Lou Messugo Gite, Côte d'Azur, France

30/01/2025

Guess what's happening on Sunday in France? There's a clue in the event/special occasion aisle in supermarkets....

27/01/2025

Do you like visiting historic homes while on holiday? The Côte d'Azur has a wide variety of interesting and unusual buildings open to the public ranging from Belle Époque palaces to groundbreaking modernist masterpieces. These iconic villas offer a glimpse into the region’s rich artistic, architectural, and cultural heritage.

I have just published a blog post on 5 of my favourite villas to visit. It's linked in the comments.

24/01/2025

This weekend around 40 local museums are celebrating with free guided visits, treasure hunts, games, workshops and more.

There's a huge diversity of museums in this area covering perfume, archeology, oceanography, photography, Grand masters, Asian art, Roman antiquity, contemporary art, ceramics....

With dodgy weather forecast, it would seem an ideal time to get out and explore some of the region's cultural heritage.

What takes your fancy?

You'll find the full programme in the link in the comments below.

23/12/2024

Christmas fun on the Côte d'Azur, fully updated for 2024. You'll find a mixture of traditional and unusual things to do over les fêtes de fin d'année.

Joyeuses fêtes!

Christmas on the Côte d’Azur is full of fun. Discover markets, lights, skating, shows and other festivities to enjoy on the Côte d'Azur.

03/12/2024

There's a magnificent new museum on the Côte d'Azur, one dedicated solely to female artists. The building used to house the Mougins Museum of Classical and Modern Art (which I loved) but that has now closed and in its place is FAMM (Femmes Artistes du Musée de Mougins which works just as well in English, Female Artists Museum Mougins). It's a clever name, if you speak French you'll get it straight away for but the non-French speaking people here "woman" in French is "femme" pronounced fam.

I am not an expert at all in female artists (and I dare say I'm not alone as they are woefully under-represented in galleries in general) but among the 100 or so pieces of art from Impressionism to modern day I recognised these big names: Louise Bourgeois, Barbara Hepworth, Sonia Delaunay, Berthe Morisot, Elizabeth Frink, Nicole Farhi, Tracey Emin, Frida Kahlo and Niki de St Phalle. So there are some huge "stars" there and many beautiful, inspirational and thought-provoking creations from them and other wonderful female artists

FAMM is open every day of the week from 10 am - 6 pm

28/11/2024

This is Neil. He works in transport and logisitics for F1 and had a few days off around the Monaco Grand Prix which he chose to spend chez nous, away from the madness of the race. It was fascinating listening to his stories of life on the F1 circuit. A whole different world!

25/11/2024

The Christmas Market season is just about to start, are you ready?

Coming up this Sunday is the very popular, and my favourite, marché de noël in Le Rouret.

Other dates to note are:

Roquefort les Pins 14 Dec
Valbonne village 21 - 24 Dec

Nice 29 Nov - 1 Jan
Cannes 30 Nov - 5 Jan
Antibes 30 Nov - 5 Jan
Monaco 6 Dec - 5 Jan

Do you have a favourite Christmas Market?

22/11/2024

Cosy, colourful apéro with delicious locally produced houmous served with oven baked pita chips.

I love supporting local independent businesses and makes the tastiest houmous and granola on the Côte d'Azur, available at Valbonne and Châteauneuf markets (Friday and Monday respectively).

I'll let you in on a little secret. I bought some houmous this week and wanted to eat it with Beaujolais nouveau yesterday but my family devoured it before I could take a photo! So this picture is from a while back, which explains the mimosa flowers in the background! Proof that it's totally delicious!


https://instagr.am/p/DCrWtg_spO_/

20/11/2024

Yesterday was the UN's World Toilet Day which I discovered thanks to my friend Deb who runs the award-winning, gorgeous and most sustainable holiday business that I know, East Cambusmoon on Loch Lomond. She inspires me in all things ecological/sustainable. https://www.facebook.com/LochLomondHolidayCottages

So, inspired by Deb, I have chosen to twin our loo at Lou Messugo with a community project in Côte d'Ivoire which helps families build their own basic toilet, access clean water and learn about hygiene - a vital combination which saves lives.

