One Summer in Provence, in conversation with Carol Drinkwater

Carol Drinkwater, One Summer in Provence
(image provided by Carol Drinkwater)

I am delighted to welcome actress and writer Carol Drinkwater to the blog today. I’ve long been a fan of her writing, both her fiction books and her Olive Farm memoirs, so it is with great excitement that I can help her share her latest release, ONE SUMMER IN PROVENCE. This book is set on a vineyard in the majestic Esterel region of the south of France and Carol was gracious enough to answer some questions about the characters, their vineyard and what we can expect from this book. 

A bit about Carol:

Carol Drinkwater is a multi-award winning actress and writer, possibly best known for her portrayal of Helen Herriot in the BBC’s original television series, All Creatures Great and Small.

Carol is the author of twenty-four books, both fiction and non-fiction. She has achieved bestselling status - over a million copies sold worldwide - with her much-loved quartet of memoirs set on her Olive Farm in the south of France, The Olive Farm series. 

Carol's fascination with the olive tree extended to a seventeen-month solo Mediterranean journey in search of the tree's mythical secrets. The resulting, bestselling travel books, The Olive Route and The Olive Tree, were adapted into a five-part documentary film series, which has been screened all over the world.

Carol’s novels include THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER, THE LOST GIRL which was one of LoveReading’s Books of the Year 2017.  THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF published in May 2019. AN ACT OF LOVE published early 2021.

In 2022/23, Channel 5 in the UK screened a six-part series titled CAROL DRINKWATER’S SECRET PROVENCE. It is still being screened worldwide, garnering millions of viewers internationally.

Carol’s latest novel, ONE SUMMER IN PROVENCE, was published by Corvus Atlantic on 3rd July 2025.

 

One Summer in Provence by Carol Drinkwater

Depending on the time of day, may I suggest you pour yourselves a coffee or a glass of wine, then settle down in a comfy spot to enjoy a taster of summer, in a vineyard, in Provence. 

In your latest novel, One Summer in Provence, Les Roches du Soleil is the unexpected vineyard home to ex-London couple, Dominic and Celia. Can you tell us a bit more about them and how they came to be living in the south of France, making wine?

Celia spent her childhood and youth in a small town near Bristol. She left for London when she was twenty to study to become an actress at drama school. Some years later, she met Dominic when they were both working on a television play written by Dominic. They married soon after and built successful careers in the worlds of television and theatre. They lived in Primrose Hill. Had it not been for an unexpected setback in their fortunes, they would probably never have considered the move to France. Certainly, Dominic would not have uprooted. But one of Life’s twists and unforeseen changes of direction pushed them to Provence. Celia’s parents were the proprietors of a vineyard in the south of France. It was her father’s dream to own his own patch of French wine-growing territory. He was an early ex-pat, (before Peter Mayle and the wave of foreigners who headed to Provence!) After Celia’s parents had both died, she inherited the estate. The inheritance, due to the couple’s troubles in London, (which we only learn about later in the story) proved to be timely.

From just the first few chapters, I easily slipped into life on the vineyard and certainly wanted to read more about how Celia’s son turning up was going to play out. 

I am delighted to read, Jacqui, that the narrative drive of the story gripped you early on. That is so important. Thank you. Yes, the arrival of the man who claims to be Celia’s son, along with his unlikely travelling companion, does set the story rolling in new and unexpected directions.

The vineyard is in the Esterel area, with its particular red, rocky landscape. For those of us not lucky enough to be there, can you describe what is so special about this coastline for us?

As you say the earth, which is ancient volcanic land, is dark rusty-red in colour.  Gorgeous, rich. It’s really very striking. And it does make for unusual wine-growing. Like all this Med coast area, as you move inland it very quickly becomes dramatic because it is set in the foothills of the Lower Alps.

Soil is important for vine growing, does the Esterel soil make a good wine? If so, I hope you had a chilled bottle to hand to celebrate One Summer in Provence’s publication day.

This area is not one of France’s more famous and highly-esteemed regions for growing wines. However, that is slowly changing. There are some very fine wines being produced in the Var area (where this novel is set) and they are not only the famous rosés. Excellent dark ruby reds too and light crisp whites.

