near Carpentras.

Now open for the summer season after the pandemic closure – which provided the opportunity for a full refurbishment – the property is an integral part of the eponymous hilltop village and has 16 rooms and 18 suites.

The reception, public spaces and outdoor pool, which overlooks vineyards and glorious Provençal countryside across to the formidable Mont Ventoux, have been refreshed with the help of Parisian architect Charles Zana.

The contemporary feel works well with the historic atmosphere of the 10 honey-coloured stone buildings.

Clustered like a labyrinth around a church, the 17th and 18th century former houses are covered in Virginia creeper, with an ancient olive tree standing sentinel in the centre of a prop- erty which exudes casual

UPLIFTING Views of the countryside

stretch for miles