Visit The French Riviera Without Leaving Home
With travel still a bit of a logistical minefield, I give you the next best thing - my favourite ways to incorporate Touches Françaises when I’m pining for the sunny place where I feel so at home.
Beaulieu Skies
For me the Cote d’Azur means friends and family, warm air at night and dinner to the sound of crickets. It means gasps at the first sight of the Plage Mala as you descend the 334 stairs into the cove, it means every shade of blue and the silvery glimmers of olive tree leaves catching on the Mistral wind (or occasionally the Sirocco, which blows all the way from the Sahara, covering everything in red dust). It means rolling the windows down whilst winding up steep hairpin bends on a hillside sprinkled with pink houses and palm trees. It means the world really. 🌴🌍
It also very often means balancing on a tight rope between “The Old French Riviera” steeped in tradition, where old people still live up tiny cobbled streets and the shops still close at lunch, and “The New French Riviera” where everything is extortionate, the service is grumpy and you feel unwelcome if you aren’t a good old Oligarch. I don’t think these two faces of the region will ever properly be reconciled, and nor are they going anywhere - which means good news for lovers of the old, gentler ways which can still be found (glass half full and all that).
A good starting point for dreamy escapism are the official accounts of French Riviera Guide, Hotel du Cap Eden Roc, Hotel Les Roches Rouges & Villa Santo Sospir (The Tattooed Villa decorated by Jean Cocteau).
L’Heure de Pétanque
If you have even so much as a sliver of garden at your disposal, then you can play Pétanque (you can, and you must)! Ideally you would have a fully fledged Terrain de Boules, a gravelly sandy arena where hard battles are fought and won! Officially termed Le Boulodrome, my favourite in the world is on the Place des Lices in St Tropez).
Do I play petanques? Not really. Would I if I had my own monogrammed balls to play with, like my father in law? Most likely. I am the epitome of “all the gear and no idea”. A really good set o’ balls will set you back but you can find perfect beginners kits at Decathlon and John Lewis for £20-30.
get kitted out
Did You Know? My husband’s hometown of Cagnes Sur Mer is home to the world championships of “Boules Carrés” - Square Boules. The residents of the ancient medieval village didn’t let their location at the top of a steep, steep hill spoil their fun, and swapped their round balls for cubes - perfect for hillside Pétanque. People come from all over the world every August to compete.
Dress For The French Riviera (Even If You’re In Glasgow)
Graphic Cotton Print Polo, Ralph Lauren
Sunrise Trainers, Soludos
St Tropez Basket, Pink Waters Resort
C’est Chic Sweatshirt, Whistles
Heroic Basket Bag, Carvela
Net Tote Bag, FILT
Leaf Necklace, Lima-Lima
Seashells Tee, Maison Labiche
Bonjour Necklace, All The Luck in the World
Bon Voyage Sweatshirt, Whistles (I also love their “Joie” sweater!)
Un Reve Francais do every possible slogan tee and sweatshirt, and make lovely gifts. A new brand that I absolutely love is Maison Djulia by Dominique Chevalier, supporting French artisans and makers. Her lines are a dream - vintage inspired, lots of lovely cotton and Liberty prints.
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Have Your Own Cannes Film Festival On The Small Screen
To Catch A Thief
As a child I loved when my parents used to drive us up to Eze Village (a tiny, crumbly medieval village on a cartoonishly pointy mountaintop), as the road winds right below the house where this story is set. It was while filming this dreamy Hitchcock caper about a cat burglar that Grace Kelly met and fell in love with Prince Rainier. You can’t spend a minute in Monaco without feeling her legacy in the region.
L’Arnacoeur
The best French romcom starring Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis, about a professional heartbreaker hired to break up a bad relationship. The French title is a play on words of the verb “Arnaquer” (to rip off / be ripped off) and Coeur (heart). In English it’s called The Heartbeaker. It’s one of my favourite French comedies, fluffy-light and feel-good, with a sunny Monte Carlo backdrop.
Mr Bean’s Holiday
Really high-brow stuff. Whether you love Mr Bean or he makes you want to put pins in your eyes, I rewatched this not long ago and it made me laugh out loud. Fun fact: This seems to be the only film ever played on the inter-island ferries in the Seychelles. On our honeymoon I spent many an hour at sea, watching Bean meander through the French countryside while trying not to be sea sick in a bag.
Other films that famously depict the South of France include Ronin, a high-thrills caper with a car chase through La Turbie and Nice. Most of the film is set in Paris but I love the glimmers of places I know so well. Priceless (or Hors de Prix) is another easygoing rom com starring Audrey Tautou about high class prostitution in Monaco and Le Gendarme de Saint Tropez is a 1964 classic universally beloved by French families.
P.S. If you want a laugh - read this list of not-quite-translated film titles. Often French film titles are changed from their original English names to different, very strange, still English names. The best example of this is The Hangover = “The Very Bad Trip.” Check out how many times they’ve manage to add “Sex” to a movie title in that list!
