"Le Refuge" in Provence

Yesterday (day 5), we flew from Paris to Marseille, where we picked up our rental car. My, how we love our large cars, but it's rare to see anything but small cars here. The small towns have very narrow streets and the cost of fuel is very high--almost double our cost. We love our little car with its manual shift, another norm.
We drove straight to our cottage in the lovely hill town of Menerbes. It took some effort to find the place, as the owner, Marie's instructions were in pretty broken English.
Marie is from Paris, got a divorce, then moved to Provence, where she found this property in 1994. It was little more than an old stone shell in ruins, built in 1769 and over the course of 20 years, she has transformed it into her refuge, thus the name "Le Refuge".

 

 

 

This house served as a refuge for the French resistance, and even though it is only a 5 minute drive from the beautiful village of Menerbes, I feel like I am in a lost valley and the cares of the world are far away.

The house is literally built into the the rock and faces south to the sun. The extraordinary overhang of the rock is quite impressive.

We arrived at the house through an arch into a beautiful little courtyard.

 

 

Downstairs is the living area with kitchen, fireplace, internet and bath and the bedroom is upstairs.

 

 

 

When we arrived, we got to know Marie over a glass of wine. She speaks limited English but speaks better English than I speak French. But that didn't matter. She was a delight to visit with. Today she took us all around the property and showed us all the amazing thing she has done over the years.

We love this place!!

 

 

Marie's house