Grignan

Madame de Sevigne wrote to her daughter Francoise-Marguerite, who had married the count of Grignan and moved south, and the letters, published after her death, became one of the classics of French prose; she died at the chateau in 1696 and is buried in the church below. The building itself is a Renaissance facade set on a rock over the village, largely rebuilt in the twentieth century after the Revolution left it a ruin. The village around is stone, with a printing and book-arts tradition and a festival of correspondence each summer that plays directly on the letters. Lavender fields and truffle oaks surround it.

What you actually see

• The chateau terrace - a Renaissance facade above the village roofs.
• The Sevigne connection - the letters, her grave and the summer festival.
• The village lanes - stone streets, bookbinders and printers below.
• The Drome Provencale - lavender and oak country around.

When to go

May to September; lavender flowers roughly late June to mid-July. The correspondence festival is in summer. The chateau closes some winter periods.

Honest expectations

Much of the chateau is twentieth-century reconstruction rather than original. The village is small and quiet outside festival dates. Lavender timing varies by year and altitude.

Nearby

Montelimar lies northwest; Nyons is southeast.