Le 40 de Maisons Clotilde

Beautifully Renovated Provençal Apartment in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue’s Old Town

Beautifully renovated using noble materials and furnished with lovingly selected antique and vintage finds, this 45sqm apartment on the top floor of a historical building offers a tasteful, timeless escape that’s ideal for solo travelers or as a romantic retreat for couples. Velvety smooth lime plaster covers the walls and ceilings, softening the apartment’s waxed concrete floors. An ancient, exposed ceiling timber soars artfully across the living room ceiling, passing through a pretty glass partition that divides the bedroom from the living area. With its warm, textural décor palette, the classic 19th-century apartment's atmosphere is soft and serene. There's a sweet galley kitchen at the apartment's heart, outfitted with a thick antique stone basin, and the intimate bathroom is also designed around a beautifully rustic, old stone sink.

To explore the other homes in this collection, click on the following links: Le 4 de Maisons Cotilde, Le 70 de Maisons Cotilde.

Around

Located on “eel” street, a narrow snaking alley in the heart of the Old Town, this apartment benefits from its East/West orientation, with sunsets out the bedroom window. Bakeries, restaurants, cafés, and small food markets are steps away, and the town of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is known for its antique shops and decorative studios brimming with vintage wares and for its twice-yearly antiques fair that draws buyers from around the world. A traditional Provençal market—one of the region’s oldest—is held every Thursday and Sunday along a canal of the Sorgue River and into the heart of the village, showcasing local lavender and Provençal textiles, produce, honey, handmade soaps and sachets, and a dizzying array of artisanal wares at its hundreds of stands.

One of Provence’s “must see” villages, the town is often referred to as a local “Venice” for its handful of canals extending off of the Sorgue River and its photogenic water wheels along the canals. A community of narrow streets lined with pastel-hued buildings, the village is actually an “island” at a split in the river. Grand mansions punctuate simpler village streets, as the river brought an affluent merchant class to the area, wealthy paper and textile magnates. Chock full of sidewalk cafes under the plane trees and wisteria arbors, with postcard-perfect footbridges spanning its charmed waterways, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue offers idyllic Provence—flowering, tile-roofed, pastel hued and wonderful. The Notre Dame des Anges Collégiale, dating from the 17th century, is a few feet from the townhome as is the central market square with its restaurants, boutiques and small green grocers.

Location

Nearest airports: Nimes and Marseilles (both 35 miles)

Best time to visit

April to October