The French Riviera At Home
Dans La Cuisine
This decadent travelogue by Adam Leith Gollner really captures the regional food I know and love. Quintessentially Niçois, Socca is a chickpea pancake served with black pepper. Pissaladiere Rouge is one of the first things I seek out whenever I land, a caramelised onion / tomato tart a bit like pizza sans fromage. This recipe by Le Hareng Rouge is pretty good (I don’t like anchovies, so always leave them out - which most people tell me is missing the point but it’s still delish).
Bake Ta Baguette kits are the best way to learn the (harder than it looks) skill of making your own. For Pain Au Chocolat that are almost as good as the real thing, I recommend the Waitrose own brand frozen ones that you bake at home (none of the chewy pre-baked nonsense). Other essentials include Orangina in a bulby bottle (I know that sounds like a made up name, but it’s actually what they’re called) or if you’re feeling really hardcore, a glass of Pastis.
yummy products made in the South of France:
A La Table
Some my favourite French-inspired tableware of all time is from the 2020 Clare V x Anthropologie collaboration, which I snapped up last year in lockdown, dreaming of a time I would be able to host dinner parties again. Satisfyingly imperfect, thick plates with a rustic, handmade feel - the bright colours make any table look worthy of a feast in the sunshine.
More recently, I’ve been lusting after the Hotel Magique x Anthropologie tableware collection (asking for a friend - how many plates is too many plates?)
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On My Book Shelf
In the early months of the pandemic, I took to reading travel guides in bed, hoping to fill my dreary at-home dreams with sparkling vistas and food I’d never tasted.
A beautifully put together hardback, Virginia Johnson’s Travels Through The French Riviera is my number one favourite guide book for anywhere, of all time. Writer and illustrator Johnson has sought out some of the most unique treasures the coastline has to offer, interviewing the fascinating and at times eccentric people she meets along the way. It reads like an artists’ sketchbook and never fails to transport me.
The Riviera Set by biographer Mary S. Lovell is a meticulously researched social history of the area’s “Golden Years” from 1920-1960 that is so rich and glamorous it feels like fiction. Ted Jones’ encyclopaedic Literary Guide for Travellers walks the reader through all of the writers who have passed through the Cote d’Azur and felt inspired to write some of the greatest literature. St Tropez Soleil is a coffee table book of dreams by publisher Assouline, full of joie de vivre and detailing the stratospheric rise of St Tropez from teeny fishing village to favoured destination for rockstars and celebrities.
My two favourite works of fiction set on the Cote d’Azur go hand in hand. Villa America by Liza Klaussman is historical fiction based on the Murphys, a real American family living in Antibes who befriended the likes of Hemingway, Picasso and of course Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. The couple are widely considered to have inspired Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night.
On My Desk
Beautiful stationary and notecards inspired by France’s glittering Mediterranean coast.
Art Prints
Here are some of my favourite prints and posters reminiscent of the Cote d’Azur, many of which we keep dotted through our home here in the Uk. Some are vintage prints, some are contemporary reinterpretations from the likes of illustrators Peggy & Kate, Henry Rivers and Hotel Magique. I also like to choose a meaningful spot and have a minimalist map printed up by Mapiful.
Little Touches & Home Accessories
Trésors Publics in old Nice specialises in products 100% made in France. Luckily they have an online shop stocking stationery, tableware, foodie products, fabrics and textiles, games & toys and cosmetics. Renowned perfume house Maison Fragonard was founded in Grasse in 1926. They have a Cote d’Azur range of home scents and I also love their “Chambre d’Amis” range (literally, guest bedroom), which actually smells like someone’s beautiful guest room.
I clearly love absolutely everything that Hotel Magique do - artist Milou Neelen has a magique touch. This blue scallop rug by Jennifer Manners would also be the perfect addition to my dream living room.
Here are some interior details that caught my eye:
We procured this custom Bon Appetit neon sign from AOOS Custom for our cuisine. I was a bit nervous about it arrived exactly as pictured (and intact!). It’s incredibly bright so I highly recommend purchasing a dimmer (from a reputable source - please nobody set themselves alight with dodgy electronics).
Bon Appetit Neon Sign by AOOS Custom
Lamps Made From Real Baked Goods - The Dream!
Perhaps saving the best till last, I bring you Pampshade. Yukiko Morita founded the brand while studying at Kyoto City University of Arts, having worked at a bakery. Made from real baked goods, the lights give off a beautiful warm glow. Even better, no crumb is wasted - the insides of the hollowed out bread are used to make bebe rusks and croutons that Yukiko also sells 😭
What makes you think of the French Riviera? Are there any dreamy brands you love and would recommend? Let me know in the comments below mes amis. xoxo
For More Armchair Travel and inspiration from the Cote d’Azur, read my guide to The Best Historic Villas to Visit on the French Riviera & my Weekend Guide to Provençe
*Disclosure: This article contains some affiliate links. I have carefully chosen each product featured and if you click through and choose make a purchase, will earn a (very small) commission, at no additional cost to you. I truly appreciate your support in this way, Merci Beaucoup xoxo.
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