Go west!
Part three of my road trip series, this time we're heading west to the Atlantic coast, the Dordogne and Occitanie. Plus: Amazing French salads and two villages to visit in memory of David Hockney
When you’re British and travelling in France, you often find people offer up an anecdotal British connection to the place you’re visiting that you might never have discovered from a guidebook or the tourist office. A few years ago, as part of an autumn trip to The Var in Provence, I was told of a connection to David Hockney, the world-renowned British artist who sadly died this week aged 88. The owners of the B&B I was staying in were proud to share that Hockney had spent time in their village La Garde-Freinet in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, when he had stayed with Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson at their place Le Nid du Duc. My hosts mentioned that the hills in the background of his painting Pool with Two Figures were the very hills near the village I had been looking at earlier in the day. It meant that my memory of the painting took on a new dimension. The year before my visit, the painting had sold for $90.3 million which, at that time, was the highest price ever paid at auction for a painting by a living artist. The news of this record-breaking sale had brought with it the stories of his time in California, his finding inspiration in swimming pools and his relationship with Peter Schlesinger - all fascinating aspects of the work. But, as a France-lover, there was something special about being in the same place Hockney had come to in order to find deeper inspiration for it, and the nod those hills then gave me from the background of his painting, a little ‘Oui, bonjour. Nous sommes ici! Nous sommes la France’.
Hockney’s love of France caught up with me in 2020. As the Covid-19 pandemic shut the world down, the artist was busy painting the extraordinary apple blossoms that blaze across the countryside of his then-home Normandy. Like many, I took comfort in his words ‘They can’t cancel the spring!’, as Mother Nature just got on with what happens each season. It brought back happy memories of previous spring-time trips to Normandy and a few years later, we passed through his home village of Beuvron-en-Auge, which was as delightful as I’d heard it to be.
So in beloved memory of David Hockney, two villages to visit and find inspiration, just as he did. I’m sad I didn’t get a chance to see the retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton last year, but as consolation I’ve discovered a new book La Belle France by Simon Morley, which came out this month and explores how France inspired Hockey and his fellow British artists.
Salad days
A few newsletters ago, I mentioned that I was looking forward to visiting France this summer and buying some butter lettuce from the markets to drench in mustardy dressing and slop onto my plate. Well, I couldn’t wait. So instead of buying those slimy salad bags or bitter cos lettuce from the supermarket here in Gloucestershire, I grew my own in the garden. I am so happy to have had many salad dinners lately, but inspiration has been running thin. Perfect timing, then, for Alexandra Stacey’s new book Salads for All Seasons land on my doormat yesterday. Many of you may know Alex from her very popular Instagram account @frenchfamilyfood and so it’s wonderful to see her beautiful recipes in this book. It comes out on Thursday 18th June, so do order it and enjoy a summer (and autumn, winter and spring) of salads.
Road trips! Part three…
If you’re a new subscriber (welcome!) you may have missed the first two parts of this series, covering the best routes and stop-offs if you’re heading to the south of France by car this summer. But don’t worry, you can catch up here:
Part one:
And part two:
This time, we’re looking at the route that takes you from the northern ferry ports, so Calais, Dieppe, Le Havre, Caen and Saint Malo (and maybe Roscoff) on to The Dordogne, the Basque Country, and Occitanie. Non-British readers may be starting the journey in Paris, in which case join me down the page a bit at ‘Onward! The second leg’.
