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Nestled at the foot of Mont. Ste. Victoire, 20 kilometers east of Aix-en-Provence is the picturesque village of Puyloubier. It is just large enough to sustain a grocery store, primary school, post office, cafe, restaurant, bakery, and variety store, and is home to the award-winning local Cave Cooperative, selling wonderful and very inexpensive wine. From the house, visitors can walk up the mountain immortalized in the paintings of Paul Cezanne.
The Non-Smoking house is a traditional 'maison de village' and the foundation dates back to medieval times. The interior of the house combines traditional style with modern amenities. It comprises four rooms and a bathroom: the updated kitchen/dining room and renovated bathroom (with a shower but no tub) downstairs, and the master bedroom with a queen bed, second bedroom with a double bed and third bedroom/den with a single loft bed upstairs. It sleeps five comfortably. The main room downstairs features a traditional cheminee or mantle over the dishwasher, clothes washer/dryer, kitchen counter, dining room table, six chairs and easy chairs. The stone sink is centuries old! A modern gas stove and North American-style refrigerator complete this room.
Puyloubier is close to amenities of every kind, from Mediterranean Beaches to the cultural, market and shopping activities in Aix en Provence and Nice. The region is rich in cultural and outdoors activities, hosting many galleries, music festivals and theatres, as well as being a centre for hiking, mountaineering, cycling, and swimming. Historical and religious sites of interest abound locally, but perhaps most arresting are the beautiful landscapes which have attracted artists from Van Gogh and Picasso to the Canadian Group of Seven, who stayed in a house a few miles away. |
