We’re the luckiest people in the world, so we had the opportunity to offer our great friends Aaron and Leah a place to stay rent-free on holiday to the South of France.
They liked it, you can tell. 
Seeing the Cité for the first time.
It was Leah’s gift to Aaron for his 40th birthday. Can you believe he’s 40? It doesn’t show. He’s a vampire or something. I think they had a good time. We’ll know more if they ever agree to travel with us again.
We stayed in this amazing bastide in Provence for a few days, because I deeply wanted to see the lavender in bloom in July! It was just as amazing as you imagine. It’s FULL of bees, the fields buzz all the time. You smell it when you roll down the windows of the car! Heavenly. Provence is heavenly.
Beach break after a long drive 
There are fish in the water.
We spent a lot of time just relaxing, which is super unusual for us on holiday! Normally, we go-go-go and this time since we were with people we had to let them chill out a bit, so we spent a day on the beach in Cadaques, and lounging by the pool in Banon. It was difficult to let go, feel like there is nothing else we need to be doing or seeing, but not that difficult. I often find it hard to slow down and relax, though. It was nice to be forced to do some of that.
One day, we drove around the vineyards locally and picked up a few cases of wine here and there. Did tastings in the caveaus, met the vineyard dogs. It was probably my favourite day of the trip. At Domaine Villepeyroux, they took the time not only to show us around the caveau and deguste right from the stills, but also recommended three other local vineyards who are making interesting wines. I really appreciated it. They sent us to Domaine Sibille, where we found the most amazing Chardonnay, and Pierre Cros, where their Veille Vignes spoke to me. Super wonderful day.
Finally, we did get a road trip in, to see Tommy Cash perform in Clermont-Ferrand. On the way, we stopped at VOLVIC – where they make the best water. There was a little musée of water and you can fill up from non-source water at their old fountain. Man, I miss Volvic water. It sounds silly but the mouthfeel is really different from our water here. Seriously! Try it. You’ll see.
Tommy Cash was a pretty great show, highly recommended if you’re into that kind of thing.