L'Aube Safran

Wonderfully attractive Provence bed & breakfast.
The story of Francois and Marie Pillet makes wonderful reading. Some years ago they followed their dream and left the commotion of Paris for the peace and beauty of Provence, with an initial idea of setting up a vineyard. Though this dream eventually fell through, they were too much in love with the countryside of Vaucluse to ever return to the big city. So they decided to have a go at setting up a bed and breakfast instead.
Now, Francois is an architect by profession and Marie a decorator, both people with great artistic sensibilities, so no ordinary B & B would suffice. There had to be a fresh twist, as it were, so they also decided to reintroduce saffron, an intense and beautiful spice, back to these lands.
They bought a place in Barroux, a beautiful and quiet village renowned for the Monastery of St Madeleine and after much work and attention to detail the L’Aube Safran was born, an elegant five-room bed and breakfast, surrounded by majestic pines and fruit trees, the cultivation of saffron and exquisite scenery of the Dentelles.
Marie was entrusted with decoration and given her natural talent, the result is spectacular. Rooms are modern, decorated in earthy pastel colours and superbly comfortable whilst the fantastic swimming pool takes full advantage of the spectacular scenery. It’s no surprise therefore that this lovely bed and breakfast has won a number of awards. Certainly, you might have even seen it on the cover of decorative magazines as the L’Aube Safran is very much in demand for its brand of beauty, particularly so as Francois and Marie are also such affable and urbane hosts.
And now, here’s the final word on the saffron. It takes over 200,000 flowers, all hand-plucked by the couple and friends, during the autumn harvest, to make up just one kilogram of the spice. So despite the paradisiacal nature of this part of the world, Francois and Marie work very hard at making it such a special place.