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Sandi's Great Riviera Rail Trip Season 1 Episode 2
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FunTranscript
00:00Riviera, playground of the rich and famous and one of the world's great dream
00:05destinations. This is paradise. And by taking a simple rail trip of just over
00:10100 miles from end to end, you can see all its sun-drenched glories. And that's
00:16what I'm doing. Wow. It's luxury beyond all measure and I got the best seat in the
00:24house. As well as the rather nice sea, sand and sun, I want to explore the
00:28region's rich past. We're sitting pretty much in the exact spot. And vibrant
00:34present. What a way to toast a new friendship. I'll discover the famous
00:38characters that made the Riviera glitter. You could say that they invented the
00:44Cortesio in the summertime. And I'll visit the places and meet the people that keep
00:48it shimmering today. Oh, I love this. What's not to like about my great Riviera
00:54rail trip. Can you guess where we are? Yes. My great Riviera rail trip has reached the home
01:09of the world's most famous film festival. For almost 80 years, the movie greats have been
01:17coming here and this wonderful mural sets the scene nicely.
01:25I'm genuinely excited. I have never been in Cannes before and you cannot come here
01:29without thinking about the movies. I feel like the kid up from the country hoping to
01:33make it big. Of course, the thing that is big here in Cannes is the dog population. I
01:37think the chances are, rather than finding fame, I'm much more likely to end up with a
01:41furry friend. Cannes is just the first step in this week's stage of my Tour de France Sud.
01:50From here, I'll be taking a slight detour to Grasse to make myself smell a little nicer.
01:56I'll explain later. And then I'll be treading in the footsteps of two giant artistic figures
02:02of the 20th century who put their little stretch of this famous coastline on the world's cultural map.
02:08But first, it's Cannes. I've never been here before and I've always wondered what it would be like
02:14to be at the big fancy film festival. I've been in show business a very, very long time.
02:18I've made a couple of British movies. I've never really done the Hollywood thing,
02:22although it was close. So 1971, maybe I was 11 or 12, I was spotted by a talent scout
02:29who asked me if I would audition for Paul Newman. So I went and I met him and I read for him.
02:34He was so lovely, those amazing piercing eyes that he had. It was for a movie called
02:39The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man and the Moon Marigolds and I was to play his daughter.
02:43I didn't get the part because he cast his own daughter, so I don't feel too bad.
02:48But there's a moment in my life, a crossroads, where I might have gone in a different direction
02:53and ended up here, treading the red carpet.
02:59At least with a job like this, I get to hang out in some of the places
03:02those movie stars frequent when they're at the festival.
03:05And nowhere is more central to it than The Great Carlton,
03:10one of the most iconic hotels in the world.
03:14The Carlton opened in 1913 and its signature domes perched on its seafront corners are said
03:21to have been modelled on the breasts of legendary courtesan Caroline Ortero,
03:26rumoured lover of Edward VII and Queen of the Belle Epoque Riviera.
03:30What a lovely lot of old gossip.
03:32The Carlton hosted all the eight journalists who came to the first ever film festival in 1946.
03:39And this beautifully preserved ballroom has hosted more stars
03:44than there are in heaven over the years.
03:47The Carlton Hotel has fairly recently been renovated,
03:50but not this room because it didn't need it.
03:54Look at this. This is the Grand Salon.
03:58And it is sort of bursting with a sense of luxury.
04:02And if you've ever seen that wonderful 1955 film directed by Hitchcock
04:06to Catch a Thief with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly,
04:09you already have a sense of the glory of this place.
04:12In fact, it was also in 1955 at the Cannes Film Festival
04:15that Grace Kelly was doing a photo shoot,
04:17and she was asked to do it with Prince Rainier of Monaco.
04:20And the rest after that was history.
04:23In fact, I have a feeling if I hang around here long enough,
04:26some royal may come and snatch me up.
04:28But I'm happily married, so I'm obviously not going to let that happen.
04:32The Carlton has remained a hotel to the stars ever since.
04:37Who knows how many movie greats have come down these beautiful lifts
04:41or walked down this grand staircase to tread the red carpet.
04:45Then get in a fancy car to take them just a few hundred yards
04:49to the Film Festival Palais.
04:51One man who's spent a lot of time catering to the whims of those rich and famous
04:56is veteran concierge Maxime Nekowski.
05:00Maxime, bonjour.
05:02Bonjour.
