A stone house knows what to do with heat

The house stands at 390 metres (1,280 ft), inland, some sixty kilometres from the sea. Away from the coast, the temperature really does come down at night.

In July 2026 — the hottest July ever recorded at the Rians weather station — the average overnight minimum stayed at 16.4 °C (62 °F).

Rians passes 39 °C (102 °F) on heatwave days, as everywhere in Provence. But the nights here stay appreciably cooler.

Source: Météo-France station 83104001, Rians, 390 m.

The outside walls are between sixty centimetres and a metre thick (2 to 3 ft). Stone warms slowly, and gives back through the day the coolness it takes in at night.

The house runs north to south, and the courtyard lies to the east, against the hillside. As soon as the sun moves round to the south, the building throws its shadow across the courtyard — which is to say, exactly when the heat becomes tiresome.

The mulberry adds its canopy, and the fountain cools the air. Between two and seven in the afternoon, this is where the house lives.

• 7 to 11 am — open everything up. Breakfast in the courtyard, on the east side.
• 11 am — close the shutters and windows. The stone does the rest.
• 1.30 to 7 pm — the courtyard is in shade. Lunch there, linger there, sleep there. Or go to the pool.
• 7 pm — open the house again and move round to the south terrace for aperitifs.
• Overnight — sleep with the windows open.

The house also has an underfloor cooling system, which we can run occasionally depending on conditions.

Four of the six bedrooms face west and take the afternoon sun; two face east onto the courtyard and stay cooler. Room 4, on the ground floor beside the courtyard, is the coolest in the house: we recommend it for older guests.

We send you a suggested room allocation before you arrive. Every bedroom has a fan.

See all six bedrooms