The last few weeks seem to have passed by in a blur of village, school & college events and yet it still doesn’t really feel like Summer…….

This school term always seems to go quickly, but to be honest it feels as if someone is removing the days in the middle of the week at the moment, so much so that we seem to be starting Friday, before Monday has even finished. Bizarrely though (and at the other end of the scale) it feels as if months have passed since we were last in Provence, whereas in reality it was actually only 5 weeks ago and I have to admit that I am suffering serious withdrawal symptoms and can’t wait to return.

Normally we’re very good and manage to curb our desire to head down to the Vaucluse as often as possible, but this time round we’ve failed completely. Next week our youngest is heading off to Germany on a school trip & so we’ve taken our chance and have booked a sneaky (and very naughty) few days away, just to satisfy our cravings for a dose of Provence (bearing in mind we will be heading out as a family in mid-August)

This time it will just be my hubby & I and I’ve no doubt it will be a lovely break, although I know we’ll miss the boys. Over the last couple of weeks though my timeline has been full of photos of the lavender fields across the area and I have been enviously watching the local weather reports with wall to wall sunshine, whilst we have had heavy, thundery showers here on Dartmoor. So we’ve succumbed and are looking forward to our 3 days away.

We’ll be staying in the picturesque village of Fontaine de Vaucluse……….

………………..and have hired bikes so we can potter off around the area to visit some of our favourite haunts.

I’m looking forward to taking life a bit more slowly whilst we are there – the last few weeks have been pretty hectic and I know that as soon as we drive out of the carpark at Marseille that we’ll relax. It will be really tempting to cram as much as possible into the time we have available, but this time we won’t be aiming to visit a market each day or spend hours browsing round the antique shops – we’ll just be happy to let ourselves be immersed in the area, take each day as it comes and just simply relax – I won’t even have to think about preparing any food, which will feel odd, but very pleasant.

Of course there are a few things that we’re particularly looking forward to and top of the list will be cycling through the lavender fields that were only just starting to show their colour when we were there in May, which are now in full flower & scent.

It will also be nice to eat out so we’ve reserved tables at restaurants that we always long to eat at, but find difficult with boys who have very fixed ideas of what they enjoy to eat. So we’ll be heading to the Auberge at Lagnes and then spending the evening of the 14th July ( Fete Nationale ) at La Figuiere in Fontaine de Vaucluse, which will be lovely.

So the countdown is now well and truly on – we have a frantic few days ahead, but just the thought of being back down there this time next week will certainly help as we try to make sure we get everything sorted before we go. Better get on then………..

But first am happy to upload and share this through

4 days 22 hours 38 minutes and counting ………………………