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At
the house There are four bikes for guests to use - two adult, one small adult - suitable for child aged 10 upwards and one child's suitable for 5-10 year-olds. There are two tennis rackets, children's toys and things to play with in the lake.We also have a badminton set and boules, and of course a hammock for the less energetic. There are board games, books, CDs and DVDs for quieter days.
Hiking/walking
Swimming Canoeing/boating/rafting/pedalo/sailing/windsurfing
Tennis Cycling
Art lessons Flower workshop led by artist, Mimi Kay.
Mimi will advise on use of colour, special techniques and styles. She will unleash your creative energy, encouraging you to try different methods. Mimi Kay specialises in painting flowers. She has regular exhibitions, sells her work internationally and is often commissioned to produce works of art. She enjoys experimenting with different styles and teaching unusual techniques to aspiring artists.
This workshop will be held overlooking the 12km Lac-de-Sainte Croix (pictured), with a village and mountains as a backdrop and some flowers in the foreground, so that you combine all the skills you have learned during the week. For details of artist, Mimi Kay, visit: www.mimi-cards.net
Bungee
jumping
Golf
Fishing
Shopping
Supermarkets
This is a selection of local restaurants with some recommendations from friends and family - we haven't eaten in all of them! Bauduen
Aups
Tourtour
Fox
Amphoux Restaurant Chez Jean- 04 94 80 70 76 Small bar restaurant on the route Monmeyan, opposite La Poste. Good reasonable menu and lots of local colour!
Villecroze L'Annexe, which has a good atmosphere and reasonable menu - 04 94 70 67 39 La Cascade - 04 94 70 66 92 - very good food, reasonable prices and cheerful service, but basic décor and a bit noisy with traffic from the main road. Le Colombier - 04 94 70 63 23 Sophisticated, with a terrace, good food but pricey, on the way out of Villecroze, near a good pottery shop - Poterie du Soleil. Les Esparrus - 04 94 70 63 19 On the main road from Salernes to Draguignan - large hotel restaurant with some good menus, terrace, good friendly service.
Lorgues
Chez Bruno - 04 94 85 93 93 If you like truffles and meat and don't mind your menu being chosen for you by the chef, this is a very good restaurant in lovely surroundings. Some customers fly in by helicopter from the coast for this gastronomic experience!
Les
Arcs
Salernes Le Vieux Soufflet - 04 94 70 72 72 On the road from Salernes to Draguignan. Very good food, reasonable menu, but best either on the terrace or inside if there are many in your party, as the interior is a bit barn like. L'Etoile du Sud - 04 94 70 76 39 On the way out of Salernes, route d'Entrecasteaux, a Moroccan tented restaurant in the middle of nowhere, but well sign posted. Fun atmosphere and lots to eat and drink for a reasonable price if you like Moroccan food and don't mind sitting on squashy cushions. Booking recommended.
Sillans-la-Cascade Hotel Restaurant Les Pins - 04 94 04 63 26 A very good, jolly restaurant, with a good selection of reasonable menus especially the Pot au Feu, a wonderful, filling, fish 'stew' which needs to be ordered 24 hours in advance. You should always book the terrace for the weekend. The bar now also does 'cheap and cheerful' daily menus. Auberge de Grandes Chênes - 04 94 04 63 65 A cheap and cheerful restaurant on the road from Fox to Sillans-la-Cascade. Best for huge pizzas done in a wood-fired oven.
Cotignac Hotel du Cours - 04 94 04 78 50 Opposite La Fontaine and good value, simple food. Good pizza place in the square. Le Clos des Vignes - 04 94 04 72 19 Very pretty setting in a vineyard on the road from Cotignac to Brignoles. Good food and prices, service a bit indifferent sometimes.
