LA GARDE-FREINET... AN ISLAND IN THE FOREST

LA GARDE-FREINET is one of Provence's best-preserved villages; its architecture has remained in perfect condition. The stone houses with their Romans tiles are tidily arranged around the town centre, characterized by narrow and sloping streets, little alleyways carved into the rocks and shady squares. A proud watchman standing over the Maures Hills and the sea …

The actress Jeanne Moreau formerly lived in the village, as did Anna Karina. Many artists still reside here or come to stay regularly. La Garde-Freinet is a discreet village, sheltered from the gaze of the adjacent Riviera, perched high up and snug against the giant plain of Le Luc, a few miles inland from the coast. Legend tells it that the Saracens and Barbary Coast pirates founded La Garde-Freinet and used it as a base to pillage the neighbouring villages, although it seems rather unlikely that such seafarers would choose to live so far from the coast...

Whatever the truth, when you take the hilltop roads you will easily understand why the village's first inhabitants chose this rocky spur as their lookout post for potential invaders coming from inland or the sea. The wide road leading from Grimaud to La Garde-Freinet winds its way through dense and proud chestnut groves, where you can also admire cork oaks and maritime pine trees. Camera, action!

Just like Cavalaire or the Rayol-Canadel, La Garde-Freinet teases its visitors with a long game of hide-and-seek before you finally arrive in the village. But what a change of scene from the hustle and bustle of the coast, as you sit down at a quiet café terrace and listen to a trickling fountain - all the calm of an "Island in the Forest", as La Garde-Freinet likes to call itself...

La Garde-Freinet is the ideal departure point for discovering the Maures Hills. A two-hour itinerary from the village will take you from Rue Saint-Jacques to Aire de La Planète square, via the village cross with its amusing history (ask at the Tourist Office!) and Fort Freinet, where the first inhabitants lived.

The village and surrounding areas offer a vast range of walking itineraries. One of the most picturesque leads to La Croix des Maures and Fort Freinet’s ruins. The effect is quite striking, though. This is where goats and sheep cross on their way to their Summer or Winter grazing grounds. The traditional Saint Clément "Bravades" are held here on the first weekend of May. Although less spectacular than the more famous "Bravades" held in Saint-Tropez, this military and religious celebration is marked by a procession of soldiers to the shrine of the village's Patron Saint, in the streets of the village.

If you're looking for somewhere nice to dine, La Garde-Freinet offers an excellent choice of eateries - you'll love the views if you drive up to the village at sunset. And when the Mistral wind blows, the inland scenery offers a symphony of yellow, pale orange and sand, fleeting pinks and purples, where the hills stand out sharply against many shades of blue and grey, fading towards the horizon.