Provence

In July we spent a week in Provence with my family. One of my parents' close friends and her children came too. As children we always used to go on holiday together and they are more like our cousins than friends, but we hadn't all been away together for 10 years. 

We stayed near the village of Montaroux, about an hour from Grasse. It was perfectly located for beautiful scenery, crystal clear rivers and bustling little villages. 

R and I got the train from St Pancras all the way down to Marseilles. We absolutely loved our train journey - 6 relaxed, comfortable hours, most of it spent watching House of Cards (totally hooked), some of it spent watching the changing scenery whizzing past. We also took a little picnic, care of Mr Waitrose. 

We spent a night in Marseilles before driving into the countryside. We wandered around in the early evening.

We only really got a glimpse of Marseilles but we liked it alot - hot, sprawling, diverse and just a bit gritty. Full of interesting shops and restaurants, people cooking food in the streets, graffiti-laden walls, slightly crumbling houses, lashed with seawater. Lively and messy and just a little bit whiffy. 

It was so lovely to feel proper Mediterranean heat for the first time of the year. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Britain in the summer, but there is nothing quite like that feeling of dry heat on your skin, heat that lasts right into the late evening. 

We stumbled across this wonderful traditional printmaker. I loved his fishes - they reminded me of our Jo Waterhouse fishy. 

After an amazing dinner at O'Bidul (if you're ever in Marseilles, go), and a good night's sleep, we woke up bright and early and headed east into the mountains.  

The rest of the week was mainly spent sleeping, sunbathing, swimming in the pool, reading and EATING. Oh the croissants, oh the cheese......!

There were 12 of us and we took it in turns to cook and had long, lazy dinners every evening, talking, talking, drinking delicious wine, moving from course to course. Mmmmmm. 

We did some early evening exploring of the local villages. 

Beautiful narrow cobbled streets lined with plants and flowers

Lovely old fashioned bars and restaurants in shady squares. 

We also made sure to do some river swimming. 

Swimming below fig trees, shade and sun dappled, water disappearing into green lace and dark rocks. 

Freezing but invigorating!

And we tried the local violet ice cream. A bit strange but R was a big fan.

On our last night we went out to eat in Montaroux.

And then walked home (a little bit tipsy) in the dark!

A truly lovely holiday. 

Oxford Town

R and I met at university in Oxford so it will always be a special place for us. Happily, we get lots of opportunity to go back as my sister is now studying there and always loves getting a visit. We went just before Christmas, and again a couple of weekends ago. And so I thought a post on Oxford was due.

Before Xmas we drove up on a Sunday and took my sis out for lunch. Middley sister also came along (she didn’t want to be left out!).

My sister has the most amazing room overlooking Broad Street, right in the centre of town. 







This is the view from her window!!

Me and R desperately tried to think of a way we could go back to uni for a bit.







Her college looked very majestic cloaked in autumnal colours and sunlight. 

The beauty and privilege of it all always makes us remember how lucky we were to study and live there for a brief time. 

For lunch we headed to the restaurant at the top of the Ashmolean museum which gets lovely views of the Oxford rooftops. 

We stopped by the modern art room for a brief look on our way up.



They’ve just recently renovated the museum and it is amazing now. We didn’t have time to do it justice. 

The restaurant’s got an amazing roof terrace, but it was a bit too chilly to hang around for long out there! The food was delicious though and we had a good ol’ natter.

Afterwards we went for a mooch around Oxford, arms linked for warmth and sky dropping into damp darkness. 






Oxford in the dusk and streetlamps took me right back – cycling home from the library as night fell, winding my way through the backstreets, over cobblestones, back to my over-heated room and a cup of tea before dinner. Oh nostalgic!

We ducked into the beautifully curated Objects of Use just before closing. What a lovely shop. I think I wanted to buy just about everything.

A couple of weekends ago we made a return trip, this time to have dinner in my sister's college with the rest of the family, to celebrate dad's birthday, and to stay with some friends who live in Headington. It was cold again, but bright and beautiful too. We headed to Summertown where we used to live and had a potter around the charity shops (they have some seriously good ones up there). We took the bus, reminisced, walked past our old house and marvelled at how long ago it all was.



In the evening we had a present opening session in my sister's room.

 We got him a frying pan!

Then we donned our gladrags, slapped our lipstick on, got R to take photos of us (all of which were awful), and headed to hall for dinner.





Where we proceeded to drink too much and play games involving chocolates on faces which really didn't go down all that well with our fellow guests......

The next morning mum and I went to hear some rather lovely music at the Holywell Music room and felt very cultured and virtuous. And then we went out for a big celebratory-Dad-birthday-curry on Sunday before parting ways.

Ode to Oxford. Still magical, full of memories.