The best moments of our week in Provence weren’t on the schedule. They were the slow afternoons by the pool and long conversations around the dinner table.

We ate out a few times in Provence, but nothing matched the dinners our chef Nana cooked at the villa, served outdoors from daylight until dark.

A week of outdoor meals and morning Pilates by the pool in the French countryside, and one instructor cue, ‘reach to the sky’, that came home with us.

Lunch on the square in Cucuron, a close second in Roussillon, and where to find linen and white eyelet clothing at the Aix-en-Provence markets.

We shopped the market in Goult with local chef Monique, then sat down to a multi-course dinner at her home. It changed how we think about cooking.