Where to Stay in Provence: Mas 9 Romanin

It was 2018 and Romain Avy was living in the UK, working as a mechanical engineer, when he got the call to come home to Provence. 

After farming the same land for four generations, his family had made the extremely difficult decision to give up on agriculture and convert the buildings on their vast St. Remy property for tourism.

This month, Romain (now 35), his brother Laurent and his dad Remi will put the finishing touches on the sixth (and probably final) cottage on this idyllic, historic domaine. Provence is filled with fantastic places to stay and year to year it’s impossible to keep up with all the new ones. But I recently visited the Avys' place for the first time and knew immediately I wanted to tell you about it!

Mas Neuf Romanin (aka Mas 9 Romanin) consists of six houses and apartments of various sizes, five of them with private pools, all built in and around the enormous old farmhouse and its outbuildings. Surrounding them are 50 hectares (120 acres) of farmland that once produced vast quantities of apples, pears and wine grapes. Back in the day, the Avys also made and sold their own wine.

But as the years passed, it became clear that, for a number of reasons, farming here was no longer sustainable, at least not for this family. Today virtually all their fields are laying fallow.

As far as family farms go, 100-plus years is a very-good run…but still. 

Although no one quite knows when the big mas (farmhouse) was originally built--there’s a Roman fountain on the property--Romain’s great grandfather Roger starting farming here around 1910 or 1920. Later, when Romain’s grandparents decided to move off the property and into the village, grand-père Robert was still at the farm every day. Romain grew up in a house across the street, where his mom now lives. He remembers playing hide and seek in the gite that’s now called Mamy, in honor of his grand-mère.

Romain earned his engineering degree in Toulon, then took himself off to the UK at age 22, primarily to improve his English. His three-month stay became five years and he was happily working in the auto industry when that call came beckoning him home. With help from a small crew of local artisans, he and his dad set to work and the first gite, called Papy, had just been finished when Covid hit France in early 2020. Tourism came to a screeching halt but construction did not; by the time people could travel again, a few more pretty gites had been finished…just about one every year. The sixth will be ready for renters next month.

Ranging in size from one to five bedrooms, they’re bright, warm and inviting…blending rustic charm with relaxed elegance while grounded in the farm’s rich history. Old materials were repurposed when possible. For example Romain fronted new kitchen drawers in one gite with wood from the old building itself, while wood beams from an old roof were transformed into a dining table. One set of bedside tables was crafted from a massive fallen plane tree branch; another was made from Romain’s grandmother’s travailleuse, which stored threads and needles for sewing.

Each gite is unique but common elements include art-glass lighting, splashes of color, pretty wallpaper accents and natural materials such as stone, rattan, terra cotta, leather and wood.

Sandrine Chabaud, a family friend, helped with interior design.

All the gites have modern kitchens, dishwashers, washing machines and convertible air conditioning/heating units which means they can be rented year round. The largest gite, which sleeps 12, has a grand fireplace.

With the exception of one on the second-floor of the mas, the cottages all have private outdoor terraces with dining tables and a barbecue or plancha. And all but one have a private pool.

While other family members are involved in the business in various ways, it’s Romain who runs the show. He’ll confirm your reservation, answer your questions and probably be there to greet you and get you settled. He’ll be happy to suggest restaurants and the best sites to visit, around St. Remy and across Provence. While the lodgings here are marketed as “self-catering,” Romain will do whatever he can to make sure you have a wonderful stay.

Guests are welcome to wander into “the museum”: an open barn filled with relics such as a pre-war Caterpillar D2 (hidden successfully from the Nazis by Romain’s grandfather) and a boat motor that the family says was used during the debarquement, in either Normandy or Provence. Romain also remembers hearing that the pétanque pitch was originally dug out by German POWs. A huge old scale that weighed fruit-filled tractors sits in the forecourt.

The artist Christian Manoury has his studio at one end of the property and is happy to show his work and talk art with interested visitors. (To reach him: +33 6 75 09 72 89, insideout13@wanadoo.fr, @christan.manoury).

Mas Neuf Romanin is located on one my favorite roads in St. Remy: gently curving, heavily wooded, very agricultural and very beautiful. When heading home from anywhere east of St. Remy, I often turn off the D99 and take this old road, the Ancienne Voie Aurelia, instead. Beautiful horses graze in pretty pastures to the north; farms and old homes, framed by old plane trees and towering cypress, line the road on the south…the Alpilles Mountains in the distance. The light, particularly just before sunset, is stunning.

