Jean-Pierre, gardener, Les Domaines de Chabran
“A garden should look as if nobody works in it. That takes a great deal of work.”
I look after the gardens: the olives, the lawn under the trees, the roses along the wall, the vegetable beds the chef raids in the morning. A garden here is mostly water and shade: knowing where the sun will be at four in the afternoon, and making sure there is somewhere to sit when it gets there.
“Guests see it finished.”
They don’t see February, when everything is cut back and the place looks bare, or the week in June when the lavender turns from grey to blue in three days. I like that they don’t. If a child wants to help pick the tomatoes, I hand over a basket. If someone asks the name of a tree, I tell them, and usually its story too.
Ven, lifestyle manager — the next voice
“I know how you take your coffee before your suitcase is open. That is the job.”