Like us, I'm sure you are fortunate enough to have access to safe sanitation but 3.5 billion people around the world currently do not have that 'privilege'. The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 6 is 'Ensure access to water and sanitation for all', we can play a small part in that goal.

If you would also like to contribute or discover more information please take a look at www.toilettwinning.org

Changing Lives, One Loo at a Time

18/11/2024

Marre de la grisaille? Pourquoi ne pas troquer le gris contre le bleu et vous offrir un petit télétravail sous le soleil de la Côte d'Azur. C'est exactement ce qu'à fait un récent hôte venu du Grand Est. Il a passé 4 jours à travailler depuis chez nous, en terrasse au soleil ou sur le canapé au soleil pour refaire le plein d'énergie.

La basse saison est tellement belle ici et est simplement conçue pour une pause du métro, boulot dodo, vous ne trouvez pas?

Nous avons des dates dispo d'ici Noël (et l'année prochaine), alors contactez-nous pour organiser votre petite pause dans la routine.

Fed up with the grey and cold? Why not swap it with some blue and take a little workation under the Riviera sun. That's exactly what a recent guest from the north east of France did. He spent 4 days working from Lou Messugo, on the terrace in the sun, on the sofa in the sun, topping up his vitamin D levels.

Low season is so lovely here, it's simply calling out for a break from the routine, don't you agree?

We have some dates available between now and Christmas (and next year), so get in touch to organise a break from the grey.

https://instagr.am/p/DCg_p69sRA4/

25/10/2024

October 2024 guests: It warms my heart to get such lovely comments in our Visitors Book, especially making a dream come true!

"We've had a super week, through all weather! A great location to explore the wider area from or just to chill on the patio with a vino! The only disappointment was not seeing the wild boar! They were definitely hiding from us!! Thank you!"

"At long last! I have been following Lou Messugo from the beginning and coming here was a dream come true. Phoebe and Jeff are amazing people and we will not let 15 years pass before visiting again. Lou Messugo was exactly as we expected from the photos and the location is perfect - so much to see close by. Everything in the gite so tasteful and well thought out. Next time we will use the pool more!"

10/10/2024

09/10/2024

Did you know Roquefort has a cinema, Le Pavillon Bleu? It's celebrating its 10th anniversary right now. It shows a mix of French films, indie films, kids' films, blockbusters in their original language, 3D movies and even live transmissions of operas and ballets from London, Paris and elsewhere.

It's an easy 15 minute walk from us, or a 3 minute drive with plenty of free parking. It's very reasonably priced (4€-9€) and it's almost never full.

You can find the programme online. I'll post the link in the comments. For films in English look for VO (or VOSF) which means it's in its original language, subtitled in French. Just remember that this means if it's a Spanish film (for example) it'll be in Spanish with French subtitles, not English!

An idea for a rainy day?

05/10/2024

Breakfast this morning on the terrace. A croissant aux amandes and a jésuite from one of the 3 boulangeries walking distance from the gite. I love to dunk my pâtisseries in my café au lait. What about you? Are you a dunker???😂

04/10/2024

Today is World Animal Day so I thought I'd show you some of the wild animals we see here in the garden at Lou Messugo. Despite being in a small town we often get wild boar, red squirrels, pheasants, geckos (and other lizards), frogs, grass snakes and foxes (though I've never managed to get a photo of one). Once we saw a deer in the garden and one year we had a pair of mallards who rather took to the pool. We get loads of other birds (including parakeets). I've also seen a couple of badgers in the lane and while we've never seen one in the garden we've seen droppings so we know they come to visit!

We love that we see so much wildlife despite being in a relatively built-up area. Do you have wildlife in your garden?

03/10/2024

Take a look around Lou Messugo gite to get an idea of the layout. Filmed in bright February sunshine, the interior is light and sunny throughout the year. We are open all year round and already taking bookings for 2025.

02/10/2024

Comments from our Visitor's Book