This is a beautiful area for hiking and biking. The 12^th-century chapel Notre dame de Romanin is a stone’s throw away.  At the Aérodrome de Romanin, our tiny airport, the Aeroclub de St. Remy offers “baptismal” glider flights and a flight school for beginning and advanced glider pilots. On days when the wind and weather are just right, you'll see the planes circling gracefully over the mountains.

All around Mas 9 Romanin, other farms are still producing apples, pears, olives and wine grapes. In fact the Avy’s neighbors include two of the finest wine producers in the region: Domaine Hauvette (not open for visits, tasting or sales) and the historic Chateau Romanin (very much open for all three things and more). Not far away in either direction you’ll find the wineries Domaine Milan, Domaine d’Eole and others.

And even though his family is no longer farming, Romain still has his hand in, through a side business he launched last year. Called Mon Petit Market, it’s designed to promote the products of local farms and food producers, mostly within a 30 km radius. Paniers (baskets) with different themes can be delivered to guests on the property and elsewhere. He plans to give back a portion of proceeds to local producers.

What will happen to the Avy family’s fertile farmland in coming years remains to be seen. It sits in the Alpilles Natural Regional Park and, as a result, is highly protected, with strict rules about what it can and can’t be used for. Romain and his partner Amandine welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Eloi, in February, but Romain says it’s very unlikely that the fifth generation will ever end up farming here.

In the meantime, the agritourism business is thriving: bookings are strong and reviews are great. So if all of this sounds appealing to you, check the website and reserve soon! And please tell Romain I sent you! I’m so happy he shared his family’s touching story with me…and I wish him much happiness and success in the years to come! 

Mas Neuf de Romanin 
Mas9Romanin.fr/en

contact@mas9romanin.fr
+33 (0)6 17 61 40 62
13210 St Rémy de Provence, France

Photos: Old Farm, New Tricks! (1) The gite called Evasion. (2, 3) The old family mas from the garden, Romain in front. (4) Romain at the fountain, which dates to Roman times. (5) The gite called Papy. (6) Kitchen counter in Evasion. (7) The gite called Fontaine. (8) Living room in the gite Alfredo. (9) Bedroom in the gite Mamy. (10) Bathroom in Evasion. (11, 12, 13) All the gites except one have private terraces and all but one have private pools. (14, 15, 16) In "The Museum," relics from farming days gone by include a sign for the Avy family's wine business. (17) View of the farm from above.

Fontenille Opens a Gorgeous Hotel in St. Remy

For a couple of months in spring 2020, during Covid lockdown in France, we were all forbidden from going further than 1 or 2 km from home…unless our work required it or there was an urgent reason, such as helping a sick relative. Writing that now, it sounds so wild and remarkable that the government was able to make 60 million or so people stay home for weeks on end.

Whenever we did go out, we were required to fill out a form saying who we were, where we lived, when we left home and what we were up to. Grocery shopping and dog walking were ok; running or biking were okay as long as we weren't gone longer than hour...and didn't go further than 1 or 2 km. Virtually all local businesses except for "essential" stores were closed (yes, wine shops were considered essential!) and for a while we even had a 6 pm curfew. With few exceptions, the French borders were closed to non residents and the EU borders were locked up tight.

So anytime the weather was nice I grabbed my bike and went out and did 1 and 2 km circles around town. It sounds ridiculous but I loved it. There was virtually no traffic in St. Remy, either in the village itself or in the countryside, and the stillness was breathtaking. I remember thinking Jules, you will never see Provence like this again in your lifetime. 

One of my favorite routes took me past a large, elegant estate, with an enormous front lawn and--just barely visible down a long, platane-shaded drive--a magical-looking bastide. A couple times I stopped at the foot of the driveway to enjoy the beauty of it all...and took some photos discreetly. So intrigued, I went home and Googled the address to see what I could learn about the house and its history.

