December 2008
-

Visit the
Ted
Jones Website to learn about his book, The French Riviera A
Literary Guide For Travellers, another book than will appeal to Fortescue fans
and endorsed by Peter Mayle, no less! This book is full of information on some very
well known names and their homes and life in the south of
France. Click here for more
information and a new page.
November 2008
-

Details of two recent books by author
Michael
Nelson have been added to the site, both have a strong
connection with the Riviera and Fortescue era. Click
here for more information and a
new page.
-

New photo's & pictures added of the chapel in
Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street, London where John
& Winifred were married, The
Elfin Oak in Kensington Gardens, London, (taken in the gathering gloom
of a November afternoon), and
Queen Victoria's visit to
Grasse in 1891 when she occupied The Grand Hotel.
-

Details of a lovely holiday property to rent in South
West France. Click here
for more information.
October 2008
-

Scan of the Isis unabridged Perfume from Provence
tape, (6hrs.15mins), read by Patricia Hughes in 1998, added to the
page covers & dust jackets.
-

Maureen Emerson has embarked
on
a series of talks & book launches in France this month. Full details
of dates and locations are now listed on the
'Escape to Provence'
page. Do try and get to one if you are in the vicinity.
-

Looking further ahead to
2009, Maureen will also be
at
The France Show, Earls Court, London, 9th
-11th January, organized by France Magazine, and at Haywards
Heath Library, Sussex, (date to be confirmed).
September 2008
-

The September issue of Riviera Reporter contains a
splendid review of 'Escape to Provence'. The cover picture,
possibly by co-incidence, is a lovely photograph of Opio. Click
here to visit the review.

August 2008
-

A lovely 1939 pencil sketch by
Lonsdale Ragg, Archdeacon of
Gibraltar, has been added to the pages on Fort Escu (Sunset House).
Click here to see it.
-

'Escape to Provence' - update.
The re-launching of AMB Cote d’Azur’s website
with completely new features, a broader scope of articles, videos,
fuller coverage of the Cote d’Azur and Provence – plus a brilliant
new design and layout has taken place. The new site features a full
page review of Maureen Emerson's new book which was launched in June
and, in addition, a splendid 5 minute video about the book filmed in
and around Opio and narrated by Maureen herself. This is a must
for all fans and Maureen and the staff of the AMB site are to be
congratulated. Visit the page and see the video by clicking on the
link
here.
-

2 press reviews of 'Cintra's' fashions from 1921 can
now be found on the Cintra page. Click here.
-

New page created with access to 1920's magazine
articles written by Winifred after the closure of her 'Cintra'
fashion business. Click here.
July 2008
'ESCAPE TO PROVENCE'
by
Maureen Emerson

Now available at price £9.99 plus £2 p&p
(U.K.)
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS OF HOW TO ORDER
June 2008
-

In Winfred's last book Laughter in Provence she
recounts a tale of a niece and her husband arriving for a visit to Opio
in a superb Healey Silverstone sports car which aroused great
interest. The car is still in use and the present owner recently
traced a son of Winifred's niece and the actual car
turned up on his doorstep whilst visiting the UK from South Africa! He has kindly supplied photo's
and there is a memoir from Winifred's companion secretary at the
time who is featured in the story. Click
here.
-

'Escape to Provence' by Maureen Emerson was
officially launched on Saturday 14th June 2008 at the English Book
Centre, Valbonne, France, courtesy of the proprietor Jill Shepperd
who had provided an excellent backdrop for the event. Maureen gave a
short talk of about 15 minutes covering firstly the writing of the
book and then a brief description of the contents. Speaking
perfectly, despite claiming she had never done it before, the
audience in the packed bookshop were enthralled. Afterwards she
happily chatted with the visitors outside and signed numerous
copies. Maureen has to be congratulated on a splendid publication.
The depth of her research and the ends to which she has gone, (and
places), to obtain it is quite staggering. Congratulations Maureen,
a well deserved success. Click here
to see some photo's of the event.
-

Howard Grattan has kindly provided two new dust
jackets from editions of Perfume from Provence and Sunset House that
were published by Cedric Chivers of Bath in 1974. Click
here to go direct to the book page for the
thumbnail pictures which have links to their respective pages. These editions appear
to have been published in conjunction with the Library Association.
-
Howard has supplied two more un-seen covers from a Japanese edition
of Sunset House and a Swedish edition of Perfume from
Provence.
-

'Escape to Provence' by Maureen Emerson - Update.
This
exciting new publication, the culmination of approximately 7 years
work, is now being printed. The book will be available
for order direct from the publisher, Chapter & Verse, at £9.99 (post free the U.K.) in
July 2008. An order form will be available to download and print in due
course.
May 2008
-

