A pretty hill village in the Massif des Maures, Grimaud sits back from the coast with views down to the Golfe de Saint Tropez from its ruined castle, once owned by the Grimald family. Take a stroll around town, up medieval rue des Templiers to the 11thC Romanesque Eglise de Saint-Michel. Just outside the village, on the road down to Cogolin, there is a good pottery. Crafts are the forte of Cogolin itself, famous for the manufacture of pipes, reeds for wind instruments, and superior rugs and fabrics much in demand for period restoration projects.

Port Grimaud, just off the main N98 (6 km W of Saint-Tropez), allows non-residents a glimpse of how the other half live. Constructed around a series of miniature glassy-green canals, the pastel villas of Fran√笵cois Spoerry’s chic 1970s ‘Mediterranean fishing village’, complete with old-fashioned shutters and wrought-iron balconies, sit on fingers of land linked by jaunty little bridges. Typically, the family run-around is the yacht parked outside the front door.