My Village: Aups, Provence

A serendipitous storm swept sketchbook artist Susan Knapp to her new home in charming Aups, in the heart of the Verdon Natural Park in Provence…

I have to say, I think our village chose us! When we first arrived in France in 1991, home was a village house in Barjols. My husband had spent all his school holidays in the seaside town of Le Lavandou, about an hour and a half from here – his father, who was an artist, had been given one of the first new apartments there in exchange for three paintings in the 1960s.

When it came time to look for a new home, we naturally started locally. We had been looking for a month around Barjols, but nothing suited us (or our budget), until one thundery day took us to Aups with our two-year old, where the local estate agent showed us what is now our house.

The property isn’t typical of the village, but a sort of 1930s coastal-style villa. It had been for sale for a while but the owner kept refusing buyers. She asked our daughter if she wanted to live there, and our toddler without hesitation said yes… sold!

Everything about the village was new and exciting to us: meeting other parents at the crèche, being invited to the New Year celebrations, playing loto in the local bars.

We still enjoy these same things many years later, plus coffee early in the morning before work with my girlfriends, working with the tourism office and Maison de la Truffe as an illustrator, showing my work in the local museum and selling my books in the local bookshop. My husband, recently retired, spent years renovating beautiful houses for locals and owners of many nationalities.

We live in the heart of an incredibly beautiful area, near the Gorges du Verdon, the lavender fields of Valensole, a couple of hours from skiing and even closer to the coast.

When we arrived I had often been to Paris for work – I was a clothing designer – but my French wasn’t that good, my husband’s was much better. Now our French is good. My husband is mistaken for a local, although I still have an accent.

My daughter is a successful translator, and can translate equally to and from both languages, which is unusual, because she feels as if both are her mother tongue. My son has an accent when he speaks English. Our children are fully bilingual – lots of people say they are bilingual but very few really are.

We consider ourselves locals! We have always participated with local life, been on committees, for school, E-tourism, and sports.

I am an illustrator and carnettiste. I produce postcards and booklets of our region, for other people, and to sell myself. I also do ‘house portraits’, so my work as a freelance designer helped us while my husband gradually built up his clientele. He worked with all the local artisans on some amazing properties, and quickly adapted to the different ways of working and materials used, building a very successful business.

I’d have to say truffles, as Aups is the capital of the local truffle market and has a Maison de la Truffe museum.

The heart of our village is medieval, some of the doors and lintels are taken from the château that was here before the village existed. There are local stories of crusaders, of Abbé Jean who proved that Aups was the centre of the universe and engraved a map on the floor of his house (it still exists but in a private house) of
the Romans and Julius Cesar who when he passed by was quoted as saying he preferred to be the first in Aups, than to be second in Rome.

Living in a small French village has made me appreciate how different generations mix together in all circumstances. People look out for each other, always. The shops and restaurants pass from generation to generation. The younger generations come back here where they have roots.

One that always make me laugh when there is intense rain, a very descriptive il pleut comme vache qui pisse [it’s raining like a pissing cow!].

You can find Susan’s amazing illustrations at susanknappsketches.com and follow her on Instagram

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