Click
here
to visit the site. Garden, Art & 2010 visits.
Click
here to see the slide show of The Domaine garden.
SOME MORE INTERESTING BOOKS
ON SOUTHERN FRANCE
Escape to Provence by
Maureen Emerson.
Two Vagabonds in Languedoc
by Jan &
Cora Gordon.
The Good Straight Englishwoman by Amanda Davies.
Americans And The Making Of The Riviera
by Michael Nelson.
Queen Victoria and the Discovery of The Riviera by Michael Nelson.
The French Riviera A Literary Guide For Travellers by Ted Jones.
The Olive Farm Series by Carol Drinkwater
l'Auberge by
Julia Stagg
The Parisian's
Return
by
Julia Stagg
Author Maureen Emerson
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. Concerned
that interest in her books and her amazing life might fade with the
passage of time, it was a delight to find that when Black Swan
re-published some of the books in the 1990's they became best
sellers once again. Perfume from Provence was serialized for
BBC Radio 4 and released on a BBC audio cassette tape in the 1990's.
The reader was the well known British actress Stephanie Cole.
Winifred Fortescue was a woman
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.
After 75 years, and for the first time since 2000, Perfume
from Provence has been re-published by Summersdale and is now
available.
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.
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. (Sir
Herbert Beerbohm Tree founded RADA in 1904 and was Grandfather of actor
Oliver Reed).
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.
1930's Riviera
The French Riviera in 1937 - a short
promotional film by Andre de LaVarre
Take a look at
this 1937 promotion film to see how the Riviera looked in Winifred Fortescue's time.
January 2012
A reminder that
Maureen Emerson's wonderful book 'Escape to
Provence', the true story of Winifred Fortescue & Elisabeth
Starr, is still readily available direct from the publisher at
£10.99 plus £2 p&p, UK. This
really is a must for anyone interested in Winifred Fortecue.
Click here to
order a copy now.
A few brand new, (2009), copies of
Perfume from Provence are available at £6.50 inc p&p (UK). Click
here.
The France Show 2012 show has
come and gone and a great day out was had by all! Authors Julia
Stagg and Carol Drinkwater were promoting their books and links
have been added to Julia's website on the Book and Book Sale
pages. Do have a look and find out more about this delightful
writer.
Some
photos of the CDFP steam train service near Entrevaux on a
wet Sunday in Sept 2011.
The Tele Matin programme on
France 2 TV recently broadcast a short film about the garden at
Winifred's original home near Grasse and its present owner,
Valerie de Courcel. Click
here to visit their site and view the film.
I hope you enjoy browsing
the pages, there are now over 100!
Remember to bookmark the site and
come back often.