I find that in a well-researched novel, the setting/location becomes one of the characters, how important do you think it is to an engaging read?

Location, for me as a writer, is always an essential element. We are impacted by our surroundings. I am deeply rooted in nature and need to put my writing fingers in the soil, as it were. I was partially brought up on a farm in Ireland and so the rituals of crop production, feeding, nurturing, are in my DNA, I think. I agree with you that location can be a character in a novel. Location with some dramatic weather changes have quite an important role to play in this story.

Although vineyard life was never their plan, it seemed that there was something about life on the land and the changing seasons that spoke to Dominic and Celia. Was this a bit of south of France magic and can you relate?

Never underestimate the magic and lure of this part of the world! PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur) offers myriad different faces. It can be lush and poetically beautiful; it can be stark and rugged especially further inland; it can be buzzing with life and elegance for the tourist trade. It is fecund, almost everything grows here and nature’s abundance is very attractive, almost addictive. If I were Dominic or Celia and I had inherited this lovely old vineyard, I would have stayed on too!

Carol Drinkwater on her olive farm
(image provided by Carol Drinkwater)

As you are as at home on the land in the south of France as Celia and Dominic, what is your favourite season on your olive farm?

Every season has its secrets and its gifts. These days, as the heat becomes more intense, I find that summer can be too hot for me, but there is never a day when I wish I was living in another country. France, the Côte d’Azur, is one of the loveliest places on earth. I consider myself immensely fortunate.

Can you describe a typical summers day for Celia and Dominic, to give us all a taste of life at Les Roches du Soleil?

Well, they are landowners and land workers so their days would include being out in the vineyards. Sometimes working long hours. Late summer - September - is grape harvesting season, which is a time of group activity - extra causal labour is employed to pick - and important decisions about when to pick the fruit clusters are made. There is a science to that. Communal lunches are enjoyed out in the fields, at the edge of the vineyards. I know from our own olive harvests, when we have many friends to stay to help us bring in the olives and get them to the mill for pressing, how engaged everyone becomes. It’s very exciting. Friends, or in Celia and Dom’s case, hired hands, all become invested in the outcome. The desire for the finest produce, fruits harvested with love and care. 

These are traditions that go back to the Middle East thousands of years ago.

You can’t write about France and not include delicious food and wine. Are there any of your favourite French summer dishes that make an appearance in the book?

When Celia and Dominic discuss the menu for the grand weekend party, I was salivating as I made the choices for that section of the novel. Lamb cooked over a fire outside seasoned with a generous sprinkling of freshly-grown Provençal herbs. Home-grown veggies, wines to accompany each step of the occasion, each dish. I had great fun with this part of the storytelling. Someone said to me that they gained weight just reading it!

As well as the vineyard, will we get to visit any other Provençal gems alongside Celia and Dominic?

Aside from a couple of scenes set in Cannes - I don’t want to say too much here! - the novel is predominantly centred at their vineyard.

Henri, Celia and Dominic’s gardener with his chickens, accordion and vegetable garden was one of the characters who put a smile on my face. Was there one character in the book whose story shouted louder than the others to be told?

Each character is my best friend while I am writing about them and creating them. I love Henri because he is such a gracious old man, carrying his personal sorrows with dignity and because he loves and tends bees!

What do you hope your readers will remember most at the end of the novel?

Love and family are where you find and welcome them. 

Thank you, Carol, for taking the time to answer my questions. I was hooked from the first few chapters and will be sharing my review soon. 

The novel has many twists and turns, plenty of mystery and readers are saying it is a page-turner. I hope it sweeps you away to a magical setting even if events take several unexpected turns. Please enjoy it, I loved writing this novel. It is intended as a celebration of Provence.

One Summer in Provence by Carol Drinkwater

ONE SUMMER IN PROVENCE is available to buy in all good bookshops. Here are some links to Amazon for the kindle and paperback editions.

Amazon kindle 

Amazon paperback 

French Village Diaries is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk at no extra cost to you.

