RESTAURANTS AND FOOD: Cyrano author’s villa and one of France’s prettiest villages

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Cyrano author’s villa and one of France’s prettiest villages

Cyrano author’s villa and one of France’s prettiest villages

Always a pleasure to visit one of France’s prettiest villages. There are quite a few, but it is the Basque dimensions that distinguishes La Bastide-Clairence. It dates back to the Middle Ages and owes much of it current well-being to a determined mayor and the work of a dozen craftspeople, often the saviours of small places like this.

The centre has been recently renovated. We enjoyed our walk up and down through the typically Basque houses and a purchase or two from the artisans (macarons to die for!) but it was the 14th century church (Notre-Dame) that really caught my eye, two features in particular: the three tiers of galleries within and the many graves sheltered by “lean-tos” on both sides of the length. Almost an indoor grave!

Cambo les Bains is another pretty town, renowned in the 19th century for the health giving properties of its two thermal hot water springs and later for Arnaga, the house of Edmond Rostand, the author of Cyrano de Bergerac.

Aside from the twenty or so preserved rooms of the villa, built in the Basque style one hundred years ago, and the relating of the privileged life-style lived therein (Sarah Bernhardt stayed there often), there are gardens front and rear.

The front gardens are in the fascinating formal French style with flowers, water features and symmetry the order of the day. At the rear, it is the turn of the freestyle English garden, no boundaries, just space for the well heeled to lose himself in nature.

True nature, of course, was also at the other side of the road but who knows what ruffian you might come across there. Now it is that poacher who has turned gamekeeper as, since 1960, the estate is owned by the town, who turned it into the museum it is today. It was listed as a national monument in 1995. Well worth a visit. More pics here.