GETTING THERE From Britain

Travelling by Car ?
The most direct route from the Northern French ports is the autoroute via Rheims and Lyon. Travelling time is approximately 9 ½ hours.and autoroute tolls around £50.
A schedule which we often use is :- After a late afternoon Dover- Calais ferry, it's a 3 hour drive to Troyes. The VillagesHotel there is ideal for an overnight stop. A room for up to 3 is about 30 Euros and if you arrive late, an automatic machine accepts credit cards.(it might be advisable to book in high season) The next day Flassans is about a 6 hour drive. Fuel is cheaper in France (especially diesel). The autoroutes are fast , well maintained and are seldom busy. Traffic queues are very rare, particularly on this route and although the speed limit is about 82mph (62 for lorries), cars generally travel at much higher speeds.
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR ! : The first fuel from Calais is about 60 km. Coming back, the last is at the Aire de St. Hilaire Cottes- marker 55.4

A recommended route : motorway all the way to Brignoles! Take the A26 from Calais. (direction rheims). Leave at exit 23 and having paid the toll at the 'Peage''travel 50 yards to the roundabout and turn right on N19 (2nd. Exit direction Troyes). About 3 km to the next roundabout and you can see Villages Hotel more or less straight ahead. Take the second exit (signposted St. Parres aux Tetres) then 30 yds to the next roundabout and turn right again (D147) . Turn right to the hotel immediately after Mcdonalds.
Rejoin the autoroute and soon join the A5 (direction dijon). This changes to the A31, the A6 at Beaune and the A7 at Lyon (it's quicker to take the 'Lyon centre' route rather than the ring road as it's still an autoroute right through the city centre.). On to Orange and keep to the left hand lanes (direction Nice and Aix en Provence) where the autoroute divides. *Leave the autoroute at exit 35 for Brignoles.
After the Peage, take the centre lane at the lights and go straight through the centre of Brignoles (N7 direction St.Tropez). About 1 k outside Brignoles, go straight on at the island (see the supermarket on the right here) and join the dual carriageway. NEW. NEW ---- The Brignoles bypass is now open, so after the Peage turn left at the island (dir. St. Tropez, Nice, Le Luc) and left again on the N7 when you see the supermarket on the island as above. This can save alot of time at busy periods. Another 7 k or so and go straight on at the next island. Another 50 metres and turn right for Flassans centre.
Go straight through the village and at the bottom of the hill take a sharp right turn for 'Pignans' and immediate left for 'Gonfaron'. A further 3 km and you are at 'Golf Rouvede'. Watch out for the layby on the right and then, round the bend, the sign (see photo). Turn right down the drive and park under the chestnuts in reserved space #3.

Flying ?

Flying is very quick and, at the moment, very cheap. It would appear that BMIbaby no longer fly to Nice from East Midlands. However, other routes available include : Leeds/Bradford - daily flights in Summer to Nice starting at £9 single (JET2); Glasgow Prestwick Fri. Sat. Sun. flights to Marseille (Ryanair): Manchester to Nice starting at £5 single (JET2); East Midlands to Nimes Tues. Thur. Sat. (Ryanair); Luton to Nice (Easyjet); Birmingham to Nice (BMI. and Easyjet). These are just examples but many more can be found at http://www.worldparking.co.uk/uk-airports/east-midlands.php . This is the East Midland site but there are links to 43 others

Flying - coming from Nice. (67 miles 67 minutes). Take the A8 autoroute from the airport (direction Cannes / Aix en provence). Just before LeLuc take the A57 (direction toulon) and almost immediately leave at exit 13 (direction N7 Le Luc). After about 10 km watch out for a right turn for Flassans ( the road then swings left under the main Road). It's a bit hard to spot this turn, but there's another left turn a bit further on. (see map)

From Marseilles - several routes - see www.theaa.com. Once on the A57, leave at J35 * follow instructions as for car, above. (53 miles 49 minutes)

From Nimes - Once on the A57 - as above. (110 miles 103 minutes)

 

 

By Train

Trains leave from Waterloo station - destination Toulon via either Paris or Lille. From Toulon it's just a short train ride to Gonfaron which is 4 miles from Rouvede. Taxis are available at Gonfaron. Currect lowest price of ticket (Dec. 05) is £109 return, as follows:- leaves Waterloo at 9.09 Sat. arriving Toulon 17.30. (7hrs 21mins). Local trains hourly from Toulon take about 30 mins. and cost is about £3.00. Return departs Toulon 9.01 arrives Waterloo at 16 54. There are other trains but this appears to be the cheapest option. It is only possible to book less than 90 days ahead, but you can order an 'alarm' email see www.tgv.co.uk.

 

So what's the weather like? Today's weather, updated every 30 mins, can be found by clicking here The 10 day forecast can also be found here. It's actually for Aix, which is about 30 miles West, but it's the nearest available. For further weather details try the similar BBC 5 day forecast here for Nice which is a bit further away but to the East. Our weather should then be somewhere in between ! The closest short-term forecast (for Le luc about 8 miles away) is HERE

'la Rouvede Cuvee Prestige' is the wine out of the vineyards of the Rouvede Domaine. It is not, of course, a cheap wine (around £4 a bottle) and received a medal - concours des grands vins de France - Macon medaille d'or in 2002. It is obtainable only from Les Maitres Vignerons de Gonfaron - down the road to the village, turn right at the bottom and it's about 100 yards on the left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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