Holiday Diaries: South of France

If you follow me on instagram you will be very aware that I have just got back from the most gorgeous week away in Provence. A romantic getaway to wine country with my gorg boyfriend.

My life is very busy at the moment - on top of trying to maintain my healthy diet and training which does require a lot of time and effort, I am also working full time, as well as getting my Personal Training qualifications AND trying to balance a social life. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change any of it. I love my job, my PT qualification is an absolute dream and I can’t believe I am actually doing it, I love my friends and 99% of the time I feel absolutely amazing due to my healthy choices. But it is a lot, and even though I may not feel like it, my body may be under quite a lot of stress. Rest is just as important as getting up and being productive.

So I really took advantage of this opportunity to completely rest and let my body recharge. I made sure I didn’t do any work, part took in minimal physical activity, and just allowed myself to switch off. I gave my mind permission to relax which was honestly amazing for my skin. On top of this, I really treated myself to all the food and drink, and didn’t worry about the extra weight or the negative effects (well tried not to worry, it took a few days for me to get comfortable with this). We put our bodies through so much these days that it is so important to have time where we really just allow ourselves to do whatever we feel like #treatyoself. This is different for everyone, but for me it is allowing myself to indulge in all of the foods I love that I usually would never eat. For example delicious desserts, cheese, bread, countless bottles of Rose and Aperol Spritz. Your girl loves to eat, and there is nothing nicer than doing this in a beautiful setting, with beautiful company, and a good quality bottle of wine. So doing this for 5 days straight was just perfect for me.

Day 1: Arriving at Gorge De Pennafort and having a 10 course meal

Ohhh my goodness, pictures just do not do this place justice. The hotel was absolutely beautiful, and Michelin star so you know the food was just to DIE for. We arrived here mid afternoon, and got ourselves familiar with the place and our surroundings, then pretty much got ready for drinks straight away. We sat on the hotel bar terrace with a bottle of Rose that was probably one of the yummiest I’ve ever tasted and enjoyed a game of cards (we are so cool).

When our table was ready at the restaurant, we were taken upstairs to the most gorgeous restaurant overlooking the Gorge, and some clay red coloured cliffs in amongst a sea of green forest. Just beautiful. Everything on the menu looked so so good, and we wanted everything, so decided to go for the 10 course menu (and another bottle of rose).

In hindsight, 10 courses may have been a bit ambitious. But we ate every single thing. This included 4 starters, 2 main courses, some in between courses and 3 desserts. It was insane. The thing we struggled most with was the time between the courses, we sat down at 7.30pm and didn’t leave until about 12.30am. Anyone that knows me knows this is a struggle, I am usually fast asleep by 9.30pm. So by our first main course, our eyes were already closing lol. But we powered through and this will now go down as one of the best meals I have ever had and a highlight of my trip.

Day 2: exploring Callas, Whispering Angel, dinner x2 at the hotel and an intense game of Snap

This morning consisted of lounging by the pool, George taking some pictures of me for the gram, and basically just doing a whole lot of nothing. We then went for lunch in the village near by called Callas. And I ate PIZZA (1 of 2 on this trip yolo). It was actually the yummiest pizza I have ever had and 100% would go back for it. The crust was paper thin, and it just tasted so fresh.

On our way back from lunch we stopped off at Chateau D’Esclans - the vineyard where the infamous Whispering Angel is made (or Screaming Bitch as my mum and her friends call it). It was so beautiful, and we ended up tasting all of the rose’s they made there.

Drinks on the bar terrace was so lovely on the first night that we went back again, this time I had some Aperol’s, they were delicious. We also took part in a game of snap. I have not played this in years and let me tell you its stressful, my reflexes were also not so good after I was 2 Aperol’s down, which didn’t help my game stress levels. Safe to say I lost at snap.

We went back for dinner at the hotel on this eve, and since we were still a little scarred from the night before, we only ordered 1 course (they still ended up bringing us about 6). It was just so amazing. If I could go back and re-live these dinners, I would.

Day 3: Mini golf and St Tropez

There is a very cute outdoor mini golf place in St Maxime, I would highly recommend paying this a visit if you are in South of France. We went in the day and had the whole course to ourselves!

Seeing as St Maxime is close to St Tropez, we thought we would drive there and have a little explore. We got ice creams and sat by the water with them, people watching all of the glamorous beings that reside in St Tropez. It was lovely but me and George both agreed that Provence is much more our scene. Up in the hills, hidden away, so quiet, not touristy and just untouched beauty. Plus, its always safe to be close to the source (a.k.a all of the vineyards with all of the wine).

Day 4: Off to Seillans to see my grandparents and dinner at Deux Rocs

After a lovely breakfast of pastries and fruit, we checked out of Gorge de Pennafort and headed to little tiny Seillans, another cute village, to stay in a hotel called the Deux Rocs for two nights. We came here because its where my grandparents live, and I love to see them every chance I can get. I have been going to Seillans ever since I was about seven years old and it really holds a special place in my heart.

We had booked dinner at the Deux Rocs for this evening, and ohhh my goodness was it amazing. It has to be my favourite restaurant I think. Their chocolate fondant is just the yummiest thing I have ever eaten in my life. No exaggeration. I had accidentally mildly concussed George by dropping him on a step in the swimming pool earlier that day and he hit the back of his head :( so poor him couldn’t really enjoy the food so much due to feeling slightly ill from the head injury (I take no responsibility though he’s like 85 kilos and jumped on me in the shallow end, what did he expect) - and luckily he is fine. He later told me that he was milking it a little bit because he wanted to go back to the hotel room early the cheeky man.

Day 5: Tennis and Seillans - my happy place

The last full day :( We played tennis with my granddad in the morning, and then got some BBQ food to cook my grandparents a BBQ by the pool for lunch. It was so lovely. The BBQ caught fire slightly at one point but it was fine - all part of the fun. I then fell asleep by the pool and got a bit sunburnt. Did you even go on holiday if you didn’t get slightly sunburnt tbh.

As it was our last evening, we got a bit dressed up and went for a drink at one of the restaurants in the village. But after all of our fancy dinners, we didn’t really feel like another - so we got takeaway pizzas from a little tiny pizza place, and sat eating them over looking a gorgeous view of the world below us (the village is on a hill). We ran into a bit of trouble seeing as our pizzas were not cut, so it was a bit messy lol. George gave up trying to tear the pizza and ended up eating his like a makeshift calzone hehe.

And there is the summary of our holiday. Literally food, food and more food. I know I said I allowed myself to eat anything. But I didn’t go anywhere near anything that wan not good quality. Everything from the restaurants was home made, and when we bought food for the BBQ it was from the butchers, and all of the bread is freshly made the same day at the boulangerie. I stuck to my no. 1 life rule of nothing out of a packet. And yes I put on a bit of weight, but it was mostly water weight from all the carbs, and my body will snap back so fast. I didn’t feel groggy, my skin was glowing more than ever, and I wasn’t bloated the whole trip - just full a lot of the time lol. I cannot stress enough how important quality food is, and its so easy to enjoy great quality food when you are away!

I’m sorry this post is so long I feel like I am rambling away. But I really want to document special experiences like this. Please give this a like if you enjoyed reading and I would love for you to subscribe to my blog! Any support I can get means the world to me <3 xxx