Destinations / Europe
France
The Art of French Living
Ateliers, village life, and contemporary art, in the France that exists between the monuments.
You have seen Paris. What you have probably not seen is the studio of a working sculptor in the Marais on a Sunday morning, or a village in the Luberon where the baker still shapes by hand, or the private collection a curator will open for four people and not forty.
France through this lens is about craft and daily life rather than landmarks. It moves slowly, sits down for lunch, and does not require you to be anywhere at nine in the morning.
What a journey here might include
- A conversation and a morning’s work with an artisan: a ceramicist, a bookbinder, a luthier
- Village markets with someone who buys there weekly, and a cooking lunch afterwards
- Contemporary collections and foundations, opened privately
- Two or three nights per base, with a driver, so nothing is a day trip
Pace and access
Largely flat towns and short drives. Lifts are confirmed in advance, and there are no staircase-only hotels unless you ask for one.
Thinking about France?
One conversation is enough to start. Tell us how you like to travel and where you have never been, and we will draw the first route.