La Bastide des Anges, Avignon

During this long, unrelenting February, I find my mind drifting back to the warmth of Provence. I drink rosé, keep lavender sachets on my nightstands, and think about La Bastide des Anges.

My aunt booked us into this little B&B just outside Avignon, on the Ile de la Barthelasse. It’s a beautiful old house with just five guest rooms, run by a formerly Parisian couple who now live there with their kids, two horses, a donkey (to keep the horses company), and two cats.

Rooms

D and I stayed in the La Farandole room on the second floor, which overlooked the front yard, and the stable and pasture in the distance. It’s actually a suite, with bedroom and bathroom and separate toilet all off a two-story foyer, and a little loft area with two twin beds upstairs. I peeked upstairs – it would have been a fairy tale dream room for my sister and me if we’d been there as kids! In our bedroom, we had big old wooden wardrobes built in on one side of the room that were pretty fairy tale-worthy themselves.

My aunt and uncle had the Les Ocres room on the ground floor, which opened out onto the terrace.

Their room had the advantage of being close to the wireless router in the living room, whereas D and I didn’t have wifi in our room upstairs. But the living room was cozy and very Provencal chic, a nice place to hang out in the afternoons to catch up on email and news.

The grounds

Even better, we could sit outside in the courtyard. The weather in September was perfectly comfortable, sunny with a cooling breeze. Though the B&B was fully booked, we rarely ran into other guests in the afternoons and it felt like our own private home.

Whenever we were outside, Piment (“pepper”), the handsome and very friendly black cat, came over to socialize. (The second cat is apparently very shy, and we never caught sight of him/her.)

There’s a pool, which we didn’t use since it was a bit too cool, and a big orchard, and olive trees. Lots of fun to roam through!

Breakfast

It’s a pretty safe bet that a Provencal B&B would have a great breakfast. And indeed, our hostess Béatrice put together an impressive spread each morning – croissants and rolls (and one morning, a dense, sweet bread packed with dried fruit and nuts), homemade yogurt in little glass cups, fruit, hard boiled eggs, and cheeses. There were juices made with fruit from the orchard, homemade preserves, and of course lots of butter, in little silver-wrapped logs.