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Saturday, July 21, 2018

Painting Provence Part I ...Welcome to Our Home!

'Provence Impressions'          5x7           pastel            ©Karen Margulis
available $95
It was a difficult decision. Should we rent a home in Provence for one week or for two?  We wanted 10 days but the home was only available by the week. We all voted and two weeks was the unanimous decision. We were off to a good start!  I'll start this travelog with some background.

I was invited to join a group of four women on an adventure to the Luberon region of Provence in France. We all wanted to see the lavender in bloom so we decided to make the trip in the beginning of July. We all had only one friend in common. I met Sharon last year at Art in the Open in Ireland and we got along fabulously. She was planning the France trip with her cousin Donna and had asked two other friends Jane and Tena to join them. I was the last one to join the group. Although mostly strangers we all got along as if we were old friends.  Only Sharon and I were artists which made the trip  non art focused which was actually a bonus for me. As you will discover there was plenty of time for me to paint and take photos and just soak it all in.

The View from the Terrace  5x7       pastel     available $95
Welcome to our home for the two weeks....Elias House in the village of Goult France. If you are not familiar with this region of France, Goult is about 45 minutes from Avignon and only a few minutes from the better know villages of Bonniuex, Gordes and Roussillon.  More about Goult in another post.

In the planning stage Sharon had selected several homes for us to consider and since we all lived in different states we voted online for the house we wanted. It was like being on International House Hunters! I knew it was going to be a good trip when we all voted for the same home. And did we ever make the right choice!

Check out the front door to our home! Elias house was right in the village! It was just a short walk to the center of the village. The house was filled with quirky charm and had all of the comforts of home.

The front door was a work of art

Not only was the house in the perfect location it had a pool! Which was a wonderful feature for the hot summer days in Provence. There were 5 bedrooms so we each got our own bedroom. three of the rooms had sinks and showers and one had a toilet and tub. The others shared a toilet. There was also a full bathroom by the pool and this became my preferred bathroom. I called it the grotto bath. Quirky but certainly workable.

Elias House in Goult
I had been studying the house layout online and wondered how we would choose our rooms. It all fell into place and I ended up with the third floor room with a terrace and an amazing view. It didn't have a bathroom or running water so those rooms went first. I didn't mind the trek down the stairs to the grotto bathroom. It was well worth it for the view.

My room also had the perfect spot to paint. Look at the little window ledge in the photo. I set up here and painted the view several times. The paintings in this post were all done from my room with a view!

The light in the room was amazing. The windows let in so much light that I was up every morning by 5:45. It stayed light until 10 pm. It was also quite warm. (no air-conditioning) But with the windows open and a fan I made it work. And it was well worth it for the amazing sunrise and sunset views. Oh and I shared the terrace space with my friends  of course! We spent many evenings watching the sunset and eating sorbet and chocolate and drinking wine.

My room for the 2 weeks. See the door to the terrace.
The terrace and the view!
The amazing view!

Overlooking the rooftops of the neighbors

One of the spectacular sunsets from the terrace
Here is a quick tour of the rest of the home. We spent a lot of time on the deck just off the kitchen. but the living room with fireplace would certainly be a welcome space in colder weather.


The dining room came in handy when Chef Julien made us a special dinner

A fully equipped kitchen

The pool and deck as seen form the deck just off the kitchen

These loungers were perfect for relaxing to the sound of the cicadas and bees

The cool grotto in the pool area




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