Foto's om een succesvol verblijf beter te plannen
Upon departure, some guests told us : " Your Web Site is fairly well but your picts were too small and we didn't have enough. So here it was as a surprise, a good one, we didn't imagine the quality and the environment."...
So we decided to add a few pictures and comments so the gap can be offset. Hence, you will be ore able to consider the advantages of selecting our house and materialize your project.
The images and comments were gathered by topics:
- Nature,
- Outsides of the Mas
- Interiors and Decoration,
- Arts and Table,
- The Family.
If you need more, do not hesitate to tell us about your particular concern. |
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| Nature in Luberon |
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Only English and French versions are available at the moment. We are going to translate this page into Dutch soon. Sunsets as seen from the pool are superb and always different, with an excellent balance between Nature in the growing darkness and fireworks which invade the sky.
The Mas sits on a small hill and the line of horizon is pretty large |
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Just a few hundred yards from the Mas, the biker plays with binoculars : Best spots are just there, Maubec, Opède, Menerbes, goult and for the best Roussillon.
Our guests rent their bikes at "Les Roues du Luberon and make thier choice thru plenty of alternatives. Their choice is best ..
At noon time they will stop at la "Poste" or in a Bistro.
In the afternoon they will ride back home gently, swim a little, have drinks and prepare for gourmet experiences. |
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In Spring, Popies come a bit unexpectedly but the scenery is great ...
In fact, I shot the picitre to remember of all the beauties you can encounter in Luberon and that you would not have thought of before.
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This one is more at an advanced stage in the season, maybe August. Lavenders fields display the famed harmony with other componets oof the landscape.
If you go up a little behind the Mas, you will overlook Gordes. Rosemaries, lavenders, thymes and other aromatic plants will fill the air as the view on the local canyon with the noises of locusts and cigalas is unique and pretty confidential. |
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The Ste. Victoire Mountain near Aix , especially at the end of the afternoon, is an extraordinary site. Often our hosts make a one day excursion.
They cgo through Luberon in Bonnieux (10 kms), visit Lourmarin (20 kms), spend the afternoon to Aix-en-Provence (50 kms of Gordes and thousand things to do and to see - Shopping) and then they make a short trip between Tholonet and Pourrières - D17- Cest extraordinaire ... Then they return quietly while dining on the road in a shaded inn |
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Alpilles are also full of magic charm...
My son did the trip last year and made us a picture recount.
Take a full day with in the morning the market in Saint Rémy (25 kms - you will perhaps meet Caroline of Monaco), the Baux, which is as mythical as Gordes and then, why not, Maussane, Fontvieille and Arles (45 kms). You will see the famous mill of Daudet, the Roman ruins of Glanum, the arenas of Arles and you can even get into the Camargue ( Flamingos) to the sea (Stes Maries - 70 kms). |
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This picture was shot
north of Mont Ventoux.
Mont Ventoux - 1970 m high - is another quality day-trip
You start with the market of Carpentras, buy a picnic and climb the superb road of Ventoux (Bike Tour of France ). Splendid views like a US National Park
You have a nap with the breeze and you go down again by Sault, Simiane-the-Rotunda and Rustrel (Colorado Provencal); Still a fantastic day full of emotions.
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For the maps and guides of all kinds , we have updated supporting materials;
I like the 1:25.000 IGN maps which reduce seriously the chance to get lost.
In general, most guests like to make their own experience by themselves but they like also some directions to the good spots.
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| Exteriors of the Mas |
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Summer 2004: The frontage dazzles in the light of noon time.
The Mas is entirely built with Gordes stone and all the materials come from local handicrafters.
Since, we have planted a large mulberry tree plane tree and a great number of trees to get protection from the sun. |
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The swimming pool, vineyards and giant agapanthes ...
The swimming pool is really comfortable: flat bottom of 1,50 m, salted water, small bottom and side bench for kids. (Security by rolling blades).
You see it, just in bottom, you are in grape vines muscatel (which decorate the breakfasts at the ned of season)... and it is "great nature" in the back hills of Monts du Vaucluse. You can hike for instance to abbey of Sénanque. |
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A view of the Summer Dining Room with Luberon hills reflecting through the window.
Another pleasant aspect : A star dominates the bar
an all amenities are there : A frige for your food and drinks, a modern grill for BBQ, the breakfast table overlooking the vineyards and the pool within 10 yards. |
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The hot air balloon ("Montgolfiere" in French) just slipped over the Mas... Almost everybody is still sleeping...
The pool shutters are still closed.
In general these flying objects (we can have reservations for you (and on May 8, 04 two of our guests did the trip to celebrate a birthday) are early because of no wind; You can hear them thanks to the characteristic wrouhhh of the hot gas delivery to fill the envelope. |
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This is the terrace of "Chambre des Oiseaux - Birds' Room) with a sample of exotic cages.
You can see a Solanum jasminoïde which gives thousands of small white flowers thru the Summer.
In front there is a small fig tree which already offers savory fruits
During the whole last summer, bright white cosmos enlightened the little garden. We are going to try to re-do this marvel next Summer. |
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Another view of the Summer Dining Room .... Just in front lies a Lagerstromium tree with pink grenat flowers.
Garden is a major objective.. And it will take a few more years to achieve to be in the greats ones.
Michel Semini, one of the best french garden designer made the basic framework with a domination of l greens and whites : Lavenders, santolines, cystes, rosemaries with roses, mostly Iceberg and Fairy Snow. And ...Olive trees and mulberies. |
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This photo let you have an idea of the water color (green like the old country basins). You can see well the low depth part fot kids and "lazies".
Also, a glimpse over the harmony between the greens of the trees and the vineyards enlightened by the sunset. |
| Le Mas - Intérieurs |
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This is the "Main Room". The fireplace was designed along drawings of a Bruges, Belgium antiquaire. The staires in old pattern come from Aude, the best craftsman in Gordes. The lights on both sodes of the fireplace were aquired from Mathieu in Gargas. Mathieu's business is in an extraordinary location in an old renovated ocre plant. |
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This is a detail of the main living room where ourguests can rest, read the Figaro or NY Herald Tribune, turn the pages of magazines or decoration books.
We have a rich library and you can also stay for a while in "l'Atelier" upstairs.
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| Des détails familiers - La Table et les Arts |
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We like much Painting (painted Annette itself, and will see it to you, although its fabrics are not yet in Metropolitan).
I like much this painting of John Singer Sargent that us avioins discovered in Tate Gallery in London. Its name: Complexion, Lily, Lily, Rose... Superb.
In the "Atelier ", you can put back, paint yourself or raffraîchir you the spirit with all kinds of books of painting which go from Klimt to Carlson, Velazques and all the impressionists |
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| La Famille |
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We like to say that the Mas des Etoiles ( Litteraly Farmhouse of the Stars ) is not a hotel... It is necessary to be able or to want to take time to really rest. It is for that that we ask for stays of two nights at least.
The best compliments, it is when, upon leaving, the guests tell us that they found back the charm and the atmosphere of their own family mansion when they were younger |
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This picture which is in a medallion in the living room of the Mas was shot into 1914..
She is Annette's grandmother.
She had... 12 children including 11 sons... It is this generation of the family which left France to show their skills in the US and Argentina where Annette was born. The grand children are now in the whole world, and there are quite a few ... in Provence...
The Mas honors also the ancestors... |
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