Click
here
to visit the site. Garden, Art & 2008 open days.
Click
here to see the slide show of The Domaine garden.
OTHER INTERESTING BOOKS
Escape to Provence by
Maureen Emerson.
Available now.
Two Vagabonds in Languedoc by Jan &
Cora Gordon.
Available now.
The Good Straight Englishwoman by Amanda Davies.
Available now.
and a very warm welcome!
Thank you for
visiting the site which has developed from a love of Lady Winifred Fortescue's books, France, and in particular, Provence and the Alpes-Maritimes.
At the height of their popularity, in the 1930's - 40's, her books
sold many thousands of copies making Winifred Fortescue a best
selling author and bringing overnight fame. I was a little concerned
that interest in her work and amazing life might fade with the march
of time so it was very pleasing to find that when Black Swan
re-published some of the books in the 1990's they became best
sellers once again. I firmly believe Winifred Fortescue was a woman
well ahead of her time who, faced with various forms of adversity,
would turn her hand to anything, make a go of it and generally
succeed - usually but not always with a touch of laughter. I hope
the web site will help to keep her work alive and allow you to enjoy
some of the locations and personalities that Winifred new and, in
addition, introduce new generations to the delights of Perfume
from Provence.
The Provence
that Winifred & John Fortescue moved to in the 1930's
has changed almost beyond recognition. Her view down the mountain from
'Sunset House' now reveals a golf course resort, out of town shopping
centre and many developments and roads although Opio village is largely
unchanged. Grasse & Cannes have grown considerably and Nice, of
course, is a very busy cosmopolitan city and resort. That said, many of the
buildings in the books remain including the 'Domaine' and 'Sunset House',
both in private ownership. Please browse through the pages, there are currently over
100. More photographs of locations that feature in her books will be
added from time to time.
Comments, contributions,
photographs, information & suggestions are welcomed. Please do use the
visitors book or send an
email via the email link. The
site is not commercial but second hand copies of books are sometimes
available. Any income from the sale of
spare books is put towards the cost of running expenses such
as web hosting etc.
Winifred Fortescue
was born in a Suffolk
rectory on 7th February 1888, the third child of a country rector and connected,
on her mother's side, to the Fighting Battyes of India. When she was seventeen - in order to ease the
strain on family finances - she decided to try to earn her own living and went
on the stage, performing in Sir Herbert Tree's company, and later starring in
Jerome K. Jerome's The Passing of the Third Floor Back. In 1914 she married John Fortescue, the
King's Librarian and Archivist and famous historian of the British Army. The
marriage, in spite of a huge disparity of age between them, (some 28yrs),was a uniquely happy
one, and although Winifred Fortescue gave up her career on the stage, she later
began a successful interior decorating and dress designing business until
illness forced her to close her business down. It was at that point that she
began writing, for Punch, the DailyChronicle, the
Evening
News, finally inaugurating and editing a Woman's Page for the Morning
Post.
In the early 1930's John and Winifred Fortescue, now Sir John and Lady Fortescue, moved to Provence and there she
wrote her famous and best selling book Perfume
from Provence, and the sequel Sunset
House. Her autobiography, There's
Rosemary, There's Rue, was first published in 1939. Trampled
Lilies continues her story including her escape from France and the
Nazi's during WW II. Her three further books are Mountain Madness,
Beauty for Ashesand Laughter
in Provence. Thesecover the period back in England until WWII
ended, memories of holidays in the Alps and the the return to her home in
France to resume life in the sunshine after the war.
Winifred Fortescue died in Opio,
Provence, in April 1951.
A fuller biography can be found on the Lady
Fortescue page.
In Winfred's last book 'Laughter in Provence' she
recounts a tale of a niece and her husband arriving for a visit to Opio
in a superb Healey Silverstone sports car which aroused great
interest. The car is still in use and the present owner recently
traced a son of Winifred's niece and the actual car
turned up on his doorstep whilst visiting the UK from South Africa! He has kindly supplied photo's
and there is a memoir from Winifred's companion secretary at the
time who is featured in the story. Click
here.
Escape to Provence by Maureen Emerson was
officially launched on Saturday 14th June 2008 at the English Book
Centre, Valbonne, France, courtesy of the proprietor Jill Shepperd
who had provided an excellent backdrop for the event. Maureen gave a
short talk of about 15 minutes covering firstly the writing of the
book and then a brief description of the contents. Speaking
perfectly, despite claiming she had never done it before, the
audience in the packed bookshop were enthralled. Afterwards she
happily chatted with the visitors outside and signed numerous
copies. Maureen has to be congratulated on a splendid publication.
The depth of her research and the ends to which she has gone, (and
places), to obtain it is quite staggering. Congratulations Maureen,
a well deserved success. Click here
to see some photo's of the event.
Howard Grattan has kindly provided two new dust
jackets from editions of Perfume from Provence and Sunset House that
were published by Cedric Chivers of Bath in 1974. Click
here to go direct to the book page for the
thumbnail pictures which have links to their respective pages. These editions appear
to have been published in conjunction with the Library Association.
