Provence for Special-Need Kids and Adults

I recently came across a company called Go Provence, offering "supported holidays" for kids and adults with learning disabilities, autism and other challenges. The goal is to provide stimulating, fun and safe vacations for all ages in the South of France...and I think what they're doing is fantastic.

Go Provence was founded in 2010 by British expats Ian Callen, Anna Callen and Neil Manser. While they cater primarily to clients from the UK, they've had guests come from elsewhere in Europe and from the US as well.

Based near the Gorges du Verdon, in a spectacularly beautiful part of Provence, Go Provence offers all-inclusive themed holidays that mix outdoor adventure, excursions and relaxation. 

For those who need it, they can even accompany clients to and from the UK.  There are also off-season trips, such as a learn-to-ski trip in Andorra in January, 2017 (more on that below) and a trip to Italy in October, 2017.

Dates for all 2017 trips have just been posted on the company’s website here.  Themes include Wildlife Photography, Trekking, Wolf Tracking, World Cuisine, Great Adventure, Music Week,  Art Holiday, Discover Provence, Water Holiday, Great Adventure and School of Rock.

There will be also be a special week in Provence designed for people who use wheelchairs. How great is that?

Go Provence also creates customized, private holidays for four people or more. 

For family members and full-time carers who choose to stay in Provence at the same time, Go Provence will happily arrange accommodation nearby, in the village of Esparron de Verdon. 

Ian and Anna Callen have lived in Provence, near the Gorges du Verdon, since 2007; they have three children. Ian worked previously at The Olive Tree International School in nearby Quinson, teaching photography, horticulture, conservation, biology and astronomy to children with challenging behaviour. There’s a very nice story about him here.

Anna also has a background in teaching children, particularly those with dyslexia and challenging behavior. She formerly worked for the local Tourist Office and knows the area exceedingly well.

Neil has lived in France for 20 years after having worked with special-need kids in the UK and with special-need adults in Malaysia. His training is in social care, epilepsy and Midazolam, safeguarding vulnerable adults and the Mental Capacity Act. Neil is the Go Provence chef and lives near St. Tropez.

All the Go Provence staff are fully bi-lingual (French and English) and experienced and first-aid trained to a Red Cross standard. The facility is registered with a local doctor and nurse and has access to nearby hospitals.

For those interested in an active winter getaway, Go Provence is offering a five-night learn-to-ski holiday in Catalan-speaking Andorra in January. Guests will fly from Gatwick to Toulouse, France on January 8, then travel by mini bus to the beautiful Pyrenean village of Arinsal, set 1467m above sea level. They’ll stay (full board) at the Hotel Solana for five nights, enjoying five days at ski school with fully qualified instructors, ski gear and boarding passes included. Support will be on hand 24/7; the trip is €2090 per person.  The registration deadline for the ski trip is October 24 and it only happens if there are five guests or more. More on the ski trip is here.

Heading into their seventh year with Go Provence, Ian says the team feels enormous pride in what they’ve helped their clients accomplish.

“We love seeing them achieve their goals,” he tells me. “We had a client Ed, a great photographer who had won awards for his work but couldn't find anyone to give him an exhibition. We were able to arrange a show for him in a local restaurant. We had an opening evening, the local press turned up and Ed sold five photos.  As you can imagine, he was a very happy man." 

Just around the time I was writing this, Ian emailed to tell me about his newest offering, a program called Travel Buddies, providing travel planning support and travel companions for a wide range of destinations. And in the months to come, Go Provence plans to add supported backpacking holidays around Europe, a Northern Lights holiday in Sweden and volunteer holidays in developing countries.

“We want to change the way that people with special needs travel...and increase their opportunities to do so...to the point where access to travel becomes standard,” Ian says. “Travel is so important to ones sense of happiness! A friend of mine, who worked in a hospice sitting with terminally ill people during their last days, once told me that when people looked back at their lives and talked about their regrets, they didn’t mention money or careers. He said that they wished they had spent more time with their family and friends...and that they had traveled more.” 

For more info, photos, mailing list sign-up and other details, visit the website here. Ian also writes a blog about the Gorges du Verdon, which you can see here.

Photos: (1-8) Among the many activities offered to Go Provence clients are kayaking, market shopping, painting, adventure sports, farm visits and photography. (9) In January 2017, the company will host a ski trip to Andorra.  (10-12) Go Provence summer holidays are based in a large country house one kilometer from the village of Moustiers Sainte-Marie, considered among the most beautiful in Provence.  The house was restored in the winter of 2013/14. It has a lovely garden with views over to Moustiers and the breathtaking Gorges du Verdon.

A Picnic à la ''Alain Ducasse''

It sounds almost too delicious to be true: a shiny refurbished 1950 Chevy pickup truck collects you at the elegant Bastide de Moustiers, Alain Ducasse’s 12-room inn near the Gorges du Verdon. After a 15-minute ride through the sun-drenched countryside, you arrive at the ‘’secret spot,’’ in a prairie overlooking the Margès mountains, where you find a Italian-designed solid-chestnut table under a towering white oak. A full Mediterranean style picnic will be spread out upon it.
   

The chefs at La Bastide de Moustiers—Christophe Martin and his team--will have prepared your feast using seasonal produce from the inn's vegetable garden and from local markets. A typical menu? A round of amuses, followed by a fresh tomato salad drizzled with fruity olive oil, courgette and basil focaccia and rabbit porchetta. Then on to the cheese--a creamy Banon perhaps—and finally, crispy sweet Provence fruit tartlets and coffee.  For an extra fee, the hotel’s sommelier will choose the perfect wine to complement each course.

And all you have to do is show up in your chauffeur-driven Chevy (restored over the course of two years by an expert body-worker in Menton) and relax. 

As you might expect, the ‘Picnic in a Pickup’ doesn’t come cheap: it’s €190 per person for two to six people...plus wine. But you’re worth it. And don’t forget, this is a picnic designed by Alain Ducasse, the first  chef in the world to hold three Michelin stars at three different restaurants, all at the same time. (His current three-stars are Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo, at the Plaza Athénée in Paris and at the Dorchester in London. Altogether, Ducasse has 27 restaurants in eight countries with a total of 20 stars.) If you’re looking for the perfect place to propose in Provence, a laid-back yet luxurious celebration or just a pampering day out, I can’t think of a nicer way to do it. You don’t have to stay at Bastide de Moustiers in order to partake...the picnic is available to anyone. But if you are looking for a hotel near the famed ceramics village of Moustiers or the spectacular Gorges du Verdon,  this one is a beaut. Doubles begin at €205. For more info click here or email (contact@bastide-moustiers.com) or call 04 92 70 47 47.

**2013 Update: The Bastide de Moustiers is once again offering their gourmet picnics this summer, beginning in July. For the 2013, the picnics are 210€ per person (two people) and 190€ per person for three people or more. 

Provence in Focus

Lee Warren is a U.K.-based landscape and "natural world" photographer who shoots for magazines, books and ad campaigns. I came across some photos he took in the South of France late this summer and just had to share. Lee tells me: "The shots were taken August just gone. This was our first visit to Provence but we're already planning to return next year. It really is a stunning part of the world!"  Click each photo to see it larger and in much better detail. For more of Lee's work, visit his website here. To reach Lee directly, email: fdiskformat@sky.com

Top two photos: Lac Saint Croix. Center: Castellane. Bottom two photos: Vaison-la-Romaine.