Calinurse.
It looks wonderful!
On the main Blv Victor Hugo
is a wonderful chocolate shop Joel Durand and next door Le Petit Duc what sells delicious cookies and other sweets.

We stayed in St. Remy this past June and found it a great town and easy to make day trips in the area. We also visited and thoroughly enjoyed Uzes but think that St. Remy is more centrally located for visiting the wonderful Provencal towns.

We stayed at La Mas de Carassins in St. Remy and it was wonderful, about a 5 min walk to center of town.

http://www.masdescarassins.com/chambres-anglais.htm

You are ALL wonderfu!!! Thank you for advice, recommendatins, refernces to trip reports, accommodation, etc. and feedback feedback. I wrote to the owner of the place in St Remy to book the place i sent link for, and got good comments on from ypu Fodors smarties!!

In case these will be useful to anyone,Here are two places I considered, needing two separate bedrooms after hours of emails and research, for Uzes, before reading feedback which encouraged /recommended St Remy for a first visit:

The owner of this home, DIanne , has been so wonderful at answering questions and giving advice. The place is available for a good price and a quick walk to city center:

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/Fra...ard/p55195.htm

The one below looks fantastic, and the owner was responsive to all enquiried/emails, but the place was a bit above our price budget for just two people, esp'lly since the 150 eur cleaning fee was additional.

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p453391

Thank again!!!

Encoure merci beaucouip to Les Fodorites!
Thanks for your hotel recommendation, Winnick. I may end up there, as unfortunatelwe may have only 5 days in St Remy. The flat (like most in France) has a one week minimum.

I will second Winnick's review. My sister stayed at Mas Carassins last year. Just a few minutes walking from th center, great food and charming estate. They had a wonderful experience.

If you have a car, it is easy to do a trip to Nimes (40 mins from St Remy), Uzes (lunch), Pont du Gard - then back to St Remy.

Peter

Mpprh, thank you for the suggestion of a good and easily do-able day trip! Yes, we want to see Uzes,and the Pont du Gard, using St Remy as our base. I hope seeing Uzes, we will not regret the decision to stay in St Remy rather than Uzes!

I agree with all the comments – Usez is (to my mind) the loveliest town, but St Remy is the most central spot! We had a week in Usez the first time in that region, and this year had a week in St Remy. We love history and here are some of the places we visited from St Remy – all easy to reach. It would also be terrific to visit Usez and Pont du Gard (one trip, very close to each other). Nimes is also a beautiful and interesting town. But this year we visited: Les Baux; Cathedrale d’Images (near les Baux); Barbentane and its chateau; Avignon; Taracson; Arles; Abbeye de Silvcane; Roussillon; L’Isle sur la Sorgue and Fountain de Vaucluse. Have you seen the books written by the former Australian, Vicki Archer: “French Essence” and “My French Life” http://www.vickiarcher.com/. She lives in a beautiful home in St Remy, and there are lots of lovely shops and restaurants listed in the books. The books are just beautiful to look at, as well as to read!

Wow, thank you Vicky, for adding ideas and details for day trips!! And I will look for those books and her website, to whet my appetite even more for this trip. Ah, the anticipation!!

I forgot to thank you, Ira, for referring to your TR. LOL at your "loverly" trip report of your and your lady wife's adventures. Focused on the Provence details. Merci beaucoup! ooo, i'm getting hungry!!

Hi, Vicky: What did you think of the Barbentane and Tarascon? I have plans to visit all the other places you listed, but am still waffling on those two.

(Sorry to hijack your thread, CaliNurse.)

sap

If you end up visiting Burgundy &/or the Dordogne - you'll see more interesting castles there than Barbentane. Tarascon is not one of my favorites - except for a quick visit to the castle if you are passing through. If you have access to the Cadogan guide fo Provence or South of France, read what it says about Tarascon.

Stu Dudley

I only visited Tarascon to visit the Souleiado museum and shop in an old mansion. Souleiado is the leading Provencal
fabric producer.

Travel is such a personal thing isn’t it? hard to make a choice between Barbentane and Tarascon, as they are quite different. What we liked about Barbentane and the chateau was that the town was a pretty little town to visit, and the chateau was interesting because it was a bit “different”. It is still lived in by the owners, and has a charming, faded glory sort of feel about it all. You go through with a guided tour, mainly in French, but the lady stops and gives a short English version. It is not huge, but just interesting to see all the original furnishings, and it doesn’t feel like a museum.
http://www.provenceweb.fr/e/bouches/...barbentane.htm
The Michelin Green Guide to Provence gives the chateau 2 stars.

Tarascon as a town has a small medieval part worth a quick walk round, but we found the chateau (it is more a castle than a chateau) really interesting, and the Michelin guide gives it 2 stars. The location of the chateau, Chateau du Roi Rene, is right on the river, and the building is an interesting mix of medieval and renaissance. Yes, there may be many other fascinating châteaux, but as Michelin says: this one “is one of the finest medieval castles in France”. Regarding Les Baux – do get there early – we were waiting at the ticket office when it opened, and had the whole site to ourselves for the first hour! And this is one of the most visited sites in France. It is only about 15 minutes from St Remy. I forgot to mention the visit to Abbeye de Montmajour, this is very close to Arles, so would combine well when you visit Arles. A ruined building, it was, to us, quite fascinating.

Sap thank you, bu no problem;I am grateful to learn so much on these threads, even if they occ'lly veer into a detour!

The Abbaye de Montajour, as vicky mentioned was a favorite visit of mine. A French friend took me there and you must look up as there is nothing on ground.

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