Grand Mas Near Loumourin

(click on picture for larger image)

A mas in Provence is a farm house where the owner of the (prosperous) farm lived.  The farm includes vines for wine, and orchards with cherries and olives, as well as other fruits.  This mas is a grand one, with an observation steeple.  There is a bulls-eye window on the observation tower and a stone railing atop.  Beautiful.

A Mas near St. Remy-de-Provence

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A renovated mas (manor farm house) is beautifully renovated near the the town of Eyragues in Provence.

The View From the Vineyard

The view from the vineyard across the valley to hills is always spectacular, and very pastoral.

Mas With Attached Chapel

A provencale manor house or mas oftentimes had an attached chapel as this one has. The little outcropping from the building is the chapel.

Vineyards in the Valley

Vineyards checker the valley, laid out in neat squares in the Provencal sun.

The Banana Leaf

I was on the balcony of a cafe in a hilltop village, overlooking this lordly mas (Provence manor house) framed by greenery and a vineyard in its back yard. Then it struck me how far south we were. The big green leaf showing in the right of the picture, is the leaf from a huge banana plant.

Living in the tropics as I do, I see banana plants all over. They are planted as huge ornamentals. However, it was startling to see it overlooking the vines in Provence.

A mas (or Provence farm manor) stands majestically amid vines and orchards in the Luberon valley.

The Mas

The large building is a mas, or a farm manor house in Provence. It is surrounded by vineyards.