The
CDP narrow gauge railway,
part of which used to run through The Domaine olive groves, will be
operating its steam hauled service again in 2008. It will operate
on Sunday only between Puget-Theniers and Annot until from 11th May
until the 19th October.
You can connect with the steam train by using the ordinary service
from Nice CDP station. For further information click
here.
-

'Race for Life 2008' - Update. Fiona &
Jane completed the 5k run at Stratford upon Avon Race Course on
Sunday 18th May in great times. It was a fresh and windy morning but
fortunately dry. So far they have raised nearly £700 in sponsorship
and, as their employer operates a £1 for £1 scheme, this will bring
the total to £1400! A fantastic effort and a huge thank you for your
support. There were 2000 women runners and the day will have raised
about £1 million in total for this worthy cause.
-

'Escape to Provence' by Maureen Emerson.
The story of the fascinating lives of Winifred Fortescue & Elisabeth
Starr. The book will be launched at a
signing by the author, in France, on Saturday 14th June 2008. It should be available, to order, in
the UK in July 2008. You can see the finished cover
design, read the notes and get full details of the launch by clicking on the picture below.

April 2008
-

Mac Users - if you are viewing the site on an Apple Mac
or
using the Safari browser on a PC please note that there are a few strange
anomalies! Certain text appears misplaced or may even be missing where
Word Art was used to create it. The site is constructed on a PC but I
will try and synchronize it for Mac users in due course. (NOW DONE!)
-

1908 First Night Programme from Pinkie and the
Fairies at His Majesty's Theatre added. Winifred the actress
appeared in this production. Click here.
-

Another early aerial photo of Opio & Chateauneuf has
come into my collection and is now available to view. Click
here.
-

My wife, Fiona, will be
running in the Cancer Research UK 'Race for Life 2008' at
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire on May
18th for the 5th year running. She
is joined this year by a friend and colleague, Jane Hudson-Evans, who
is taking part for the first time. If you would like to support them
you will be very welcome, just double click on the donate
button below. Than you very much indeed for your support.

March 2008
-

Better quality scans of the press reviews and pictures
from Winifred's days as an actress. (You can now read them!). Click
here.
-

Better quality scans of the remaining 'Cintra'
documents have now been added to the appropriate page, you can also
enlarge them and view in Adobe.pdf format. Click
here.
-

New photographs of the Opio graves taken in February
2008, by regular visitor Rhona Wells, have been added to the site.
-

Lady Fortescue's original garden at The Domaine, near
Grasse, (now Villa Fort France), will be open to the public a number
of times in 2008. If you are in the area it is an opportunity not to
be missed. For times and dates click here.
The garden has recently been awarded the label 'Jardin
Remarquable'. To read more about this, in French, click on the
logo below. I will add a translation shortly.

-

I apologise for the delay in
updates to the site during early 2008, this has been brought about by
health problems. However, I have not been idle! A number of the sites
original photo's have been replaced with better quality images,
continuing the programme started last year. If you look carefully you
will see there is now a small photo of 'L.O.' or Little Orchard, the
cottage occupied by Winifred & John in Hertfordshire after leaving
London but before moving to France. There are some new pages planned
for 2008, hopefully some spare books for sale and the possibility of a
book of photographs, taken from the originals used on the web site.
-

Winter is almost over in the
south and the carnival season is in full swing in Nice & Menton. The
Mimosa is in bloom and the sun is getting warmer each day,
although you can still pop up to the Alpes-Maritime and ski at places
like Auron, having
enjoyed the morning down at the sea! I hope to be enjoying the sea
half very soon!

February 2008
-

'Escape to Provence' by Maureen Emerson. This
exciting new publication, the culmination of approximately 7 years
work by Maureen, is now entering its final stages with the designers,
printers and indexers. The book should be available in
Summer of
this year and Jill
Shepperd of the
English
Book Centre in Valbonne has kindly arranged
a book signing (with a short introductory talk) for Saturday, 14 June
2008. If you find yourself in the area at that time
you will be very welcome to attend. I hope to be able to add an order
form to the website in due course to enable visitors to obtain a copy. More information when available.


January 2008
-

In December 2007 a new book titled The Good Straight Englishwoman,
written by Amanda Davies was published. In the 1920s and 30s
Clare Hedley-Peek
ran the highly successful ‘Sunshine Clinic’ for children with bone
disease – she and her partner Winifred Morris were part of the ex-pat
community which included Lady Fortescue and Elisabeth Starr living on
the Opio hillside renamed by the locals as ‘La Colline des Anglaises’.
Click here for more information.
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