Now that you have a brief overview of everything you can do in the Var through theNow that you’ve read the previous article (I’ll come back to it in detail in other articles), and that you’ve also taken note of the short historical summary of the Var département, I’d like to tell you a little about the history of our guest house, Une Pause en Provence…
Where to locate our Une Pause en Provence bed and breakfast?
When we decided to create a guest house in the Var, it was imperative that it be located in Le Beausset, Le Castellet or La Cadière d’Azur, because we wanted to be close to the sea (20 min from Bandol), close to walks and hikes to enjoy nature and the Mediterranean vegetation, and at the same time be calm. What’s more, the West Var, and in particular these 3 communes, offer a hilly landscape, very green and full of vines! When you’re a wine lover like us, you couldn’t ask for more! Back to our notion of land and sea.
Once the area had been validated, we had to find a house that could meet our requirements in terms of accommodating our future guests, or at least with the potential and technical feasibility to carry out the work. It wasn’t enough to have a big house; it had to be convertible. After months of searching, we finally signed at the notary’s… I won’t hide the fact that the house wasn’t a real “coup de coeur” at first (see photo below), but with a lot of imagination, we knew we were going to turn it into something very good, very pretty, adapted to our activity and which would allow our future guests to feel “at home”, with the comforts that are demanded nowadays and in a calm, serene and soothing environment.
Once signed, it was time to get to work…..
How to set up a bed and breakfast?
The fun part is contacting local craftsmen for all the structural work; the not-so-fun part is getting started on all the other work! Plumbing, electricity, masonry, plastering, sanding, painting etc…
We started by taking out a subscription in the local DIY stores and then attacked…
In just six months of work, our craftsmen have restored 100% of the facade, installed ironwork in several places on the property, built a veranda, created a private terrace for one bedroom and pruned a number of trees…
In the same period of time, the two of us created 3 bathrooms (partitions-plumbing-electricity-tiling-painting), we completely created our gîte Ambiance Bord de Mer which only had tiled walls and floor (electricity-plumbing-equipped kitchen-painting), we repainted every room in the house, we repainted the 27 shutters, we took care of the garden (trimming-brushing…)…
What name should we give our B&B?
At some point, the question arose of what to call our bed and breakfast.
We wanted a name that would “click” in people’s heads, that would be like a symbol… we put ourselves in the place of those who work a lot, of those who are tired, of those who want to take a break, who can’t stand the infernal rhythm any longer etc… and we said to ourselves that “do a break in Provence “, that was going to speak to them!
We didn’t want a name that used “mas” or “bastide” etc… because there are so many of those already, and what’s more, our house is atypical; it’s neither a mas, nor a bastide, nor a château… it’s a Provencal house with a round tower. We could have called it the Tower of Something, but we don’t think that’s a word that makes you want to come…
We’re surrounded by pine trees. We also brainstormed around this word, but there are already some that exist around this theme, and we found it a little restrictive.
Our guest house offers a magnificent swimming pool (free-form, overflow, 12×7…); quite naturally we had fun trying to find a name around this theme because the word “pool” allows future guests to project themselves, to imagine their future break, a certain well-being, relaxation by the pool etc… But we also found it restrictive, as our guest house doesn’t only welcome guests during the summer months, but all year round, and the pool isn’t necessarily something guests are interested in during the autumn and winter months…
And then we were afraid of disappointing our guests if they thought they were going to find Romy Schneider and Alain Delon!!! (reference to that great 1969 film)
Associating a first name with the name of our future guest house wouldn’t speak to our customers…
In short, we wanted a name that would allow our guests to be “called” by the symbolism of the name, and not be disappointed, as our guest house is a haven of peace, relaxation and serenity, far from the crowds, the hustle and bustle, the noise, and yet close to everything…
We’ve said it all: with us, you get a real break and you’re in Provence…