Carol has just completed the first leg of her book tour. She will be in both UK and Northern Ireland from September onwards. The dates and events will soon be up on her website, click here for more details. 

Book review Saving Sophia by Caro Feely

Saving Sophia by Caro Feely

Saving Sophia by Caro Feely

Wow, what a read! This is a beautifully written memoir about an incredibly difficult time for Caro and husband Sean, that will stay with me for a while. This international, career-focussed couple decided in their thirties that parenthood was something they wanted, despite it not having been the focus of their five-year plan. Their life was in Dublin, their families in South Africa and Canada, but with a network of good friends with young children, Caro had support during her pregnancy. 

 

Following her journey from no bump to maternity leave, and then their arrival at the hospital, brought back so many vivid memories of my pregnancy, Ed’s birth and those early days of breastfeeding and motherhood. We had our dramas and tears, but nothing to compare to the devastating news Caro and Sean received that saw their baby daughter being whisked off to the special care baby unit with her future uncertain. 

 

Caro bravely shares this emotional and heart stopping time openly and honestly. The wait between diagnosis and operation, the long road towards recovery, even when reading it, time seemed to slow down, but I couldn’t put this book down. With so much to take in it must have terrifying – was there anything that could be done, would it be successful, what would her outcome be? So many questions, so much at stake and so much trust that had to be given to the incredible medical team they found themselves surrounded by. Everything compounded by pregnancy hormones. I was heartbroken for them, at the trauma and pain they had to go through at what should have been such a happy time for the family.

Saving Sophia by Caro Feely

 

Having ‘met’ the Feely family through reading Caro’s previous memoirs about their life on an organic vineyard in France, it is no surprise that a lot of this book is dedicated to their learning curve in this area. Caro questions her old lifestyle decisions, diet, and anything else she can think of to understand what could have caused baby Sophia’s problems. She shares her reasons for ditching the ready meals and going organic, backed up by her now vast knowledge in this field. She also shares her struggles with breastfeeding, giving a real account of how testing and painful something so natural can be.

It was certainly more complicated for her when Sophia was in intensive care, but the benefits to both mother and baby soon become obvious, even in these difficult and unusual circumstances.

 

Any parent will feel the tug of emotions as they read this book. I also came away with a stronger appreciation for the miracle that is life and a greater understanding of how precious it is and how every day must be treasured and lived to the full. 

Thank you, Caro for sharing yours and Sophia’s incredible story.

 

You can read my reviews of Caro’s previous memoirs here:

Grape Expectations

Saving Our Skins

Vineyard Confessions (previously known as Glass Half Full)

Cultivating Change 

My France et Moi interview

Amazon purchase links for Caro’s memoirs can be found here:

Grape Expectations

Saving Our Skins

Vineyard Confessions 

Cultivating Change

Saving Sophia 

French Village Diaries is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk at no extra cost to you.

Book review Cultivating Change by Caro Feely

Cultivating Change by Caro Feely

Cultivating Change by Caro Feely

This is the fourth memoir from Caro Feely set on her family’s organic vineyard near Bordeaux and once again, she has written a book that really hit home as I read it and spoke to me on a level not all memoirs do. 

Cultivating Change is so much more than an update on their family and wine-making journey, it is a punchy, inspiring read that highlights the climate change problem viewed from organic farmers on the front-line. Recent summers saw not only severe hailstorms hitting the vineyards around Bordeaux (something that is becoming more common), but the area has also been victim to huge forest fires that devastated acres of woodland as they burned for weeks. 

Cultivating Change by Caro Feely

 

As well as sharing their interesting and inspiring life in France, Caro takes us along with her as she attends conferences to speak about climate change issues. It is an honest account of the good times as well as their stresses and personal struggles. I learned a lot from this book, about the issues they are facing on a daily basis, and also ideas on how to make more changes to our life. Thermals rather than too much heating, and bikes over cars have been the norm for us for many years, but I realise there is more we can do. It was good to know that there are others out that who share my fears about the gravity of the situation we have created in the world.