05:03Je suis Sandy.
05:04Bienvenue.
05:05Thank you so much.
05:06I'm very excited.
05:07A lot of people.
05:08It's always busy at the Carlton, I will say.
05:11OK.
05:12And how many rooms do you have?
05:14At the hotel, we have a little bit more than 360 rooms.
05:20Wow.
05:21And so for a festival, it can be completely full up?
05:23It's fully booked.
05:24Wow.
05:25Every space is busy and so we try to find more space and more space also.
05:31So you are a very special kind of concierge because you have the golden keys.
05:36Does that mean people come and think you can make magic for them?
05:41We try to be magic.
05:43Yes.
05:44The golden keys are from the chef concierge of El Carlton since five generations.
05:50Wow.
05:51What a responsibility.
05:52It is.
05:53Yeah.
05:54Yeah.
05:55As the Carlton is so close to the centre of the film festival, Maxime's seen his fair
05:59few red carpet moments over the years.
06:02In fact, the red carpet, usually they close the red carpet at seven o'clock, you know.
06:11So, yeah, the cars coming, they start at five.
06:15Oh, wow.
06:16Okay.
06:17Two hours of cars, you see.
06:18Yeah.
06:19As it's just like less than one kilometer from here.
06:23Yeah.
06:24But the ladies are coming dress up, you know, the man with a tuxedo.
06:31And do you get people ringing down saying, oh, I've lost a button on my tuxedo and…
06:36Always like that.
06:37Oh, that.
06:38Okay.
06:39Always like that, you know.
06:40I have to go.
06:41I don't have any bow tie.
06:42I sing a song.
06:43I have a few of them.
06:44Oh, do you?
06:45Just spare more time.
06:46Of the time.
06:47Of the time.
06:48Okay.
06:49I like that.
06:51Just out front of the Carlton, Cannes Public Promenade, or Quasette, is where you'll find
06:56the movie stars going for a stroll during the festival.
06:59But as they're not here this week, you're more likely to spot dogs.
07:04Because, for some reason, Cannes is known for having lots of them.
07:08They're actually barred from the beach in high season, but they do appear to be everywhere else.
07:14Hello.
07:17Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.
07:20I miss my dog.
07:22And guess what?
07:26Some dogs have become movie stars here, too.
07:29And they get to stroll the red carpet at their own awards ceremony.
07:33Dog-loving English journalist Toby Rose hosts the ceremony and can hopefully tell me how this all got started.
07:41So, we need to talk dogs.
07:43My subject.
07:44Okay.
07:45Why is it your subject?
07:46Well, years ago in France, we're in Cannes, I was in Champagne and I found in a fabulous market in the country fair, a dog called Muttley, who was a fox terrier.
07:57Made a short film with him.
07:58Okay.
07:59Did you name him Muttley?
08:00I think I did.
08:01Because it's the dog from Wacky Races, isn't it?
08:02Completely correct.
08:03Yeah, yeah.
08:04He's got good heritage.
08:05Right.
08:06And so, you made a film.
08:07What kind of film?
08:08It's a short film.
08:09It's called ID Crisis and it was about dogs saving the world.
08:13It was a great film and Muttley did a great thing and a great performance, but no prize.
08:19No award.
08:20So, clearly, I'm thinking about this, there's a lot of great dogs in films and where is the recognition?
08:26Exactly.
08:27Yeah.
08:28But now is the recognition.
08:30Okay.
08:31Started off with the Palm Dog.
08:32The Palm Dog.
08:33The Palm Dog Awards.
08:34Sorry, I was a little smile there.
08:35I didn't mean that.
08:36It is an incredibly witty.
08:38I like it.
08:39Play on the palm door.
08:41Yes.
08:42Look how lovely.
08:43And do you have any celebrity supporters?
08:45Well, we have actually a few.
08:47You may have heard of Quentin Tarantino.
08:50Oh, my word.
08:51When I say the words, Tilda Swinton.
08:54Darling, you've just gone straight for the top, haven't you?
08:57It has to be done, I think.
08:58My name be the Dame of Dogs.
09:00So, every year, is this during the actual festival that you give out the Palm Dog?
09:04It's the last Friday of the festival and it's become organically encrusted in the calendar.
09:09I have no idea if we're going to win the Palme d'Or.
09:14I feel no entitlement.
09:16It's the Palme d'Or.
09:17Not the Palme d'Or.
