La Combe des Selves

La Combe des Selves occupies a private valley in the hills of Provence, reached by a drive that winds through pine and holm oak to a cluster of stone buildings arranged across terraced gardens. The main house is a restored Provençal bastide of rough-cut stone with shuttered windows, a tiled pitched roof, and a square stone tower — the oldest part of the property — rising above a courtyard of cypress and plane.

The interior has been restored to keep its bones intact: flagstone floors, exposed stonework, original beamed ceilings, and a sculptural curved plaster staircase rising from the main hall. The principal living room is anchored by a deep stone fireplace and furnished simply in linen and slipcovered upholstery, while the vaulted dining room — cut into the old stone cellar — seats fourteen under a barrel ceiling in honey-toned plaster. The kitchen is laid out in granite and pale birch with a second cooking area, a pantry, and a woodfired hood.

The outdoor program is distributed across the estate. A contemporary pool pavilion sits one terrace below the house — a flat-roofed concrete and timber structure housing an outdoor kitchen, a long dining table, and a lounge, opening directly onto a full-length infinity pool. A separate mature garden holds a second traditional stone-edged pool under cypress and umbrella pines. The property's private lake, about five minutes' walk from the house, has a small red rowing boat and a stone boathouse with a long covered breakfast terrace over the water. An oak treehouse nearby is strung with hammocks and festoon lights — reached by a rope bridge, used for evening drinks in summer.

Nine bedrooms are distributed across the main bastide and adjoining guest wings, accommodating up to eighteen guests. The property sits in the Var, within easy reach of the hill villages of the Haut Var and about ninety minutes from Nice airport and the coast at Saint-Tropez.