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LA CERISAIE

A 7-minute walk from Joucas, a small medieval village that also has a set of public tennis courts so well maintained they look as if they were airlifted from the Hamptons, is a small hamlet called Les Gardiols. The hamlet has no commerce, and consists of no more than 25 permanent residents who, while they share a warm bond of friendship and a common sense of being fortunate to live in Les Gardiols, pretty much keep to themselves. It is Provence at its most beautiful and most authentic, but with that fine sense of privacy, and respect for one's neighbor's privacy, that the French value so dearly.

In the heart of Les Gardiols, behind a high wall that creates a small shady courtyard where there is an immense stone table for family dining, is the compact but very comfortable, functionally impeccable and charmingly furnished La Cerisaie. It is rare to find a house so immediately pleasing in such an exquisitely Provençal environment. While the layout of the two-level house is most conducive to families with children, all of the bedrooms are nicely decorated, and the house is also perfect for two or three couples. One bedroom is on the ground level and is entered from the courtyard, and is thus especially suitable for a couple who wants privacy.

But the surprising feature - not immediately apparent when you arrive at La Cerisaie - that transforms this pretty village mas into a perfect summer home lies just across the little unpaved lane in front of the house. Here, in a fenced area surrounded by oleander, climbing roses and clumps of lavender, is a pretty garden with a swimming pool, plentiful pool furniture, and, at one end under the spreading branches of a cherry tree, a cool, shady area with a stone table for poolside lunches and barbecuing at the charcoal grill. This private little domaine is part of the property, and is where guests will want to spend the daylight hours in the summer months. In the evening it will be cocktails in the courtyard, perhaps followed by dinner at the stone table there.

Stretching beyond the pool area, and comprising part of the large terrain that includes La Cerisaie, is a vast orchard with scores of cherry trees. Since the pool is fenced, parents can linger by the pool while the children play in the adjacent orchard.

The house is entered through the courtyard, and directly ahead are large doors opening into a delightful country-style kitchen with Provençal colors and white counters and cupboards. Adjoining the kitchen is a family dining area with a long farm table. The appliances include a four-burner electric stove with ceramic top, wall convection oven, dishwasher, microwave and large two-door American-style refrigerator. The separate laundry room, entered from the courtyard, has a washing machine and tumble dryer.

The private suite of rooms that opens off the courtyard has a queen-sized bed, large armoire and ensuite bath with a tub and hand-held shower. This is a pretty room, with apricot pastel walls and a fascinating mosaic tile floor that dates from the late 19th century.

A stairway from the downstairs suite leads to the main floor. Most of the rooms on the upper level are carpeted wall-to-wall in a tan hemp-like carpet that is common to homes in Provence.

Off the foyer on the main floor is a second bedroom, which is medium-sized and has twin beds and a large armoire. This room is decorated in a blue motif. Immediately adjacent is a third bedroom, decorated in Provençal yellow and somewhat on the small side, that also has twin beds. These two bedrooms share a bathroom with stall shower and WC. Both bedrooms have floral bedspreads and are sunny and breezy rooms, with splendid views toward the pool and cherry orchard and beyond to the hills of the Lubéron.

The main room on the upper level, running the entire width of the U-shaped house, is a comfortable salon, rectangular-shaped with beamed ceilings and exposed stone walls, that has two large sofas, an antique desk and a view south over the courtyard toward the Lubéron, with the ochre cliffs of Roussillon in the distance. The salon, which has a television with satellite reception, is an inviting room for family gatherings. A spiral staircase leads from the salon to the dining area and kitchen below.

Opening off the living room and down two steps is the spacious master bedroom, which has a king-sized bed, beamed ceilings, a chest of drawers and an unforgettable antique armoire. The ensuite bath, which like the other bathrooms in the house is simply but cleanly done in terra cotta tile, has a bathtub, stall shower and WC. While the master bedroom has no particular view, it has full doors that open onto a small back yard.

There is something especially endearing about La Cerisaie that we find it hard to put our finger on, but we think it has to do with the fact that one's experience here is so authentically French. Perhaps this derives from the house's simple country ambiance, the easy and friendly rapport with other neighbors in the hamlet, the pleasant walk to Joucas for fresh bread and croissants each morning, and, impossible not to remark on, the natural beauty of the sprawling cherry orchard, which bears copious fruit in May and early June. We also appreciate the property's fine amenities - the pool not least among them - and the way the modern technology has been incorporated into a centuries-old structure (the main part was constructed some 300 years ago) without diluting its Provençal character.

These features, coupled with the property's excellent location in the heart of the Lubéron yet away from the crowds and the noise of traffic, make La Cerisaie an ideal choice for those who need their creature comforts but also want to live à la Provençale, and who don't need opulent surroundings to achieve that goal.