I’m expecting guests any moment so I’m in the mood for gentle beauty from the French countryside and maybe a few Old World interiors while we’re at it. These are fantasy gardens and glimpses for sure, but that doesn’t make our little patches of dirt any less special. It’s all perspective. I told you HERE about my new daily delight practice which is easier than I imagined. Maybe eventually I’ll begin journaling the delights to remember them, but I’m not even putting that sort of pressure on myself because I want to experience the joy rather than use it for future gain. Also find encouraging quotes weaved within the meditative gallery with whispers. This Provence vacation rental is from Haven In, and I bet you’ll be able to smell the sweet fragrance on a virtual breeze from South of France.
French Château Gardens & Peaceful Elegant Interiors
The grand 18th-century Provence manor, Château Mireille is a breathtaking and luxurious vacation rental available through Haven In.
Does travel to the South of France or a luxurious villa seem the stuff of silly dreams in the 2020s? It does to me!
Both my husband and I are in a most busy chapter of our careers and have little time to get away.
I know air travel has been a nightmare for folks lately (at least domestically), and with inflation and rising prices, travel is a great luxury indeed.
Where is This Stunning Property?
Located 10 minutes from St-Rémy-de-Provence, a stay at this historical French home would certainly be the thrill of a lifetime for admirers of South of France timeless tranquility!
The traditional style French country interiors include seven bedrooms on three floors, but who could stay inside very long!?!
I think my preference would be to visit shops and places beyond the chateau and then relax in the gardens all afternoon.
Relax? I continue to try to try to live the truth of the quote from Jeff Foster. The truth is, like a lot of folks who become obsessed with productivity, it is not easy to feel safe at rest.
I have never been able to nap, and I just heard that the science reveals folks who nap have larger brains.
Wise quotes about rest and self-kindness on this blog are here because I need reminding.
Beautiful French Country Bastide: St-Rémy-de-Provence
Château Mireille boasts all the Old World Provençal French countryside charm one dreams of.
Haven In’s beautiful Provençal vacation home at the foot of the Massif des Alpilles, is ideally situated within easy access to St-Rémy-de-Provence in the heart of Provence.
What to expect from the village? Fall in love, be charmed by friendly locals and also daily markets. Enjoy festivals and celebrations too.
Even if you are far from Provence, I hope you are discovering sources of beauty this summer. It’s so important to keep nurturing yourself with it. If you have chronic illness as I do, it becomes perhaps even more important as soul medicine.
What to do near this beautiful vacation rental?
A blogging pal who resides in Southern France and authors the beautifully written Taste of France told us:
“Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is such a sweet town. If you go, be sure to check out the table d’hôte (so not quite a restaurant–there’s no menu to choose from; you take what’s served) at a house built into a cave in a former Roman quarry. Just past the asylum where Van Gogh stayed.” Read about it RIGHT HERE.
“Just past the asylum?” So interesting! When I read that word I am aware of its multiple meanings:
1.
the protection granted by a nation to someone who has left their native country as a political refugee.
“she applied for asylum and was granted refugee status”
2.
an institution offering shelter and support to people who are mentally ill.
“he’d been committed to an asylum”
And there’s something poignant in both definitions in 2023. Which is why we all need more unplugged time and more rest. Rest?
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Loveliness Near Château Mireille
Since the area is home to so many charming cafés, restaurants, and historic sites, you’ll be treated to a setting of cobblestone streets and also authentic architecture.
You can also sense the coolness and quietness of this bath with all the stone.
Can you practically feel the warm sunshine on your skin as you smell the rich earth? A stay at Château Mireille would likely include exploration of the lush landscape and mountains, now classified as the Parc Naturel Régional des Alpilles (Alpilles Region Natural Park).
Is sipping a sublime French wine more your style than hiking?
The chateau’s location is perfectly located near wonderful French wine producers.
Yesterday, I wore myself out with weeding, pruning, and tidying up the porch and garden beds, and what a good tired that is! Just before I called it a day, a newborn fawn came to the yard and our eyes locked for an eternity. I allowed my heart to fill with beauty and prayed she wouldn’t run when I had to walk in her direction to dump a wheelbarrow. She didn’t run. We were so close and so in love that I wanted to melt into the white polka dots on her back. This is the taste of the Divine. Later the thought occurred that it is possible I’m the first human she has ever seen in her short life. Maybe no harm or fear has yet entered her prairie world. Only this Eden, this nature preserve, this acreage I call home. This planet of DELIGHT!
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Breathtaking Gardens
While I don’t have any formal or sculpted garden magnificence as we see here in Provence:
Does the shape or size of your Eden even matter? A container of fresh herbs fragrant and thriving in a kitchen window can connect you in fresh ways to Mother Nature.
Because technology and now AI have changed life in significant and undetectable ways, it’s more important than ever to seek connection to each other and the earth.
Rather than focus on ideas for “escape” (from the culture, chaos, noise, plugged-in everything, social media, political rollercoaster), I am leaning into the thought of ENTRANCE into safer realms, healthy layers of consciousness, and nurturant pathways to beauty.
We have choices, doncha know. And some of us don’t have as much time. Which is just fine because we have already experienced so much. Time to freely live the lives that feel good to us rather than ones that look good to other people.
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Ancient Statuary & Fountain
What do a parade of photos of bucolic French gardens possibly have to do with all this soul talk?
The brain and body are a miraculous computer. Without being in France, my senses can be calmed by images and my heart can open to the mystery in a spirit of unknowing.
Answers to the important questions? They are probably hiding in plain sight.
So each day we can strive to make more space for enlightenment not by THINKING ABOUT enlightenment but by living into it with an embodied YES to our ordinary lives.