-
Howard has supplied two more un-seen covers from a Japanese edition
of Sunset House and a Swedish edition of Perfume from
Provence.
Escape to Provence by Maureen Emerson - Update.
This
exciting new publication, the culmination of approximately 7 years
work, is now being printed. The book will be available
for order direct from the publisher, Chapter & Verse, at £9.99 (post free the U.K.) in
July 2008. An order form will be available to download and print in due
course.
May 2008
The CDP narrow gauge railway,
part of which used to run through The Domaine olive groves, will be
operating its steam hauled service again in 2008. It will operate
on Sunday only between Puget-Theniers and Annot until from 11th May
until the 19th October.
You can connect with the steam train by using the ordinary service
from Nice CDP station. For further information click
here.
'Race for Life 2008' - Update. Fiona &
Jane completed the 5k run at Stratford upon Avon Race Course on
Sunday 18th May in great times. It was a fresh and windy morning but
fortunately dry. So far they have raised nearly £700 in sponsorship
and, as their employer operates a £1 for £1 scheme, this will bring
the total to £1400! A fantastic effort and a huge thank you for your
support. There were 2000 women runners and the day will have raised
about £1 million in total for this worthy cause. Click
here to see
some pictures.
Escape to Provence by Maureen Emerson.
The story of the fascinating lives of Winifred Fortescue & Elisabeth
Starr. The book will be launched at a
signing by the author, in France, on Saturday 14th June 2008. It should be available, to order, in
the UK in July 2008. You can see the finished cover
design, read the notes and get full details of the launch by clicking on the picture below.
A page of photographs taken in and around Opio
village submitted by P. Martin, a visitor to the site, has now been
added. Click here to view them.
April 2008
Mac Users - if you are viewing the site on an Apple Mac
or
using the Safari browser on a PC please note that there are a few strange
anomalies! Certain text appears misplaced or may even be missing where
Word Art was used to create it. The site is constructed on a PC but I
will try and synchronize it for Mac users in due course.
1908 First Night Programme from Pinkie and the
Fairies at His Majesty's Theatre added. Winifred the actress
appeared in this production. Click here.
Another early aerial photo of Opio & Chateauneuf has
come into my collection and is now available to view. Click
here.
My wife, Fiona, will be
running in the Cancer Research UK 'Race for Life 2008' at
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire on May
18th for the 5th year running. She
is joined this year by a friend and colleague, Jane Hudson-Evans, who
is taking part for the first time. If you would like to support them
you will be very welcome, just double click on the donate
button below. Than you very much indeed for your support.
March 2008
Better quality scans of the press reviews and pictures
from Winifred's days as an actress. (You can now read them!). Click
here.
Better quality scans of the remaining 'Cintra'
documents have now been added to the appropriate page, you can also
enlarge them and view in Adobe.pdf format. Click
here.
New photographs of the Opio graves taken in February
2008, by regular visitor Rhona Wells, have been added to the site.
Lady Fortescue's original garden at The Domaine, near
Grasse, (now Villa Fort France), will be open to the public a number
of times in 2008. If you are in the area it is an opportunity not to
be missed. For times and dates click here.
The garden has recently been awarded the label 'Jardin
Remarquable'. To read more about this, in French, click on the
logo below. I will add a translation shortly.
I apologise for the delay in
updates to the site during early 2008, this has been brought about by
health problems. However, I have not been idle! A number of the sites
original photo's have been replaced with better quality images,
continuing the programme started last year. If you look carefully you
will see there is now a small photo of 'L.O.' or Little Orchard, the
cottage occupied by Winifred & John in Hertfordshire after leaving
London but before moving to France. There are some new pages planned
for 2008, hopefully some spare books for sale and the possibility of a
book of photographs, taken from the originals used on the web site.
Winter is almost over in the
south and the carnival season is in full swing in Nice & Menton. The
Mimosa is in bloom and the sun is getting warmer each day,
although you can still pop up to the Alpes-Maritime and ski at places
like Auron, having
enjoyed the morning down at the sea! I hope to be enjoying the sea
half very soon!
February 2008
Escape to Provence by Maureen Emerson. This
exciting new publication, the culmination of approximately 7 years
work by Maureen, is now entering its final stages with the designers,
printers and indexers. The book should be available in
Summer of
this year and Jill
Shepperd of the
English
Book Centre in Valbonne has kindly arranged
a book signing (with a short introductory talk) for Saturday, 14 June
2008. If you find yourself in the area at that time
you will be very welcome to attend. I hope to be able to add an order
form to the website in due course to enable visitors to obtain a copy. More information when available.
January 2008
In December 2007 a new book titled The Good Straight Englishwoman,
written by Amanda Davies was published. In the 1920s and 30s
Clare Hedley-Peek
ran the highly successful ‘Sunshine Clinic’ for children with bone
disease – she and her partner Winifred Morris were part of the ex-pat
community which included Lady Fortescue and Elisabeth Starr living on
the Opio hillside renamed by the locals as ‘La Colline des Anglaises’.
Click here for more information.
I hope you enjoy browsing
the pages, there are now over 100! Remember to bookmark the site and
come back often.