 

I hope that as well as her regular readers enjoying a catch-up on life at the vineyard, the climate change element in this book will give it the wider audience it deserves.

You can read my reviews of Caro’s previous memoirs here:

Grape Expectations

Saving Our Skins

Vineyard Confessions (previously known as Glass Half Full)

My France et Moi interview

Amazon purchase links for Caro’s memoirs can be found here:

Grape Expectations

Saving Our Skins

Vineyard Confessions 

Cultivating Change

Saving Sophia  

Diary of Covid-19 confinement, day twenty-nine

Macron addresses the nation

Day twenty-nine

President Macron’s third address

Last night we gathered as a family to listen to President Macron’s third public address in just over four weeks. It came on the day that the number of deaths in France reached almost 15,000 people, and with 32,000 currently being treated in intensive care.

He began by thanking France. Those who work in the health sector, those who are working in other essential roles, those who are volunteering, those who are keeping the country going and those who are doing their bit by staying at home. He stressed he can offer only hope for the coming weeks as nothing has yet been won in the battle with Covid-19, but research, planning and making decisions are being made a priority.

Our period of confinement has been extended once more, for another four weeks until 11^th May, but he is hopeful by then we can enter a new era where France will begin to open, bit by bit, beginning with schools and nurseries. He has given no date for the opening of bars, restaurants etc and there will be no large social events or gatherings until at least the middle of July. The most vulnerable were advised to remain at home, for their own safety, after 11^th May.

The next two weeks will be crucial for the government to plan for life after confinement, in terms of financial aid packages, virus testing and vaccination research and treatments, but he was honest when he said there are no answers to the big question of what lies ahead. He urged France to remain united and come out stronger and more united than we were before.

For me, it was a powerful message that conveyed the severity of the situation as well as offering some hope for a future, without making promises that would be hard to fulfil. 

Looking back to the first announcement of a two-week period of confinement, I am not sure what I was expecting, but as the weeks have gone by and the world has changed, visualising things going back to how they were is impossible. I certainly hadn’t planned to blog every day for over a month when I began this daily update, but now I am into a rhythm, I’m going to attempt to keep it going for as long as I can. Even now, as weekdays roll into weekends and public holidays pass unnoticed, I can’t remember what I did and when I did it. I’ve already found myself reading back on those first few weeks and it’s interesting to see how life flows between days when things felt good, and days that didn’t. This has become my record to look back on as proof it happened and to see how I was feeling and what I filled my days doing. Your kind words of thanks and encouragement, here on the blog and on Facebook and Twitter are also great motivators to keep writing. Thank you.

#KTTinyTourer Bordeaux to Toulouse April 2019

April holiday memory

On 14^th April last year we set off from Bordeaux to cycle to Toulouse, our first Brompton touring adventure. We left the hotel in air just moist enough to dampen our spirits, but not wet enough to call rain. Bordeaux wasn’t looking her best that Sunday morning; jaded after a night of partying and in a bit of a state with broken glass on the cycle paths and underpasses stinking of piss. The perched carrolet fishing huts in various states of disrepair were soon replaced with smart villas, partially hidden behind impressive gates, giving a clean and tidy contrast to the muddy banks of the Gironde river. Sunday morning Bordeaux cyclists were as miserable as Bordeaux herself, never acknowledging our bonjours and giving the impression that fast-paced, Lycra racers are too good for small-wheeled tourers. 

Bordeaux vineyards 14th April 2019

Once we reached the old railway line that is now the Roger Lapépé voie verte, everyone was much friendlier, especially the café that wasn’t quite open, but served us coffees with homemade biscuits anyway. We know from experience that many old railway cycle routes are hidden in cuttings with nothing to see except the straight path ahead, this one was refreshingly different. With many open stretches where we cycled between vineyards, with views of chateaux and church spires in the distance, I was sad to leave it behind when we reached the end of the line in Sauveterre, but more than happy to refuel on hot chocolate when we struck gold, an open café in rural France on a Sunday afternoon.

Lockdown Library

My reading selection today is the memoir series from Caro Feely, about buying and running an organic vineyard in Saussignac, not far from Bordeaux.

