Despite the Mistral blowing for the first few days, we had a good time at the Provence Country Club. The Highlight is the golf course. The Lowlight certainly is the apartment itself. We booked online and had an upper floor apartment (which are sunnier than the ones at ground floor because of the trees). We had a nice view to the 2nd hole of the Golf Course and a mountain range. Having breakfast on the balcony in the sunshine was really nice. The pool (of the whole resort) we didn't really use.
Standard of the Apartment? Don't get too excited, it's all self contained, so you have to do your shopping. You have to bring pretty much everything yourself, salt, pepper, oil, sponge, washing up liquid, even tabs for the dishwasher. If you want to avoid the charges for sheets and linen, just bring your own. They are standard single bed mattresses. Also they don't really have any duvets. They are just woolen blankets. So if you prefer sleeping with proper duvets you should bring them yourself. The beds were ok, but as the rest of the apartment quite low quality. I'm not old, but after a few nights and a few rounds of golf I really longed for a good nights sleep in a comfortable bed. The rest of the apartment is decorated in a simple way, nice but you can see it's all quite cheap and a lot of people have obviously been here. This place needs a make-over soon. Also, our apartment wasn't cleaned, I found other people's hair everywhere! So I called the reception and complained. They offered a free cleaning at the end (which usually costs about 60-70 Euros). The kitchen was small but had most things you needed.
Despite the lack of quality of the apartment (which is probably more like a 1* or at the most 2*), the golf course and club was excellent and more of a 4* standard. The driving range was basic but ok. The greens and fairways are very well kept and some of the best I've seen around for a while. It's quite expensive at about 70 Euros per Person per 18 holes, but I think it's worth the money. The Club house terrace is beautifully set overlooking the 18th, with relaxing chairs and sofas. The club house itself has a lovely restaurant with glass fronts overlooking the terrace and the 18th hole as well. When it's still warm enough they open the glass fronts, so it feels as if you were sitting outside. Watching the sun set over the golf course from either the terrace or the restaurant is truly great and we indulged in that view pretty much every night.
The food in the restaurant is very good as well, not Michelin standard, but some of the dishes were close to it. The bar area lacks a bit of character and the toilets are downstairs. But that's it with the negatives for the club house. The shop is tiny tiny and doesn't offer much. There's a golf shop towards Avignon, they should be able to tell you in the club house where exactly it is.
Make sure you go to the market in the nearby village on Saturdays. It's packed during lunch time and after, but if you go there very early or rather late, then you'll enjoy the market. Trying to get a lunch-time table here on a Saturday is an absolute nightmare, so don't even bother. Other than that it's a nice little town with some lovely canals.... but don't venture too far away from the old town, it gets a bit grim the further away you walk.
- Residence Provence Country Hotel
- Hotel Residence Provence Country
