Come as a guest,
leave as a friend...

When travellers decide to book accommodation in a private guest house, they often have good reason to do so: they seek to avoid the chilly uniformity of most hotels just as the stressful obtrusiveness of all those mass tourism bunkers that disfigure many of our coasts. They are looking for another, more personal way of spending their most precious weeks of the year: in company of nice people, among good friends, at a sunny place where one is not only an anonymous room number, but a human being and friend. A place, where vacation means more than sunburn and overcharged beer, where one can discover the beauty of landscapes and the culture of the locals. In one word, where you can feel home from home.

We would like to offer you this experience. We are no hotel but a family run country guest house. You'll stay and live with us just like with good friends: If you wish, we may show you our beautiful Provence in all her impressing and fascinating facets, we may advise you for exciting day trips to attractive sights or places to visit, but also for restaurants or shops. Whatever it might be: just tell us what we can do for you.

Our house is what locals call a "Bastide", a manor, designed and erected with devotion to the region's ancestral traditions. Typical for these noble buildings are their clear and rectangular body without any scrolls and nooks and their expressive symmetry with a splendid south front. Its countryside style is characterized by visible wooden beams, terra cotta floors and lime-coated and waxed walls throughout the house. Here we have created spacious and charming holiday accommodations for you, whose quality is recognized by the Green Provence Tourist Council and the Guesthouse Association Provence-Var.

Enjoy home from home comfort at our Provencal manor offering 5 spacious en suite bed and breakfast lodgings and 2 fully equipped one-room self-catering studio apartments.

The B & B guest rooms offer 20 square meters and sleep up to 3 persons. You may book them by the day or by the week. Their rates include high quality Provencal cotton bedding, towels, daily maid services, taxes and a generous continental breakfast with home-baked croissants and bread, homemade jam, local lavender honey, cold meat and cheese (eggs or omelettes are available on request), yoghurts, ´ cereals, fresh fruits, juice and coffee, tea, milk or hot chocolate. In warm weather breakfast is served outside on the garden terrace.

Should you prefer self-catering accommodation you may opt for one of our studios. These one-room holiday rentals are 30 square meters in size and offer a combined rest area and a living and dining area with a fully fitted kitchenette. They are designed for 2 but may sleep up to 4 guests thanks to a comfortable sofa-bed. A minimum stay of 7 nights (Saturday to Saturday) applies to bookings made for the high season, in the low season shorter stays (minimum 3 nights) with flexible start and end dates are welcome. The rates include high quality cotton bedding, towels, charges for electricity/water and all taxes (in the winter season please allow a heating surcharge of 5 EUR per day).

All lodgings are individually decorated and feature valuable handcrafted teak wood furniture including a double bed with high quality Provencal cotton bedding, a dresser and a separate sitting area. Bathrooms are outfitted with private toilet, shower, washbasin, makeup mirror, towels and complimentary guest toiletries. A hair dryer is available on request. Each room is carefully decorated in another of the typical Provencal pastel colours. Situated on the upper floor, they offer a lovely view of the garden and sylvan environs (please note that all our guest rooms and studios are accessed by a 15-steps staircase, making them not suitable for people with severe mobility problems).

Guest comforts include an outdoor pool of 4 x 8 m swathed in greenery with deck chairs and umbrellas, Mediterranean gardens and an unspoiled forest park around the house, a large sun terrace with outdoor furniture, the "hall of knights" with a cosy fire place and a guest lounge with library, sat-TV, DVD player, computer, mini bar and kitchenette (however, the lounge is closed from November to March while we use it as orangery to overwinter frost-sensitive plants). Free WIFI Internet access is provided throughout the house. Complimentary parking and laundry services are available on site. La Bastide des Templiers is a smoke-free establishment but smoking is permitted in garden area.

Wellness Oasis

In a rustic wooden cabin next to our guest house we have created a copy little wellness oasis for you with Jacuzzi and massage table. Joel, our certified practitioner will take you here on a journey to harmony and well being - nurturing your mind, body & spirit. So why not profiting from your stay at La Bastide des Templiers for some deeply unwinding relaxation and spa treatments that will quiet the body down and give it back to your own blissful true nature. After all, that's what holidays are made for, no?  Our massages are given in an atmosphere of deep serenity with soft light, candles and meditative music. You can choose from different types of massages, most of them including the use of organic aromatherapy oils. This service can be booked directly on the spot (reservation required). Additional information is available on page "Rates".

Like the house, its furniture is an event, too. Thanks to an Indonesian carpenter's workshop in Jepara on the Island of Java, where they created a little miracle for us. Our intention was of course to furnish our house and its rooms in a traditional Provencal country style, but original furniture from Southern France would not only have been extremely difficult to find but also cost a fortune. That is why we decided to trust the famous know-how of Indonesian carpenters who are recognized as great artists. Thus, all our nice furniture has been especially manufactured for "La Bastide des Templiers" and directly imported from Indonesia. Every piece is carefully handmade from finest Teak wood which belong, as insiders will know, to the world's best qualities (by the way: the wood used for our furniture is certified to come from a state controlled plantation and was not illegally cut in the rain forest). We are, of course, a bit proud of these beautiful masterpieces that you will be able to appreciate and to experience while staying with us. 

Within a beautiful setting of rolling hills, small mountains and hidden valleys covered with abundant vegetation and crisscrossed by purling brooks, significantly named "Green Provence", our 10.000 square metres property is located on a hilltop close to the quaint village of Bras, one of the ancient commandries of the Knights Templar. It's a place of peace and serenity amidst lovely natural sceneries allowing you to fully unwind and relax well off the beaten tourist track. In the shade of our century-old pine and oak trees, you will be lulled by the cicadas and enchanted by the scents of the Garrigue...

Centuries ago, the farmers shaped the hills around the village as terraces and fixed them by dry stone walls in order to cultivate the soil. The remains of these "hanging gardens" can still be seen on our estate giving it a unique and picturesque character.

Around our house we have created a colourful Mediterranean garden where you can admire the beauty of our indigenous Provencal flowers and plants, like lavender, rosemary or oleander, but also the splendour of some of their exotic sisters that we brought with us from the Cape region in South Africa. Why from the Cape? Well, it was on a holiday trip to Cape Town in 1997 when the idea to our guest house project was born. We were stupefied about the numerous similarities between both regions, Provence and the Cape, despite the distance of about 10.000 kilometres between them: similar climate, the same amazing variety of flora, the Mediterranean landscapes, the unique light and the intensity of colours... That is why the most famous Cape Flower has become the emblem for our house: the magnificent paradise-bird.

But even if you are not interested in botany, you will find here an oasis of silence and relaxation, which invites to read, meditate or just go for a walk...

And if, during our warm and sunny summer days, you are looking for some cooling or fun in the water you do not need to drive down to the sea (although the beautiful beaches of Bormes-les-Mimosas or the famous rocky bays "Calanques" of Cassis are only 65 km away). Because next to the house our swimming pool offers a place to refresh and to relax. Here you can enjoy an ice-cold "Pastis" or a glass of fresh Rosé from our local winery and admire the panoramic view of Bras and the valley with its colourful vineyards and lush forests.

B&B "Terre d'Ocre" B&B "Fleur de Garrigue" B&B "Brise de Mer" B&B "Nid de Cupidon" B&B "Oiseau de Paradis"
Studio flat "Le Garlaban" Studio flat "Le Verdon"