Grape Expectations

Saving Our Skins
Glass Half Full

Lazy Sunday in France, breakfast in the vineyards

An early morning bike ride

Welcome to another Lazy Sunday in France, although if I’m honest all our days feel lazy days at the moment, thanks to the current heatwave and I’m not complaining one bit.

To beat the worst of the heat we are up at 7.00am, which I guess isn’t that lazy (unless you compare us to our French neighbours who are in their 70’s and up by 5.30am, summer and winter) and off on our bikes by 8.00am. We return for a dip in the pool, a morning coffee and tackle the chores before lunch, this could be mowing, roasting the glut of courgettes or housework. Lunch of a salad made with garden produce and eaten in the shade, is followed by another skin-cooling dip in the pool and then I retire to a darkened room. 

We usually love the fact that our house faces south and that each room has a huge window, that we fling open most mornings to let in the light and air, however in a heatwave, the shutters are kept partially closed, and the dark rooms have a cooler, cave-like feel to them. We have also moved downstairs into the guest bedroom, which is around 5º cooler than our upstairs room in the eaves. 

My siesta begins with a chapter or two from the latest book on my kindle, before my eyelids feel heavy and I succumb to real sleep. There are no rules for sleep in a heatwave, but I am usually to be found awake again before 17h, just in time to check the thermometer to see how hot it has been and put some thought into what is for dinner. 

Aperos in the shade (we are avoiding the sun at the moment), a late meal on the terrace, a watering and picking session in the potager and another dip in the pool before bed, and sleep comes easily, despite the heat and my afternoon nap. This is a routine I could get very used to.

The Charente vineyards

This morning our bike ride was rather special. Having done two morning rides of 20kms on Friday and Saturday, increasing it to 30kms this morning seemed like a good idea, especially when Adrian promised me a breakfast picnic in the vineyards. 

Wind turbines and vineyards

The roads were quiet as we made our way up to the ridge above St Fraigne, just over the Charente border, where vineyards and wind turbines command the best of the views. 

A breakfast picnic in the vineyards

We packed the croissants I bought at the village boulangerie, a flask of coffee, two china cups, a square of dark chocolate each and something to sit on, and had a perfect breakfast, just the two of us. It was a memorable moment and something I hope we will repeat again before the summer is over.

If you are a writer, blogger or run an independent business in France and have something you think would be ideal to share in a future Lazy Sunday in France post, please do get in touch.

Book review of The Vineyard in Alsace

The Vineyard in Alsace by Julie Stock

My review today is for the new release from Julie Stock, The Vineyard in Alsace.

Didier and Fran have history; they loved, then lost each other when their lives moved on after university, hers to London where she wanted him to join her, his to his family’s vineyard in Alsace.

Following the break up of her relationship in London, Fran returns to France and finds a job working at the Domaine des Montagnes, Didier’s vineyard. Didier obviously didn’t open up to her when they were dating, as she was pretty clueless about his family and their wine business, but with nowhere else to go she agrees to stay.

Thankfully Didier has changed. He is honest, caring, passionate and although more reliable than exciting, I liked him. Fran is sensitive, has had a lucky escape from a controlling relationship, but is uncertain about what she wants from her future. Decisions need to be made and for Fran that could be difficult, especially with a couple of nasty ex’s who seem intent on causing trouble.

Didier and Fran take turns narrating their story, which means we get to know what they are thinking and feeling, as well as what they are saying to each other, however there were times I found myself having to backtrack as I’d become confused as to who was narrating.

This is a light and easy, feel good read, that takes you to the heart of an Alsace vineyard at harvest time, although I think Domaine d’Amour would have been a better name for the vineyard. There seemed to be something in the water (or wine maybe) that once through the archway and into the courtyard, a little bit of love-magic seemed to be at work for everyone. This is the first of a series of books set at the vineyard and I’m looking forward to reading more.

The Vineyard in Alsace is available in ebook and paperback format, links to Amazon below.

You can follow Julie on her website here, and on Facebook, Twitter  and Goodreads and you can read my recent France et Moi interview with her here.

