REAL LIFE


Place des Arcades, Valbonne, home of Niche Books


“Working outside while looking over the Bay of Cannes makes the creative juices fl ow”


fi ve owners. Perhaps this great age is to be taken with a pinch of that same bakery salt the pigeons used to order, but Max is still a magnifi cent- looking fi sh. The property deeds don’t mention him by name but do show a record of Max’s presumed proprietors stretching back to the 1950s. I am keen to one day research the full history of the bastide. In terms of practicalities, the house purchase and move went smoothly, and we found the French notary and estate agent extremely helpful, so that the whole journey from having our off er accepted to completion took less than three months. This meant we


The bastide from the garden, the pigeon ‘telegraph’ is visible under the eaves; inset, Grasse by a local artist


moved in quicker than expected, on 17 March 2022. Unfortunately, our furniture was only due for delivery from Luxembourg


in early April, so we ate our fi rst meal in the house using a vanity unit from one of the bedrooms as an impromptu kitchen table.


PERFECT COMBINATION The house and the climate very much work for me as an author. Trying to get a publishing deal if you’re unknown is a nightmare, but after several years I fi nally succeeded, and by the time we moved to Grasse, it was all falling into place. My fi rst Novel, The Face Stone, was being published, a second, Angel’s Blade, was completed at the bastide, and a third written there. For me, the Riviera is made for writing, and just being able to sit working outside while looking over the Bay of Cannes makes the creative juices fl ow. By the time this article


goes to print, Jehovah’s Wind, the third book featuring Jack


FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: September/October 2023 61 


© LEWIS HINTON


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