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Around Lorgues dozens of Provençal villages sit on hilltops and against cliffs. Most are within half an hour's drive of Villa Lorgues, so they combine easily with a morning by the pool.
Tourtour, the village in the sky
Tourtour sits high on a ridge and is called le village dans le ciel. From the square with its old olive trees you can see all the way to the coast on clear days. A perfect spot for lunch on a terrace.
Cotignac: cliff dwellings and waterfalls
Cotignac lies at the foot of a high tufa cliff with caves and cliff dwellings that you can visit. The centre has a long avenue of plane trees, fountains and cafés.
Aups, Villecroze and Salernes
Aups is the truffle capital of the Haute-Var: in the winter months there is a truffle market on Thursday mornings. Villecroze has a park with a waterfall and caves. Salernes is the village of tiles, where the hexagonal terracotta tomettes have been made for centuries.
Entrecasteaux and Le Thoronet abbey
The castle of Entrecasteaux towers above the village and has a garden attributed to Le Nôtre, the landscape architect of Versailles. A little further is Le Thoronet abbey, an austere 12th century Cistercian abbey and one of the three famous Cistercian abbeys of Provence.
A one-day village route
- Morning: market in Lorgues or Cotignac.
- Lunch: a terrace in Tourtour with a view.
- Afternoon: the waterfall in Villecroze and tiles in Salernes.
- Evening: back to the villa for a swim and a barbecue on the terrace.
Header photo: Babsy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons