The 'Mas' owner
Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 12:11AM On the Route de Valbonne, you’ll find the beautiful Mas Shabanou. You may have driven past many times and been curious about its history. It’s a 17th century restored farmhouse which the current owners have had since 2001. A mas (apparently) is similar to a bastide, both types of old French farmhouse, but a bastide is normally rectangular whereas a mas will have wings giving a courtyard and thus a different shape. So now you know…
This one was previously a school for girls, then a restaurant with Swiss owners, then an auberge, then a conference centre that ran into trouble and at that moment the current Dutch owners stepped in.
Today apart from being a chambre d’hôte with five guest rooms, they also have very large reception rooms and so it’s natural that they use these as venues (for anything from weddings to meetings) and they also offer art and cookery classes in-house.
I spoke to the owner Ingrid Lichtveld about life in Roquefort.
DH: How long have you lived in Roquefort?
IL: Permanently since 2006 as before then we were constantly going back and forth to our shop in Holland.
DH: Were you born there?
IL: Yes, in Amsterdam.
DH: What made you choose Roquefort?
IL: Actually we’d been looking for more than seven years for something really charming and just happened to find exactly the right thing here.
DH: What’s the best thing about our town?
IL: It’s very quiet and natural.
DH: If you could choose a day out would it be on the beach or in the mountains?
IL: Definitely the mountains.
DH: What’s your favourite holiday destination?
IL: It used to be the Maldives. But now because of the way we work, we prefer short city breaks, so in that case probably London or New York.
DH: If you could change something about our village what would it be?
IL: That would have to be the centre. I’d like to see it busier with lots of small shops, full of charm and cosy. We always have guests staying with us who would really appreciate that too.
DH: What’s your guilty food pleasure?
IL: That has to be pasta. I just love it!
DH: And lastly, what’s your favourite gadget, object or thing?
IL: I wouldn’t choose a gadget or a thing, I’m not materialistic, but I love animals, so it would have to be my lovely dogs.
For more information about the Mas Shabanou visit their site at www.mas.shabanou.com or call 0493 09 68 44.
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