Girl Scout

If you have a nice garden, patio, terrace or pool, Tricia Harris wants to know.

An Englishwoman living in Paradou since 2007, Tricia has a successful company that offers painting- and French class-holidays in Provence. And now she’s started a side business scouting locations for photo studios, ad agencies and magazines. “They’re not always looking for a ‘Homes and Gardens’ look,” she says, “but often something surprisingly modest.”

A former account director for ad agencies and photo studios in Manchester, Tricia says the unpredictable English weather often made it difficult to plan photo shoots back home. After moving to Provence, she began getting requests for locations, “but I’ve never had the time to go out hunting for them at short notice,” she explains. So now she’s putting together a portfolio of possible sites so she can respond to these requests quickly.

Tricia’s clients pay between €200 and €500 a day; she gets 15 percent. She says there’s generally little or no inconvenience to the home owner because, more often than not, they don’t enter the house and “they leave everything as they found it.” Harris expects her clients will primarily want locations for spring, fall and winter, because finding them in England is relatively easy in summer months. “Evergreen planting is quite important,” she says, “so the shots don’t reflect any particular season too much.” Tricia will be the go-between to ensure that everything goes smoothly.

Interested? Call Tricia: 04-90-97-07-18.