L'Étoile des Baux.Provence, lived in French.
Seven days, six nights in a beautiful private house below the Alpilles. Markets, estates, art carved into the rock, long tables that run late — and French running through all of it.
The house
A mas built into the rock.
L'Étoile des Baux stands below the citadel with the Alpilles at the end of the garden — pale stone, deep shade, frescoed walls and contemporary art, restored with real conviction and taken exclusively for the week by our group alone. Cool rooms in the heat of the day, a heated pool cut in beneath the cliffs, and terraces that become the dining room the moment the light drops.
- Seven guest bedrooms, taken exclusively for the week
- A cathedral salon with a bespoke library and a sofa that seats sixteen
- An artists' studio with paints and brushes, looking onto the garden
- A semi-professional kitchen, an honesty bar and a wine cellar
- A heated pool, sun loungers and an outdoor shower under the cliffs
- A 5,500m² garden against the limestone, with the village in view
- A terrace table for eighteen, and dinner that stays outside
- An open-air theatre and a village-view cinema, both for twenty
- A private chef in the house, and breakfast every morning
- Markets, estates and cellars within half an hour
- Apéritifs on the terrace, Provençal wine and rosé at the table
- Seasonal Provençal cooking, built around the produce of the region
- A house manager and daily housekeeping
- Concierge support throughout the stay
- An electric car available for guests to explore the Alpilles
- Local arrangements made for you before you arrive
The week, day by day
How the week runs.
This is a sample itinerary and is subject to change based on the seasonality of experiences and on what the week turns out to want.
Arrive slowly
A transfer up from Avignon, and then nothing you have to do. Bags down, a swim if the drive was long, and the welcome apéritif poured on the terrace as the heat goes out of the day. By the time the chef's first Provençal dinner reaches the long table, you know who you are spending the week with, and the French has already started — over names, food and wine, and nothing that resembles a lesson.
Languages have always been, for me, a quiet kind of superpower.
I've spent most of my life moving between languages, cultures and places, and nearly fifteen years teaching other people to do the same. But what has kept me fascinated all this time isn't really the language itself. It's what happens because of it. The people you would never otherwise have spoken to. The joke you suddenly understand. The table you become part of. The moment a place stops feeling quite so foreign because, for once, you understand what is happening around you.
That's what I wanted these weeks to capture.
Les Baux has its own rhythm. French comes through the village, the market, the people we meet, the things we taste and make, and the conversations that gather around the table. There is more time left deliberately open here, too. Enough for the language to stop feeling like something you are practising and simply become part of the week.
I'm there with you throughout the week. To coach you when you need it, give you confidence when you hesitate, laugh with you when the French goes spectacularly wrong, and spend real time together. More than anything, I want to bring you into the French I love: the French of people, places, food, stories, jokes and conversations you suddenly find yourself part of. Whether you arrive with a handful of words or years of the language behind you, I'll meet you there.
And somewhere along the way, almost without you noticing, something shifts.
You stop reaching for the French. It starts coming to you.
What is included
Everything that belongs to the week.
- 6 nights
- All week
- Room to breathe
- Six nights at L'Étoile des Baux, taken exclusively for our group — seven guest bedrooms
- Chef-cooked dinners at the house, including the welcome apéritif and the final celebration dinner
- Breakfast every morning, apéritifs, Provençal wine and rosé
- Chef, house manager, concierge and daily housekeeping throughout
- The pool, the gardens, the artists' studio, the cinema and the open-air theatre
- Group transfers from and to Avignon within the published arrival and departure windows
- A guided day at Les Baux with a private guide, and a hands-on afternoon in the village's printing and engraving workshop
- A private estate day around vines, olives, the cellar and a tasting
- The Saint-Rémy market with the chef, and the hands-on Provençal cooking atelier at the house — the lunch you make together is included
- A private morning with someone whose life is tied to the landscape of the Alpilles
- Yoga and meditation, offered on three afternoons, entirely optionally
- Local transport within the programme
- A Learn&Co French teacher in the house throughout the week, with support adapted to each guest
- French throughout the week, through conversations, encounters and experiences, with light guidance whenever it helps
- A conversation before you travel about your French, what you want from the week and how we can make the experience work for you
Flights and travel to Provence; travel insurance, which is required; lunches except where lunch forms part of an included experience; spa treatments and massages; anything arranged privately outside the programme; extra nights before or after the week; and personal purchases, along with anything not listed above.
