Bastide Lavande

The first thing you notice at Bastide Lavande is the fountain, a stone basin set in the middle of the lawn and lit softly after dark. Around it, old Provençal stone wings meet modern glass, and a long pool runs along the garden toward a dry-stone wall and an iron pergola.

This is a house built for long lunches. One table sits under reed shade beside the lawn, another under a vine, a third under an umbrella by the kitchen door. Indoors, whitewashed beams and timber trusses lift the main rooms, arched steel windows look out to the grass, and a dining table for the whole party runs alongside an open kitchen. There's a second, farmhouse-style kitchen with terracotta floors too. As a luxury villa rental in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, it gives you space without losing that country feel.

Bastide Lavande sleeps twelve guests in six bedrooms, each with a king bed, and has six bathrooms, several with clawfoot tubs. Rooms are calm and pale, with French windows that open straight onto the garden. A small gym and a sauna sit off the house, and there's a pétanque court under the olives.

Saint-Rémy is a classic market town at the foot of the Alpilles, the hills you can see from the top of the garden. It's a good base for exploring this part of Provence. Bring the extended family, or a group of friends who like to cook, swim and stay at the table late.