09:18But I do feel that I was in a good standing to win the Palme d'Or.
09:26You've watched a lot of dog performances.
09:29In your view, top dog of the Palm Dog.
09:32Would you have to include one of the first epic performances of all time was Uggy from The Artist.
09:39The first award that that film won was down there on the Quasette.
09:42Palm Dog.
09:43Very good.
09:44Very exciting.
09:45You haven't gone for the obvious ones like Beethoven or...
09:48The Palm Dog started in 2001.
09:50Oh!
09:51So, we can't even do the dog in Little Orphan Annie, can we?
09:54May I just say, Mutley, who was there very much at the beginning, was still out of the frame.
09:59Yes.
10:00So, how you could even go back to Lassie.
10:02I'm so sorry.
10:03Go back to Rin Tin Tin.
10:04I feel bad now.
10:05Go back to Astor.
10:06Toto in Wizard of Oz.
10:07Toto, Wizard of Oz.
10:08Yeah.
10:09All these greats.
10:10But it's amazing how many I actually know, so I feel slightly odd about it.
10:13Well, you know, that means that it's in your DNA.
10:16Yeah.
10:17So, I think also you should do other animals.
10:19So, I don't know if it's true, I think that the bear who played Paddington is the same one in The Revenant.
10:26But it was like showing his range.
10:27It's entirely possible.
10:29Of course, all celebrities, even dogs, need to look their best on the red carpet.
10:35So, my next stop is one of Cannes' many canine beauty salons, where proprietor Alexandrine
10:40Desouche prepares her clients for their big moment.
10:43Lovely.
10:44Nice to meet you.
10:45What a place you have.
10:47I wish I was a dog.
10:48Yes.
10:49It's a beautiful castle for dogs in Cannes.
10:52This place is for the grooming, ASPA massage, balneotherapy, grooming.
10:58Wow.
10:59And also, we produce the articles, very special, because in Cannes, it's the city, very special
11:06for the dog.
11:07Okay.
11:08So, you're busy all the time?
11:09All the time.
11:10And sometimes, does the dog get dressed up?
11:14Oh, yes.
11:15The last year, we made one, like, very special for the, for the cat.
11:20Saturday dress, night fever.
11:23Oh, I love this.
11:24This is wonderful.
11:25It's handmade, okay.
11:26Yeah.
11:27And one is for, uh, the, um, the stars of film festival.
11:32Yes?
11:33Yes.
11:34I make also for my dog, because it's very special.
11:35Oh, hello.
11:36My dog, she's, uh, um, Simone.
11:39Hello, Simone.
11:40She's a beautiful girl.
11:41She is gorgeous.
11:42She has four years gold.
11:44Hello.
11:45You're going to get dressed up, Simone.
11:47I'm not going to lie.
11:48Every Easter, I dress the dog up as the Pope.
11:50I'm just saying it.
11:51I have pictures, if you want to see.
11:53Just saying it.
11:54Okay.
11:55Oh, look at you.
11:58So gorgeous.
12:00Now she's ready to win an award, I think.
12:03It's fantastic.
12:04I think I should get a present for my dog to take home.
12:08Ah, you want you to...
12:09Yes.
12:10What do you like?
12:11We have a beautiful necklace.
12:13I think.
12:14Everything is handmade, okay?
12:15Okay.
12:16We want to...
12:17She's quite small.
12:18She's quite small.
12:19Yeah.
12:20Let me the size.
12:21Maybe this size.
12:22Yes.
12:23This is magnificent.
12:24It's precious.
12:25Yeah.
12:26Okay.
12:27We love this.
12:28And this Zwarowski and special, we love.
12:31Okay.
12:32This is very good.
12:33It's like a baby.
12:34Yeah.
12:35I'll take one of those.
12:36Very good.
12:38So, I came here hoping to get a taste of Hollywood by the sea.
12:43And I got a chiffon dog collar.
12:45Still, perhaps it's the perfect souvenir of a town where even the dogs live a glamorous
12:50life.
12:51Bit worried mine will start getting ideas now.
12:54The next stop on my great Riviera rail trip is taking me on a little detour inland.
13:15From Cannes, it's just 30 minutes by train to the historic city of Grasse.
13:22And if you're feeling a bit tired when you get here, you can catch a train around the town,
13:28too.
13:29I said I was going to travel by train.
13:33I wasn't expecting this one.
13:35Look at this.
13:36This is fantastic.
