Les Davids

“I dreamed of a family home.” When Sophie Le Clercq, heir to a Belgian construction empire and one of the country’s most formidable real estate entrepreneurs, dreams, she rarely thinks small. In Brussels, she is notably behind Kanal, the future museum district developed in partnership with the Centre Pompidou. In 2000, she and her husband, the painter Yves Zurstrassen, fell in love with a wild stretch of land at the foot of the Montagne de Lure. When people think of the Luberon, they picture Gordes or Lourmarin, yet the outer reaches of the Regional Natural Park reveal a landscape that is far more rugged than fashionable. “Choosing to settle in an untouched, unspoiled place is no trivial decision.” Over the next twenty years, guided by instinct and an optimistic spirit of experimentation, Sophie restored abandoned farmland by reviving ancestral agricultural practices while reintroducing biodiversity. Following the acquisition of Château d’Autet in 2020—formerly owned by Lord David Linley Windsor—the estate now spans 320 hectares, including 35 hectares of vineyards producing wines in deliberately limited quantities. Vegetables, fruit and bread are also produced on the estate: a wholehearted return to life’s essentials. At the heart of this restored rolling landscape, two hamlets of three beautifully renovated stone houses welcome guests. Each enjoys its own spa, two swimming pools, tennis court and pétanque pitch. Long tables beneath vine-covered pergolas and roaring fireplaces invite convivial gatherings, while interiors blend the finest Belgian furniture with the timeless elegance of Provence: pale wood, terracotta, linen and traditional quilted textiles. Some holiday homes are simply a base from which to explore a region; others are destinations in their own right. Les Davids unquestionably belongs to the latter. It is wonderfully easy to surrender to idleness without ever feeling the need to venture beyond the estate. Pick up flaky pastries, tarts and focaccias from Anne-Sophie’s artisanal bakery, Le Fournil; visit the winery, discreetly embedded into the landscape by architect Marc Barani, before tasting the wines in the cellar; linger over leisurely brunches and balmy Provençal dinners created by Chef Paul Régie; or spend the afternoon drifting between your private pool, the tennis court and a game of pétanque. Those struck by wanderlust can lose themselves among the ochre landscapes of the Colorado Provençal, browse the astonishing shelves of Le Bleuet, Banon’s legendary bookshop, hike through the surrounding garrigue or explore the local markets. Yet it is hard not to be drawn back, if only to walk once more along “La Promenade”, a two-kilometre landscaped trail carved into the terrain like an inverted topiary by Bas Smets and Eliane Le Roux—the same landscape architects behind the planting of the 80,000 trees at the Parc des Ateliers in Arles. The route winds through flower meadows, lichen-covered valleys, springs and panoramic hillsides punctuated by site-specific artworks. The experience reaches its peak in late July during the Estivales du Haut-Cavalon, a unique literary and music festival bringing together Belgian and Parisian artists, writers and intellectuals for conversations, concerts, screenings and even Japanese textile repair workshops. Sophie Le Clercq dreamed of creating “an open-air salon.” She has done just that—on a grand scale. Some family traits are impossible to resist.