Turns out the Domaine de Chalamon has existed since the 16^th century, when it was called Mas le Tor. After it belonged to the lords Mistral de Mondragon, it was Pierre de Chalamond who gave it its current name, in 1663. The Chalamond family kept it until 1738; it then passed through the hands of seven families until, in 1996, the 20-hectare property became the summer residence of a noble London-based family.

One day I bumped into a friend on her bike who said she had heard it had been sold and that it was going to become a guesthouse…or something.

And sure enough two weeks ago, Frédéric Biousse and Guillaume Foucher, the team behind the gorgeous, five-star Domaine de Fontenille (in the Southern Luberon region of Provence), opened the property as the 19-room Domaine de Chalamon, their first hotel in St. Remy and their 9th property overall (seven in France and two on Menorca).  

Once the purchase was complete, Biousse and Foucher turned to Alexandre Lafourcade of the St. Remy-based Lafourcade Architecture, to handle the transformation from private home to chic country-house hotel.  Alexandre knew the house well, having worked on it in years past with his architect father, Bruno. And of course he knew the clients well, having created two hotels for them already: their very first, the Domaine de Fontenille (in 2015) and the Domaine de Primard, in Catherine Deneuve's former château in Normandy, in 2021.

Biousse and Foucher like their properties to retain the feel of private homes…in fact they often refer to them as "friends houses” rather than hotels.  They strive to keep the soul, roots and charm of each estate intact…each one “telling a story in harmony with its environment…a story that respects the identity of the site and enhances its character and uniqueness.”

The partners also believe that the feeling of experiencing rare moments in an exceptional place is as important as the refinement of the decor. “The challenge,” they say, “is to convey the emotion one experiences when discovering these houses for the very first time.”

Hidden behind cypress hedges, Domaine de Chalamon extends over nearly 20 hectares with one of the most beautiful gardens in the region. Beyond that double avenue of 100-year-old plane trees, the home and its terraces are surrounded by pines and cypress. Various gardens follow one another along the streams that wind through the estate, including parterres of boxwoods and fields of olive trees formed into topiaries. There’s also a heated pool and a tennis court.

“We both come from farming families,” the owners say, “and have a very strong relationship with the land. We fell in love with this house, in the heart of a wild and disciplined nature. These gardens are remarkable…at any time of the day.”

Domaine de Chalamon has a 40-seat indoor/outdoor restaurant run by chef Rémi Falsquelle, who says his Provencal cuisine will be based heavily on produce that’s either grown on the property or sourced from nearby organic farms. Originally from Martigues (not far from Marseille), he worked at the Bristol in Paris (under Michelin three-star chef Éric Fréchon) and in other top kitchens before joining the company in 2022, to train with chef Michel Marini at the Domaine de Fontenille in preparation for the opening of Chalamon. The menu has been described as gastronomic, bistronomic and bistro…so we shall see!

But wait, there's more! Since Chalamon opened two weeks ago, the Fontenille folks have actually unveiled yet another jewel in their growing hotel collection; the Bastide du Mourre soft-opened in Oppède le Vieux (in the Luberon) just a few days ago. And on its heels comes Fontenille Toscana, slated to open this month in Chianti. 

To see all 11 hotels in the Fontenille collection, click here. 

Domaine de Chalamon
291 Chemin de Chalamon
13210 St. Remy de Provence
+33 (0)4 87 83 10 10
Domainedechalamon.com
reservations@domainedechalamon.com
Instagram: @domainedechalamon

Photos: The 19-room Domaine de Chalamon opened two weeks ago in a 16th-century bastide in St. Remy. Alexandre Lafourcade and his St. Remy-based team did all the architectural work while Guillaume Foucher, one of the two owners, handled interior design. The guest house (or "friends house" as the owners like to call it) has a heated pool, a tennis court and a restaurant helmed by chef Rémi Falsquelle, who worked in top Michelin kitchens before joining the mother ship, the Domaine de Fontenille, to prepare for this opening. All interior and exterior photos taken in May 2023 by Gaelle Le Boulicaut, except #4 and #5 (from 2020) and #6 (by Yann Deret). Food photos by Sadik Sans Voltaire. Last photo courtesy of Bastide du Mourre.

Provence Paradise is for Sale

After creating it and running it for 18 years, my friend William Moore has decided to put his beloved Provence Paradise on the market.

This is a historic hamlet of vacation villas on the outskirts of St. Remy, one of the prettiest, most-popular villages in the region.

