Lou Messugo Gite, Côte d'Azur, France

01/09/2026

School's back! C'est la rentrée!

In France "la rentrée" is so much more than just school starting again. It's also a return to regular life after the long summer holidays, a sort of "re-set". Many people join gyms or other sports clubs, start diets or detox regimes and make resolutions a bit like at new year.

Are you marking la rentrée in any way?

You can read all about la rentrée in the blog post in the comments 👇

22/08/2026

New installation at Lou Messugo. We've put up a sail to help reduce the temperature both on the terrace and inside the living space though this photo makes me laugh because the only sun is right under it 😂 However at other times of the day it really does provide lots of shade over the table and chairs 😍

20/08/2026

Jeffrey from Atlanta, Georgia, back for his second visit, this time with his parents from Alabama. They came for Thanksgiving. Yes, this is quite typical weather for November on the Côte d'Azur.

20/08/2026

This Sunday (23rd August) La Vuelta cycle race (Spain's equivalent of the Tour de France) will pass through Roquefort, along the main road around 1pm (roughly). Lots of big name cyclists taking part!

I do love a good bike race, even if you wait for ages and it's over in seconds!

Do you like to watch/support live sports events like this?

[EVENEMENT] La Vuelta (équivalent à notre Tour de France) passera par notre commune ce dimanche 23 août 🚴

📍Les coureurs traverseront notre commune lors de la 2ᵉ étape, entre Monaco et Manosque
⏰ Passage prévisionnel à Roquefort-les-Pins vers 13h

🚗 CIRCULATION PERTURBÉE
Avant et pendant le passage de la course, la circulation sera temporairement interrompue par les organisateurs et les forces de l’ordre.
Perturbations à prévoir principalement entre 12h30 et 14h00.

👉 Venez nombreux au bord des routes pour encourager les coureurs et profiter de l’ambiance exceptionnelle de ce grand événement sportif. Alors, plutôt que de regarder passer la Vuelta derrière un écran, venez la vivre avec nous !

La Vuelta

01/08/2026

Summer berries (and chocolate!)

31/07/2026

When the heat has gone out of the day and the sun starts to go down make the most of summer nights on the Côte d'Azur at one of the many night markets. Many towns in the area have at least one night market - marché nocturne - a week where you can find clothing, gifts, jewellery, pottery, paintings, crafts and more.

Here are a few of the night markets near Lou Messugo:

Tuesday: Villeneuve Loubet seafront
Wednesday: Valbonne old village
Thursday: La Colle sur Loup village centre & St Paul de Vence
Friday: Cros de Cagnes near the church
Saturday: Villeneuve Loubet Marina Baie des Anges
Every evening: Antibes marché provençal & Nice Cours Saleya

Don't you just love a night market?

26/07/2026

New drone footage of Lou Messugo showing where the pool is in relation to the gite and an ariel view. Isn't it great to get a different perspective?

Thanks to Tom Méry for this terrific little video. Link to his Instagram profile in the comments.

24/07/2026

Let's talk about le Bal des Pompiers - the firefighters' ball. This is a summer tradition in France, often associated with the 14th of July National Day. It's a party thrown by firefighters, usually in the fire station, to raise awareness and funds for the local fire brigade.

But it's not always on the 14th July nor in the fire station, so I'm delighted to see that for the first time in years our town is having a Bal des Pompiers! It's tomorrow in the Jardin des Decades from 19h00. Bar, food trucks and DJ music for a night of fun.

Firefighters need all the support they can get for their heroic work with all the wildfires raging in France at the moment, so if you're in the area, come along and support our local pompiers.

Have you been to a Bal des Pompiers before? Share your experiences and thoughts in the comments.

16/07/2026

Sally (reading my dad's memoir!) in November 2025. We've been friends since the early 90s and she's visited Lou Messugo many times over the years from Perth Australia, St Etienne France and most recently Dubai UAE. Definitely our most far-flung returning guest!

13/07/2026

Tomorrow is la Fête Nationale, or Bastille Day as it is known by English speakers.

This means some towns are already celebrating today with fireworks and balls, others tomorrow, and in Roquefort for the first time since I've lived here, we're getting some festivities on Wednesday. This will include a parade of military vehicles, a giant Aïoli (fish and vegetables with garlic mayo) and a concert in the evening.

Paris will see the biggest military parade of all time ( I'm talking here in France!) and in Nice there will be commemorations for the 10 year aniversary of the dreadful terrorist attack that took place on the Promenade des Anglais in 2016. Macron will be in attendance so there will be many road closures and big crowds.

And to top all of this there's also the France-Spain semi final in the football!

What will you be doing and where, to celebrate France's National Day?