Other recommendations a bit further afield Cannes - chose one of the beach restaurants where you can hire sunbeds and while away the afternoon after lunch. We like the Okey Beach, which is on the road out towards Antibes, park in the old part of Cannes and walk along the front in that direction. Again cheap and very cheerful service, with huge salads and lots of moules/frites in delicious sauces. St
Tropez Le Café in the Place des Lices is cheap and cheerful and very good local atmosphere - 04 94 97 44 69
Mougins,
near Cannes
Festivals
Sailing on the lake at Bauduen After three lessons, we have learned to rig the boat, zigzag up and down the lake and land safely on the pontoon. Lesson four is in high wind. The instructor encourages us to lean right out of the boat, feet under straps, bums hanging over the edge, clinging on to the ropes to control the sails. It's exhilarating and challenging. Your focus is completely on balancing the boat and maintaining speed. The beautiful scenery becomes secondary. As well as sailing dinghies, 'deriveurs', we have tried a catamaran, roughly translated as 'catamaran'. These seem more stable with its two hulls and you don't have to worry about ducking the boom when the main sail swings across. On days with no wind, we have paddled across the lake in a two-person canoe. It takes about an hour to reach the village of St Croix, where you can rest in the shade of trees or have a bite to eat. Taking a canoe out for an early evening paddle into the middle of the lake and drifting for a while is a wonderful way to unwind. You can also hire electric boats, 'barques electrique' windsurfers, 'planches a voile' and Optimistes - same word in English - small one-person dinghies for children. On Wednesday afternoons between 14h and 16h30, there are windsurfing and Optimiste lessons for children aged 7-17. The first session is free and then it's 50 euros a month. On Saturdays they are encouraging families to come and try any of the activities on offer, including fishing from a sailing boat - now that's a balancing act I'd like to see. They do have one large sailing boat, called an 'habitable', which is more stable. Again, the first session for any activity is free and then it's 10 euros a month per person or 30 for a family. The club is also planning to organise regattas. The president, Pierre and his wife Giselle are very welcoming and enthusiastic. The club is well equipped with life jackets and they have a motorised boat to rescue anyone in trouble. There is also a picnic area and two toilets. To find the club, go past the little parade of shops in Bauduen, continue over a small roundabout and you will see the green gates of the club ahead of you. Park under the trees in front of the gates. Watersports certainly build up an appetite. Luckily, Bauduen has a bakery, which sells sandwiches and other snacks, a general store, which could supply the ingredients for a picnic, two cafes, a pizza restaurant and an auberge. In the summer, there is also a place right by the sailing club, serving roasted chickens to take away. On Sundays there is a small market along the promenade in front of the shops. You can pick up local goats cheese, olives, fruit and vegetables. If any of your party needs other entertainment, the market has a range of stalls, including clothes and toys. If you fancy a wander through the mediaeval village, there are a couple of shops selling trinkets. You can wind your way up through the narrow, cool streets to the church at the top and then bear left down towards the entrance of the village to find the ancient washing area. You can also take an interesting walk beyond the sailing club, along a wide track, which leads to two tennis courts. You can continue past the courts, under a red and white metal barrier and along the lakeside for about half an hour, passing some picnic tables. When you reach the end of the wide track, you can continue walking but you have to scramble over some rocks in places. If you want a really long walk, you can continue to the next village of Les Salles or make a circuit back to Bauduen. It is part of a grand randonnee route and a map is advisable to find the circuit, which would take about three hours. If you fancy a shorter walk, turn right just before the tennis courts up a track wide enough for cars. It is marked with red and white paint on a tree. Follow this up past some newer houses and it will lead you back to the old part of the village. Take any road right and it will lead you down to the lake, turn right when you reach the promenade and it will lead you back to the Club Nautique. If your idea of water sports is pootling along using pedal power, there is also a 'Playa Location' at the entrance to the village where you can hire pedalos or just sit in a bar and contemplate a life on the ocean waves. Information: This article appeared in the Var Village Voice |
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Sports:
She will give individual tuition on painting flowers in watercolour. This can be at the villa or out on location. 
Lake workshop led by artist, Mimi Kay. Painting water is harder than you think but Mimi will teach tricks such as using salt to create a glistening effect of the sun on water and wax to create depth of perception. 
Horse
riding
Eating
out