Comprised of seven separate homes across five buildings—with 17 bedrooms total--Provence Paradise is being sold fully furnished, complete with an eclectic collection of antiques, art, books objets and tchotchkes, collected across France and beyond.   

All the buildings have new roofs, new electrical and plumbing, and reversible gas heating/AC. The roofs and insulation were redone in 2008 and 2021.
 
“There’s even a large, open-air terrace,” William says, “that’s just right for further development. Maybe a small bar and restaurant? The possibilities are numerous!”

This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone interested in taking over a thriving, turn-key vacation village…where guests enjoy the amenities and privacy of private homes but the community feel of a resort. Provence Paradise has a 5.0 “Excellent” rating and great reviews on TripAdvisor…and a large loyal following with many guests returning year after year. William is happy to include his commercial assets (the Provence Paradise name, the website and a client list of roughly 2000 names) in the sale agreement, if wanted.

Or, the property could be divided and sold as private homes, individually or in clusters, or be converted to long term rentals. 

Originally from Chicago, Willy had lived in Europe for many years before buying the property in 2004 and setting out to bring its crumbling buildings back to life. For 350 years, the Tourtet family made traditional roof tiles and bricks here…but the business collapsed when the men went off to fight in WWI...and either died or came home disabled. The oldest home on the property is La Tuilerie, which was added to piece by piece over 150 years, beginning in 1621. 

“We’d finish one house at a time and then start renting it,” Willy remembers, “which helped finance the work on the next house.  People would say ‘oh what a beautiful house!’ and I’d say ‘want to see what it looked like before? Look over there!’

“It was a total labor of love,” William adds. “You wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”

My clients who’ve stayed at Provence Paradise over the years love the welcoming spirit that William created—through Tuesday cocktail parties by the pool, for example—and unexpected, gracious touches such as the homemade first-night dinner awaiting all tired travelers and the fresh bakery delivered to every house each morning. 

But they also loved having all the modern comforts (washer/dryers, dishwashers, air conditioning, WiFi, etc.) in homes that hadn’t lost their traditional, Provencal feel…with thick stone walls, ceramic tile roofs, vaulted ceilings, beams, fireplaces, painted furniture and Provencal linens. The property itself boasts Roman relics, an ancient aqueduct and a large wine cellar. 

The seven units have fully equipped kitchens, living and dining rooms, and terraces surrounded by plantings that ensure privacy for all. They range in size from one to four bedrooms each and are modular, meaning certain spaces can be expanded for special occasions. The total “built surface” of almost 1000m² includes 780m² of indoor living space. 

All together there’s roughly 2800m² of land, fully landscaped with mature trees, vines, flowers and an automatic watering system. 

In the middle of the property there’s a large swimming pool (6m x 14m, with salt filtration), plus a hot tub, summer kitchen, loungers and deck chairs. The pool and hot tub are heated by hidden solar panels. 

Provence Paradise has three entrances and parking for seven cars but William says that could be expanded to ten or even 12 spaces.

The neighborhood is residential and quiet…but just a 10-minute walk to the heart of the village. 

St. Remy is a vibrant, historic town of 10,000 year-round residents, in the Bouches-du-Rhone department of the PACA (Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur) region. Spread out across the foothills of the Alpilles Mountains, it’s roughly three hours south of Lyon and one hour north of Marseille. Hugely popular with travelers and second-home owners, St. Remy is known for historic sites (including the excavated Greek/Roman village called Glanum), its appeal to artists of all types (Van Gogh painted 150 canvasses in the year he spent here), its festive summer events calendar and traditional local festivals, the quality of its produce and the natural beauty of the landscape. Paris is roughly three hours away via the high-speed TGV train from Avignon, 20 km north of St. Remy. 

Many of Provence’s best-known places—including Les Baux, Arles, Aix, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the Pont du Gard, the Luberon and Nimes—can be reached in an hour or less. 

Intensely passionate about historic preservation, William says that giving this old property a new life, and sharing it with guests from all over the world, has been more rewarding than he could ever have imagined.  But considering he'd already spent 36 years in international manufacturing before he began building Provence Paradise--and that he had never really planned on a demanding second career as a full-time, hands-on innkeeper in the first place-- he’s definitely ready to turn the page, to focus on family (his four kids and 11 grandkids all live in Europe now) and on travel. 

