I am beginning to find the rigamarole of flying frustrating. Not the actual event itself, though we all know that the advent of budget airlines sucked all the glamour and occasion out of it, but the fandango around it: the pre flight queuing and ambling from place to place, while carrying a bag stuffed with my laptop, and book, and water which that makes my shoulders ache; the passport control at the other end where you feel so exhausted you stand in line wilting like a desiccated plant.
The worst bit: getting off the plane only to have a long old transfer, a journey requiring vigour that has been sucked from you during the aforementioned.
While the lure of the French getaway of Le Mas Candille couldn’t do away with the queuing, or the aching, or the specific irritation that comes from elbowing your way onto a packed plane, it triumphs as a speedy getaway geographically — the flight is just over an hour, the car transfer between Nice airport and Mougins, the commune near Cannes where it’s located, a mere 20 minutes.
The above is for we normal folk who travel alongside others of course — if you’re reading this and own a private jet or helicopter, disregard all of that because being bothered by the rigours of travel isn’t for you. Let’s move swiftly on to the reasons George and Amal Clooney couldn’t wait to head to Le Mas Candille, taking a holiday there shortly after it opened in June this year.
The location itself, aside from being handily near Nice, is a dream. The hotel is comprised of hillside villas containing the 46 rooms and suites, flanked by pine trees and cicadas. The air is fragrant, the sun shines frequently (famously this little part of France is balmy, even during winter months), and the swimming pools glitter invitingly.
Le Mas Candille is a stone’s throw from Mougins, a town beloved by Picasso, Isadora Duncan, Man Ray, and Jean Cocteau, all of whom lived there, fostering a healthy art scene that drew people like Christian Dior, Elizabeth von Arnim, and Edith Piaf to spend time in the area.
I’m not in the least bit surprised that entrepreneur and the retreat’s founder Jean-Philippe Cartier took one look at the place and thought it would be a magnet for those trying to escape life for a weekend (or, if you’re very lucky, longer).
Seeing as I’m technically visiting to check out the spa, that being my particular area of expertise, let’s focus on that for a moment because I suspect many of you who go will want a massage or facial. The first thing to know is that The Glow House is a very classic affair, headed up by Clarins. There’s a fitness room and four treatment rooms, along with a second building housing a hammam, sauna, and 25-metre heated pool, half of which juts outside, so you can swim under the sun or stars.
I tried a massage and a facial, both relaxing, both cosseting, both appropriately summed up by the Clarins motto of ‘subtle light touches’ — no, my skin wasn’t transformed, but, yes, it glowed and I felt mellow after and that is precisely what I wanted and expected from it.
Onto the interiors. architect Hugo Toro took the original structure and decided the vibe should be warm and sepia, with bright accents. He describes this as “The style of a Provençal mas, while adding an American touch to also make it resemble a large Californian villa.”
Certainly this seems to have been popular with American visitors, a few of whom I met there, many telling me they felt that it was very authentically French, but with the sort of 5-star touches they wanted, and, perhaps unbeknownst to them, a few echoes of home.
It is a good idea to eat at Le Mas Candille. I couldn’t find anything nearby that rivalled the restaurants on site – which include a casual pool restaurant that is open by night, and the fancier La Table des Pins, both overseen by Romain Antoine, who previously helmed the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Villa Archange. I could – should – talk about the Nicoise salad (presented like a sculpture, delicious) or the Sea Bass Tartare (delicately drizzled in mandarin orange), but it is really the bread I was quite astonished by. Not a single genre of it – all of it. From the croissants to the brioche: spectacular, and it’s worth making room for them in all their incarnations.
Go for a spa weekend, or when you find London is just feeling a bit much. A few days taking in the dazzling vista of Cannes laid out before you while you sit a glass of rosé after a massage will see you right. The cherry atop the icing? The journey there will be short and speedy, so you’ll be delivered into the arms of the Le Mas Candille team only marginally frazzled.
Rooms from € 490/night, mascandilles.com/en
