Perfume From Provence

Winifred Fortescue was an actress who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Jerome K. Jerome and George Bernard Shaw when she married Sir John Fortescue, the King's librarian and archivist and famous historian of the British Army. Tempted by a better climate and the cheaper cost of living, they left England and found a stone house amid olive groves, high in the hills above Nice. Almost at once they were bewitched by the landscape and especially their garden-delightful terraces of vines, wild flowers, roses, and lavender-and by the charming, warm-hearted, and wily Provençals. Winifred's witty account of life with stonemasons, craftsmen, and gardeners as they extend the house is an enchanting read.

MORE PERFUME FROM PROVENCE…Winifred Fortescue and her husband, Sir John Fortescue, moved to Provence in the early 1930s. There they converted an old stone farmhouse into a graceful and idyllic home-the Domaine. For two years after Sir John's death, Lady Fortescue, still a comparatively young woman, continued to live in the Domaine, years that were not altogether happy. Then, visiting a friend, she came across a small, near-derelict house set amidst thickets of wild lavender, magenta gladioli, and trailing sweet peas. She fell instantly in love with it, and thus began a new and happy chapter of her life. With the help of her dear friend and neighbour, 'Mademoiselle', she set about trying to purchase the property from a complicated and cunning 'Mafia' of local Provençals-and then, once more, she began the heart-warming, frustrating, funny, and altogether delightful process of transforming a small Provençal cottage into a home and creating a breathtaking garden down the side of the mountain. She called it SUNSET HOUSE.