Provence is a landscape of lavender rows, ochre cliffs and hilltop villages built from pale stone. We stay in a restored bastide in the Luberon, away from the busiest villages, and plan each day around the market calendar, the light and the tables worth the drive.

Expect morning markets with a local cook, a long lunch at a vineyard, quiet cycling lanes and evenings under plane trees. Best from May to early July for lavender and warm days, and in September and October for the harvest and softer light.