He's also thinking he may do up a few more more old buildings, like the ones he recently transformed in the nearby village of Noves. "There's magic in old stones," he says, "and they definitely get under your skin!

"This slice of paradise—Provence Paradise--has survived since the reign of Louis XIII!,” Willy continues, “and it’s definitely time to pass the torch. My hope is of course to pass it on to someone who’ll cherish it as much as I have."

For more info: williaminprovence@gmail.com, +33 (0)6 07 82 66 63.

20 Questions for: Alexandre Lafourcade

In France, when you hear the name "Lafourcade" what comes immediately to mind is the impeccable restoration of gorgeous, historic estates, usually in an aristocratic, 18th-century style. But the company also builds from scratch and does contemporary projects too, on sites ranging from run-down farms to abandoned industrial sites to stunning vineyards. So I thought it would be interesting to chat with Alexandre Lafourcade about how this specialty came to be, what he’s working on now and what it’s like being entrusted to create--or bring back to life—some of the most-magnificent properties in Provence (like Le Mas des Poiriers, an expansive private estate near Avignon, pictured just below).  

Alexandre was born in 1973 in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande in the Gironde. His mother Dominique is a painter and garden designer; his father was the self-taught architect Bruno Lafourcade, who developed an expertise in historic restoration and opened an office in St. Remy in 1977. Alex left school at 15 to work with his dad and, by age 20, had his own clients and projects which he managed from A to Z. He was named director of the company in 1997, by which time father and son were handling an average of 15 large-scale projects each year, from Narbonne to Monaco, many of them with sumptuous Mediterranean gardens designed by Dominique Lafourcade. The company took on its first hotel clients in 1998, with two projects for the owners of the five-star Relais & Châteaux property Baumaniere: the restoration of  La Guigou (a mas in the hills with a view on Baumaniere) and Le Manoir (below the village of Les Baux). Seasoned by 25 years of experience, Alexandre took the reins from his father in 2012; Bruno Lafourcade passed away four years later. In 2014, Alex transformed two luxurious hotel properties--the Château de Berne and the Domaine de Fontenille--then expanded further into wineries. Today Lafourcade Architecture employs a team of ten, which includes designers, decorators, interior architects, a PR director, support staff and more. With budgets ranging from €1.5 to €2 million euros, current projects include the restoration of Château Primard near Paris (former home of actress Catherine Deneuve). A 210-page hardcover book (available on Amazon) was published in 2018, in French (Lafourcade: Magiciens en Provence) and in English (Lafourcade: Magic in Provence). In his down time, Alex collects and races cars; he developed a passion for motorbikes at age five and by age 20 was winning prestigious auto racing competitions. Alex and his wife Céline met in the office and married in 2012; today she is the director overseeing coordination of all the company’s building sites. The couple lives in St. Remy and has five children, ranging in age from 11 to 23. So read on for my Q&A with Alex...and more stunning photos of course!

Before...and two afters at the home and garden called Les Confines, just outside the village of Noves.

Hi Alexandre! So...what are you working on today?

Each Monday, I try to stay at the office to meet with my employees. Today, I’m working on two wineries: Château de Mille in the Luberon and Château d’Estoublon in the Alpilles. At Estoublon we’re creating a new winery, a new olive mill and a sheepfold with agricultural outbuildings. Also I have an administrative file to supervise, dealing with the restoration of a huge mas in the Camargue.

And what about the rest of the week?

I’m working on eight architecture projects (in the studies stage) and five architecture projects (in the building-site stage). I’m checking the good progress of building sites in St Rémy and in Eygalières. Also I’m going to fly near Paris to have a meeting at Château Primard. It was the magnificent home of Catherine Deneuve and we’re transforming her château into a deluxe hotel.

Hotel, winery and property overview at the Domaine de Fontenille in the Southern Luberon

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

The discovery of THE IDEA of the house transformation project...and the enchanted surprise of my clients astonished by the final result.

And what is the most difficult part of your job?

Modern technology in ancient buildings. It is, for example, very difficult to place an invisible elevator in a château. The administrative obligations related to town planning in France are daunting!

What project are you most proud of...and why?