There is a flow I can sense that wants to flow from a hidden source of delight and freedom. What obstacles are inhibiting the flow? Am I pushing down grief or bitterness in hopes of enjoying life without suffering? What if that resistance is blocking what longs to flow?
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Pool Paradise!
What people do we become when we open ourselves to the heartbreak and depth of love that wants full expression in our lives?
Thoughts on Healing & Wounds
I have had so very much to say and think about healing and woundedness in the last fifteen years. Yet what I am sensing just now is how healing is here, and I need not fear its departure.
As long as I keep giving my YES, keep starting each day with an open, broken, even aching heart and align with LOVE, I’m in the presence of healing. Will the string of alignment break throughout the day? Oh, girl, yes. And I can keep returning, returning, returning to Love. Like a prodigal. Like a blind beggar. Like a flower opening to the sun.
Living with visible wounds is not a curse, but a doorway. An entrance for others to find healing as they feel joined in something mysterious and loving.
My wounds can become these open places where flow can flow and love can grow. What a consolation that all striving can end because I’m already a contented sieve, a dark sky pierced by stars, a permeable vessel for what is coming and what has come.
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Tranquil French Country Setting
Just beyond these charming gates? French countryside bliss with lavender fields, wineries, rolling hills, and also charming villages.
Château Mireille’s unforgettable setting boasts professionally landscaped grounds, formal gardens with topiary, beautiful pool with terrace, tennis court, and charming outdoor seating too.
Who could resist such lovely Provençal weather?
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Authentically French Country Dining Room
Interiors within Château Mireille are truly one of a kind with their Old World style, art, architecture, and antiques.
Terracotta tiles, wood beams and floors, crown molding, lofty ceilings, and hand painted murals add distinctive French style.
Isn’t the vibrancy of the chandelier a delightful surprise?
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Enchanting Murals
When I see the most character-rich, undecorated, lovely interiors I share often on this blog, I think about how boring my own rooms are and how they lack imagination.
In my defense, there are a lot of colors blooming in psychedelic wonder on the inside for me.
So restful interiors and quiet color palette may be just what I need for balance.
But how I enjoy interiors that celebrate mysteries beyond me!
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Walls With Plaster
Is anyone else fond of interior windows?
And, again, isn’t the vibrant liveliness of the green in this French home pure magic?
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: French Country Kitchen
While you might expect a lavish, luxuriously elegant kitchen…
Instead, you’ll find earthy understated warmth from a working kitchen that refuses to show off.
I mean, maybe there’s a little showing off if you indeed look closer, but the beauty of age and materials that stand the test of time are the stars, not a rare Italian marble-topped island.
Old World Terracotta Tiles
I don’t see this green and terracotta combo in many American kitchens, and I bet you won’t find it in any article related to “Do THIS to your kitchen if you want your house to sell!”
Ya know?
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Rustic Elegance
I would love to see this kitchen at night with candlelight and a fire, yes?
Château Mireille: French Bedrooms
A cozy nook for a bed is something else we also don’t see a lot of in American homes.
Even simple fabric treatments around the bed can be magical if Old World style is your jam.
Did you see the canopy beds and bed curtains in THIS?
French Bedroom Design Inspiration
But it is a cheerful hue to awaken to…especially on dreary grey outside mornings.
French Bedroom Design Inspiration: Authentically Rustic Yet Rich Master Suite
Waking up to sunny-hued walls is also a wonderful prospect when the warm limestone-like sunny wall color has been thoughtfully considered.
Because in my experience…
yellow can be all wrong for a bedroom.
I guess that’s why some experts say it’s fine for a guest room when you don’t want them to overstay their welcome. 🙂
Classic & Traditional French Country Design Inspiration
Ever wonder about stripes and the French and why they are symbolic of a certain chic?
Me too.
I found this:
“Recorded by decree in March 1858 as the official undergarment of the French Navy, the original wool-knit naval jersey ended at the thigh with a snug, seamless, tube-like construction and slightly indented round neckline. Its signature feature was a block pattern of 21 white stripes and 20–21 blue stripes with 15 white stripes and 14–15 blue stripes on the sleeves.” – BBC
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: Original Art
Even though it’s getting more popular in mainstream decorating, wallpaper is still such a subjective and controversial thing.
I mean, it seems rare that anyone shopping for a home (old or new) sees a wallpaper pattern and thinks “YES. I’m leaving that up forever.”
And here’s the thing. Sometimes I think we are all too quick to make such judgments before living in a place. I don’t think I would ever tire of the pattern above.
Lovely Timeless French Château Photos: French Country Bathrooms
Isn’t it refreshing to see interiors that feel under-baked and not staged for the masses?
I think that’s why I’m drawn to so many European country interiors.
You know, those homes that have been in the family for years and evolved.
While they may take forever to build, they are built to last without thoughts of resale or current trends.
You can see once again in this bath (above) how green and terracotta are best friends in this chateau.
How do you feel about the French grey-blues playing off of the rich terracotta?
Rustic Old World French Bathroom Magic
Before I leave you, I just want to say MERCI for anyone who made it this far in the post.
Green on the Timeless French Château Shutters!
Thank you for reading and for extending grace here.
There are so many sites to visit online, and the fact that you landed here is a gift to me.
Beautiful Green Shutters in France
If you have seen Vivi et Margot owner Charlotte’s French farmhouse tour of a French farmhouse near Bordeaux, you may recall she painted her rustic shutters a popular green, known in the region as:
TOLLENS Vert Olivier (satin) purchased at Castorama. See ideas for French greens HERE.
Shutters at Chateau Mireille seem to be in this green family, don’t you think?
I could stare at those shutters all day!
In the mood for more fantasy inspiration from Haven In? Check out a restored 19th century mansion in Avignon with unusual, exotic interior design and restoration…magic awaits!
Take good care of yourselves, friends. We’re living through revolutionary times.
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Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
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