France uncovered: off-the-beaten-track areas to buy holiday homes in touristy Provence

Think of Provence, with its lavender fields and vineyards, and it is the famous names in the Luberon and Alpilles that first come to mind: St Remy, Eygalières, Gordes.

But there is an alternative Provence, a little flatter and perhaps less perfectly pastoral but where homes come with far less punchy price tags.

“Buyers in Provence generally want a detached house and they can find far better value if they focus around L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and Vaison-la-Romaine,” says Laetitia Hodson of Knight Frank.

“They are a little further from the coast but on average prices are 30 per cent below those in prime Provence.”

L’ISLE-SUR-LA-SORGUE

A lively market town 45 minutes from Marseille airport and 30 from Avignon, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue’s 20,000 population ensures year-round life with restaurants, bars and shops while the legendary Sunday antiques market brings dealers and eager furniture shoppers.

“The British dream is a stone house with pool and views within easy reach of a boulangerie,” says Hodson.

“Increasingly buyers want a property that will rent, so it has the potential to earn some income. For example, I currently have buyers looking to run yoga retreats or B&Bs.”

A potential B&B in Le Thor with eight bedrooms and over an acre of grounds has been reduced from £1.1 million to £874,000, good value for this area.

Le Thor is a quiet, rural village 10 minutes from L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue towards Avignon, encircled by fields of maize and apple trees.

Nearby, equally quiet and in four acres, a stone farmhouse 20 minutes’ walk from the nearest shops has been partially renovated by a Swiss family into a comfortable four-bedroom family home, for sale at £958,000.

“It’s a buyer’s market,” confirms Franck de Mondesir from Janssens Estate Agency in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

“Property prices are still 10 to 15 per cent below the 2008 highs and sellers are now more realistic on prices.”

VAISON-LA-ROMAINE

There’s even better value to the north around Vaison-la-Romaine.

This area includes acres of vineyards, small thriving villages and the distinctive cycling hotspot of Mont Ventoux.

It’s also where the Mistral blows through on occasion and the best houses face south, offering protection from the wind.

Homes currently for sale include a beautiful three-bedroom 18th-century stone house with generous living space, 15 minutes’ walk from the village of Tulette.

The current owners have painstakingly restored the house from a ruin, adding a densely planted Provençal garden and swimming pool.

The £1.1 million price tag would be closer to £1.7 million if it were in St Remy in the Alpilles, says Knight Franks’s Laetitia Hodson.

Similarly, she says a newly built four-bedroom house in mint condition in Vacqueyras — east of Orange and north of Carpentras — with delightful gardens, a pool and surrounded by vineyards, priced at £857,000, would be at least £1.4 million in prime Provence.

Further north in Séguret, officially designated one of France’s most beautiful villages, a four-bedroom townhouse on three floors with a garden and pool is £611,000.

The house is built into the stone hillside at the top of the village, well protected from winds and with lovely views, while the charming village restaurants, shaded by plane trees and vines, are five minutes’ walk down a cobbled path.

CAROMB

Musician and writer Axelle and Ian de Caumil live in Caromb, north of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

Their stone house, built in 1500, has been a refuge for pilgrims, a hospital, a nunnery and a school.

Today the couple live there with their daughter Jun, aged 10, renting out two flats to short-term guests and are Airbnb Superhosts for the good and experienced service they offer.

“We really appreciate the relaxed Provençal pace,” says Axelle.

“The simple things like children playing outside, buying fresh food at the daily market, the joy of swimming in the lake and taking lazy afternoon walks. There is art and culture everywhere and if we need a city fix Avignon is 30 minutes away while Paris and London are direct via the superfast TGV and Eurostar.”

Their work is increasingly international so after seven years the couple are selling their home for £786,000.

The house has terraces filled with fig and almond trees and a fourth apartment still to be renovated. “It’s time for someone else to fall in love with the house and Provence,” says Ian.