Special Places to Stay - More than a bed for the night

Everything in this remarkably converted 14th-century barn – once attached to the priory – is stylish and caring. Lavender-infused air, simple iron furniture, modern art, a fine use of colour, an inner terrace where lemons grow – it has a sense of peace and space. Arched doorways with new doors and ancient locks lead to big, light bedrooms with tiled floors and colourwashed walls. Bathrooms are sophisticated in rust-red and white. You have a sunny, lofty, white-beamed living room with cream drapes, canvas directors' chairs and big sofas in front of an even bigger fire. The kitchen is in the corner: terracotta-painted units, old country furniture, stripped floor. Rooms gather round a central terrace filled with geraniums, and there's fruit in the orchards. Josiane, a mine of information and an absolute dear, lives in the château next door where the big shared pool magically hides in a walled garden (table tennis, too). Simiane la Rotonde on the hill, once the regional capital of lavender, is a gem, with a 16th-century market place and a panorama of lavender fields.