The complete transformation of Le Mas des Poiriers, for the attention to detail and exclusive top-level finishing work. It was a huge building site! Fifty people were involved on the site, plus all the craftsmen working in their own studios: stonecutters, iron workers, wood carvers, cabinet makers, etc. The entire restoration (there are several buildings on the property) lasted a year and a half.

Describe your dream project. 

I’m immediately passionate about the challenges that clients entrust to me. A dream project is one where the owners are confident in me. Mas des Poiriers was a dream project because the client, Shauna Varvel, confirmed our plans very quickly and did not change her ideas. She was very enthusiastic.

Le Mas des Poiriers

What’s one job/project you didn't get...but wish you wish you had...and why?

An inspiring winery project ordered by a famous movie star. But finally, I did not have regrets because the man gave up the idea.

What's your best advice for anyone starting their own renovation/restoration project?

Make a list of your dreams, the ideal way you would like to live in your future house.

What’s the wildest, most-expensive or most-unusual thing a client has ever asked you for? Did you do it?

Our clients are reasonable and they love following my ideas. The only thing they must let me know is number of bedrooms. Then, I draw a pilot study of the property. And most of the time, they confirm. Once I was asked to design a bathroom for a dog (!) but ultimately we didn’t finalize the project.

What are three things you absolutely couldn't work without?

My faithful team at my office, since decades. And of course my wife Céline, who is director in charge of the coordination of the different firms and craftsmen involved in every architecture project.

The summer dining room and the wine-and-cheese cave at Château de Berne, the five-star resort and wine domaine in Flayosc, in the Var. 

What's it like working with your mom?

Lafourcade is a family business and I’ve been working with my mother for decades. It allows us to remain close. Her beautiful garden creations blend perfectly with my architecture.

Tell us one shop you love in Provence that sells beautiful things for the home.

La Maison F in St. Rémy.

What’s your favorite restaurant in the area for a quick lunch?

I’m always delighted by the food at the restaurant Aux Ateliers chez Franck et Flo in Maussane.

And how about your favorite restaurant for a special occasion?

The Michelin three-star L'Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux. The food is excellent and the view on Les Baux is breathtaking.

What’s one place in Provence that you suggest all visitors must see?

The beautiful road through the Alpilles leading to Les Baux – the D27.

Sainte-Marie-de-Pierredon Abbey is a unique private property where a group of Chalais monks lived in the 13th century. The property, with its Romanesque chapel, is set on a vineyard and olive/almond grove in the Alpilles Mountains, near Maussane. Alexandre rehabilitated the home, chapel and outbuildings while Dominique Lafourcade did the gardens. 

What haven't you accomplished yet that you'd like to?

The transformation of a huge ship, such as an Antarctic expedition ship. I’d like to work with a naval architect. The challenge would be to transform an ancient paquebot (a ship or liner) and to modernize it, to make it cozy. So...the same work I'm doing with my buildings.

Where was your last great vacation and why was it great?

Carqueiranne, in the Var on the Mediterranean coast...and “Les îles d’Or,” off Hyères. When we're there, we feel as if we're in Corsica.

Where would you like to travel next...and why?

I’d love to see Iceland because I’m fond of wild dramatic landscapes.

What do you wish you had more time for?

Driving racing cars.

Alex, ready to race in the Circuit de Ledenon, in 2017. He drove a Proto CN.

If you hadn't chosen this career, what might you have liked to do instead?

I would make my passion for car racing into a profession.

And if you won the lottery next week, what would you do?

I’d give more support to a number of charities, especially to the Institut Curie.  And I’d buy a race circuit!

Photos: (1) Portrait of Alexandre Lafourcade by Mathieu Garçon. (2) The Lafourcade book is available in French and English on Amazon. Many of the projects mentioned here appear in the book. (3) Mas des Poiriers photo by Bruno Suet. (4-6) At Les Confines: Before photo courtesy of Lafourcade. After photos (house) by Clive Nichols and (garden) by Bruno Suet. (7-9) Domaine de Fontenille photos by Bruno Suet with drone overview by Filmatik Production. (10) Le Mas des Poiriers interior photo by Bruno Suet. (11, 12) Château de Berne photos by Bruno Suet. (13-15) Pierredon photos by Bruno Suet. (16) Alex in racing clothes, photo by Bruno Suet.