A culinary treasure trove

The former vacation home of cooking giant Julia Child is for sale near Grasse, France, at roughly $860,000. For the culinary world, however, the place is priceless.

Called La Pitchoune, which means “the little one,” the charming hillside home was often referred to as La Peetch by Child and her husband, Paul.

Set in the Provencal village of Plascassier, the stucco cottage was built in 1963 on land belonging to Julia Child’s close friend Simone “Simca” Beck and Beck’s husband, Jean Fischbacher. The Childs used the property until the 1990s.

Julia Child’s kitchen still exists. Designed by her husband, it was modeled after the kitchen in their Cambridge, Mass., home.

The Provencal kitchen was built with tall counters to accommodate her 6foot-2 height. Pots, pans and pieces of cooking equipment hang on pegboardcovered walls. Painted outlines of the tools make it easy to see where utensils belong.

A living/dining room with a wood-burning fireplace and three en suite bedrooms are included in some 1,615 square feet of living space. A separate studio includes another living room, a bedroom, kitchenette and bathroom.

The landscaped grounds of about half an acre contain a carport, a terrace and a swimming pool area.

La Pitchoune became a culinary school in 1993 run by American Kathie Alex, the present owner. The native Californian has preserved the spirit of the house and even adopted a small cat that had shown up when Julia Child lived there.

Child, who died in 2004 at 91, became a world-renowned American chef, author and television personality by introducing French cuisine to the U.S. public through her 1961 cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

Through the 1980s, she starred on such television shows as “The French Chef,” “Julia Child & Company,” “Julia Child & More Company” and “Dinner at Julia’s.”

Côte d’Azur Sotheby’s International Realty is the listing agent.