Ferme du Vigneron

How would you describe Ferme du Vigneron in a nutshell?

La Ferme du Vigneron in the village of Vaison-la-Romaine is the perfect place for a rejuvenating holiday. You'll be in Vaucluse, an area of Provence that is world-famous for its beautiful lavender fields.

With large spaces for a couple or a family who will enjoy the views of surrounding vineyards and olive groves, and also the medieval town of Vaison-la-Romaine and Mount Ventoux. The guest house design gracefully merges light interiors with vintage chic and space to relax, play, and explore.

Please tell us about the history of the farm.

Originally, our holiday home was a vintner’s farm that also had some livestock. This road is a succession of farms, many of them now turned into family homes, but the land is still mainly agricultural. We are surrounded by vineyards producing Côte du Rhône wine, and walking distance up the road are some ancient olive groves.

What was your inspiration to buy an old vintner’s farm and turn it into a luxury holiday home?

It is something we had in mind for several years: we were visiting houses in several areas in the south of France. It was by chance that we visited this house after turning down another one that was too small in a nearby village. We fell in love with the size of the house, the views, and the perfect location, very close to town, yet with no neighbours. We didn’t mind the dilapidated state of the place as it was exactly what we were looking for: the renovation allowed us to tailor the space to our needs.

Please tell us a bit about the refurbishment and the interior.

The place was run-down and had been abandoned for about 10 years. It was basically a ruin. We used to live in London at the time. I came down to meet with the architect and builders every month for a long weekend or more in order to oversee the works and choose the materials. The terra-cotta floors of the guest house are reclaimed, as are the roof tiles. It was very important for me to have some antique materials to keep some link to its past. Where it couldn't be done, for the woodwork, for example, we made sure to have windows and doors made up with the original materials and style. The renovation took 12 months.

What has been most rewarding about the whole experience?

I used to be an equine veterinary surgeon, but this renovation made me realise how much joy bringing a ruined building back to life gave me. As I took a break in my time-demanding profession to raise our children, interior design became a more and more realistic option to be able to juggle work and motherhood. I completed this professional turn when living in Chile with the renovation of a modernist house in Santiago.

With time, I also started creating soft furnishings for the house and garden, with linen fabrics dyed with plant-based natural colours. It was originally to renew the outdoor fabrics that cover a number of loungers, sofas, and chairs, as they stay outdoors from June to October, they end up being torn down by the sun and the rain and need replacing.

I also started creating bathrobes and other items of clothing from the extensive collection of antique fabrics I have hoarded through the years. They are dyed using plant-based dyes and patterned using ancestral techniques from around the world. My brand, Mei Line, grew from the requests of friends and guests for those creations.

People have been very encouraging about my new career as a designer when realising how involved I am in the interior design and decoration of the house. I’ve also had some really nice comments from people who felt at home straight away because they thought the house was so user-friendly.

Please tell us a bit about your eco policy.

I work very hard on having an eco-friendly attitude in our house, as I think it affects us all in our daily lives. For example, our garden is pesticide and fertiliser-free. It is planted with Mediterranean plants that need very little or no water, which includes our own lavender field :-). Going away from the green lawn model, towards a Mediterranean garden has been a project over the last 15 years, and it has proved to be not only eco-friendly but also very aesthetic as the type of plants used have settled and thrived with very little maintenance.

We compost the grass cuttings, which is the only fertiliser we use, and I also compost kitchen waste, which I encourage the guests to do as well. So far, most have been very pleased with it as it noticeably reduces the amount of waste. It is very easy to separate as there is a dedicated stainless steel bin in the kitchen worktop, especially designed for it.

In 2018, I created a landscaped kitchen garden inspired by the "jardins de curé" which produced an incredible amount of vegetables (and fruits with the strawberry square) growing just in front of the kitchen: it made the soil to pot a reality. The geometric landscaping keeps it enjoyable to look at in all seasons, and as I researched local and organic seeds, the vegetables have been very strong, although I obviously don't use any pesticide nor chemical fertilisers, but a variety of green fertilisers, mainly comfrey and nettle. Overall, the landscaping and the kitchen garden have both been very rewarding as the results are really spectacular.

And of course, my interest in antique linen and natural dye is inserted in a movement that tends towards upcycling rather than producing anew. I feel this is an important part of the resistance to consumerism that is at the origin of climate change.

What do you particularly like about this part of Provence?

The perched villages of Provence around our area, starting with Vaison-la-Romaine, Seguret, and Le Crestet, have this wonderful feeling of going back in time while strolling through them. Their old stone keeps the freshness, so they are very pleasant to visit in the heat of summer.

Vaison-la-Romaine is the biggest Roman archaeological site in Europe. Its Roman theatre is very actively used for shows in the summer, and the remains of luxurious villas, therms, and high street shops are there for you to explore. They cover a large part of the "new" town, the old one being the perched medieval town.

I never miss the Vaison Dances festival in July, which takes place in the Roman theatre and attracts the best of contemporary dance. Also, the Chorégies of Orange are not to be missed for Opera lovers. The setting is really overwhelming, as Orange is one of the rare Roman theatres to have kept its scene’s back wall.

The Dentelles de Montmirail, a stunning chain of limestone hill which rugged hill tops remind one of lace, are a beauty; hiking through them will no doubt create unforgettable memories. The dentelles are diamond-shaped, with Vaison at the top, Baume de Venise at the bottom, Gigondas and Malaucene on each side; those names give you the clue to why many of its hill sides are planted with vineyards.

The Tour de France regularly has an etape climbing the Mont Ventoux, which bottom is just 15km away, and the area is a major draw for cyclists. There are miles and miles of roads for cycling accessible directly from our doorstep towards the Baronnies and the Pre-Alps, which are a favourite. It is a bliss in the wildly untouched nature of the Dentelles de Montmirail, or the Mont Ventoux.

Avignon and its wonders are less than an hour drive, but to my experience, our guests rarely get that far on a first visit as there are so many things to do locally.