Silent Sunday

Cognac and Ferrari's is a good way to sum up our day out yesterday, but we weren't drinking or driving. We were cycling the back roads in between the Cognac vineyards at the same time a huge number of Ferrari's and other super sports cars were touring the more main roads. They were members of a rally cruising the area as part of a big weekend fund raising event Sport et Collection 500 Ferrari Contre le Cancer. Our paths crossed many times on the route and we had a great view of them from our beer stop in the market town of Rouillac. It was great to back on the bikes again cycling a well signed and pituresque route of just over 30kms. We had fun and I'm sure the Ferrari drivers did too.

Cognac vineyards in June

Ferrari Rally

The red ones were my favourite

Arty bike rack in Rouillac

The choice of beers in Rouillac

A day on Ile de Ré

Cycling on Ile de Ré

I don’t know about where you are, but the weather here in our little bit of French paradise is quite horrid today. I have decided we need a day trip out, so come with me as I return to the sunnier days of last September when we did our very own Tour de France, or at least a Tour de Ile de Ré.

Ile de Ré is a small island (30 km long) just off the coast of La Rochelle in the Charente-Maritime department and is about an hour and a half drive from us. It is a very popular holiday destination and home to some very exclusive (and expensive) hotels and accommodation. It is accessed by a 3km bridge, that when you approach by bike like we did, looks very imposing and a little intimidating. We left home at 8 o’clock in the morning with the church bells ringing the Angelis and the sound of gunshot echoing in the distance, as the first Sunday of the hunting season got under way. We had a couple of near misses on route as a ‘lucky’ fox dashed in front of the car, causing Ade to make an emergency stop and just as we approached La Rochelle we saw our first ever sighting of a wild boar, just out for a stroll on the dual carriageway. Hunting season or no hunting season, I didn’t think much of his survival chances poor thing.

The bridge from La Rochelle

There is a large car park with viewpoint (belvedere) just before you enter the tolls for the bridge and this is where we left our car, for free, for the day. The tolls are quite pricey in high season (from 20^th June to 11^th Sept) at 16€ for a car, outside of these dates it is a more reasonable 8€, and Ade wanted the challenge of cycling over the bridge. The original plan had been for Ed and I to take our bikes over on the shuttle bus and meet up with Ade on the island. However, as we left we were talking to Pierrette, our neighbour who is in her seventies, and she casually slipped into conversation that she would be happy to cycle over the bridge too. We were not alone in leaving the car and packing up day bags and picnics onto bicycles, there were many families with young children and we all set off to tackle the bridge together.

Ile de Ré can be difficult to navigate by car as it quickly becomes a very long traffic jam, but with over 100km of marked cycle paths it really is best explored by bike. Not wishing to brag (too much), with 80kms clocked up over four and a half hours in the saddle I think we pretty much sampled nearly all these paths, but as it is flat and open it was very easy cycling. Once we are back to our summer fitness levels I’m sure we will return to see our favourite sights again, at the moment I can’t imagine completing that distance in one day!

La Flotte, Ile de Ré

Ile de Ré salt

Our first stop for morning coffee was the busy port of La Flotte, where we even struggled to find space to leave the bikes, as everyone (on the entire island) seemed to have the same idea. Fuelled up with coffee and dark chocolate (and coke for Ed) we continued to follow the coast to St Martin-de-Ré and on towards Ars-en-Ré, cycling through vineyards, salt marshes, and past wading birds, oyster bars with fantastic views and unfortunately more hunters. We picnicked in the pretty village of Loix and made it to the lighthouse of the whales ‘Phare des Baleines’ for a mid afternoon ice-cream break. Energy levels were again topped up with beer or coke and snacks before we cruised back to the bridge, which seemed a lot steeper from this direction. Tired but very pleased with ourselves, and especially with Ed who wasn’t quite 12, this really marked the high point of our 2012 summer of cycling. Now all we need is for some nice weather to get back out on our bikes – fingers crossed for this weekend.

Oyster bar with view Ile de Ré

Phare des Baleines, Ile de Ré

At the end of the day on Ile de Ré