One price, the whole week.
£9,500 per person
£7,600 per person
Per person for the full seven days and six nights at L'Étoile des Baux, including everything listed above. Registration is an expression of interest, not a booking — nothing is taken at this stage.
Dates are being confirmed. Register your interest below and you will hear first.
For the first four.
The Founding Circle is reserved for the first four guests to join each new departure. It is not an early-bird discount. It marks the people who choose to be there at the very beginning of a new Learn&Co immersive experience.
- £500 Founding Circle benefit
- First choice of rooms
- A private language coaching session ahead of the retreat
- An intimate dinner with Maria at one of the destination's exceptional restaurants, while the rest of the group has dinner at the house
Four guests, Maria, one exceptional restaurant and a proper evening together.
L'Étoile des Baux, in full
Six nights in this house.
Kind words
“I did not expect French to get under my skin in the way it did.”
Maria has a gift for creating that kind of space. Nothing felt forced, but nothing felt accidental either. The whole week had taste, warmth and intelligence behind it.
The more the week unfolded, the more natural it became. French was simply part of what was happening: a story being told, a question I wanted to answer, a conversation I did not want to miss.
Somewhere between the long lunches, the walks, the wine, the laughter and conversations that kept going, something shifted. I stopped thinking quite so hard about the French and started using it because I actually wanted to say things.
I came home with something I hadn’t expected: French was starting to come naturally to me.
Before you ask
The questions people actually ask.
Seven days and six nights in one house in the Alpilles, taken exclusively by a small group, with French running through the whole of it. French runs throughout the week, through conversations, encounters and experiences, with light guidance whenever it helps. There are no formal lessons, classroom sessions or homework. The rest is Provence: the village, an estate, the market, art cut into the rock, and a table that runs late.
Any level, including almost none. Support is adapted to each guest rather than pitched at the group, and a Learn&Co French teacher is in the house throughout the week alongside Maria. What you need to arrive with is willingness, not vocabulary.
Yes, and many people do. You take your own room and the group is curated by us: solo travellers, couples and pairs of friends, a small table of adults who chose the same week.
Yes. A twin or double taken with a partner or a friend is £7,600 per person rather than £9,500, and you get exactly the same week.
The week has been deliberately designed with room to breathe. Between experiences, there is time to enjoy the house, swim, wander, sleep, read, book a massage or simply disappear with a glass of rosé for a while. Yoga and meditation are offered on three afternoons, entirely optionally.
French runs through the week, but it is never forced. You will use it at the market, during the experiences, around the table and in the conversations that happen naturally along the way. How much support you need is set around you, so someone arriving with a few words and someone already speaking comfortably can be part of the same week.
The chef cooks around the group, with seasonal Provençal produce at the heart of the week. Tell us about allergies, intolerances and anything you would rather avoid when you register, and we will make sure these are taken into account throughout the stay.
Avignon is the arrival point, with group transfers to and from the house included within the published arrival and departure windows. We will confirm the exact timings with you before you book your travel.
Courchevel and Megève are shaped by the mountains: skiing gives the days their rhythm, with French part of everything that happens around it. Les Baux moves differently. The village, the estate, the market and the long table set the pace, there is more time left deliberately open, and Provence has a way of letting conversations run a little longer.
We’ll review your request, confirm the dates and your French level, and make sure the week is right for you. Only then will you be invited to take a place. Nothing is taken at registration.