13:38Right.
13:39All aboard.
13:40Well, it's a rail trip.
13:43Why not?
13:48It's very steep.
13:49Wow.
14:03Grasse began life as a miniature republic of its own back in the 12th century.
14:07And you can still sense its medieval origins in the streets of one of the largest old
14:12towns in the whole of Provence.
14:17That was wonderful.
14:18I have been on the bullet train in Japan, but that was better.
14:23Merci, monsieur.
14:26He doesn't care.
14:28Still, better get some steps in today, I suppose.
14:31You can't walk around here without being interested in the history.
14:41This cathedral here in Grasse was first begun in the 12th century, and the plaque there mentions
14:46the French Revolution, which, of course, you know, we all know a little bit about.
14:49I did not know this.
14:50On the 20th of November, 1793, a guillotine was sent to Nice for their use.
14:57But they didn't have anybody to execute, so they decided to lend it to Grasse.
15:02They immediately took receipts and executed 30 citizens, including six priests, ten workmen,
15:07four officials, five bourgeois, one lawyer, one merchant, one spinster, and one nun.
15:12And then they returned it used to Nice.
15:17I mean, I like that they were clear about what was needed here.
15:28Thankfully, though, the guillotine isn't what Grasse is really about,
15:32for this beautiful little town is best known as the perfume capital of the world.
15:37Up in the foothills of the Alps and sheltered from the sea air,
15:42Grasse's microclimate is perfect for growing flowers.
15:46The surrounding sea of jasmine and roses spurred the creation of beautiful scents
15:52that spawned a massive industry.
15:55Now, Grasse's many perfume houses turn over 600 million euros a year between them.
16:01Here we are in the world's capital of perfume.
16:06And it makes you think, I wonder when human beings first thought of having perfume.
16:10Well, I can tell you.
16:11At 1200 BC, someone wrote down on a clay tablet in Babylonian Mesopotamia,
16:17the world's first perfume recipe.
16:19Not just the world's first perfume recipe, the very first chemical recipe.
16:23And the chemist was a woman called Taputi.
16:26I love that it was a woman who thought of it.
16:29Now, today I'm going to have a go at making scent.
16:32I've no idea how that actually functions.
16:35But I do know the word perfume means through smoke.
16:38So I'm hoping, you know, that there's a barbecue element to it.
16:45I'm visiting the historic factory of the Fragonard family,
16:48one of the world's oldest and most famous parfumiers.
16:52Before my little workshop, it's time for a history lesson with commercial director Cyprien Fabre.
16:59The Fragonard factory's extraordinary on-site museum looks back on a century of this family firm and the people who created it.
17:06It has always been a family business.
17:10The lady that you can see here on the painting, Tante Jeanne, she used to live in that factory.
17:16It was right here?
17:17Right here, right at this floor.
17:18You know, the upper floors were for the family.
17:20They would live there.
17:21And then the employees were working, you know, underneath in the floors downstairs.
17:25Where still we produce perfume in that building that comes from the 18th century.
17:32The museum contains lots of wonderful old artefacts that give a glimpse of how perfume was made in the first half of the 20th century.
17:41So what is happening here? This is jasmine.
17:43It is. We are very proud at Fragonard because this technique about capturing the olfactive power of jasmine is a very old technique.
17:50You know, it has centuries. And from this year onwards, we will do that technique again because...
17:56Are you bringing it back?
17:57Exactly. You know, this is our innovation at Fragonard, is bringing it back, you know, from so many centuries ago.
18:03And why do we bring back this technique?
18:06It's because we found out that it's the best technique to capture 100% of the olfactive power of the flower.
18:15Yes, it's all about the smells. And so Cyprien is now introducing me to a professional nose for a rather special perfume creation workshop.
18:25And to create your own perfume, you need a master. Hélène is one of those.
18:29OK, can you help me?
18:30Yes, of course I can.
18:31Let's try. Let's try.
18:32Wonderful.
18:33Cyprien says you're a master perfumier. How do you become that? How long does it take?
18:40It takes quite some years. Yeah. And passion.
18:44Yes. So did you always want to do that? Did you grow up as a little girl?
18:47Since the age of ten, yes.
18:48Really? Why?
18:49Yeah, because my mum used to work at the Parfums Givenchy, but not at all in the perfumery, you know, or making.
18:55She was working with human resources and she brought back home the samples for the test to choose, you know, the panel testing samples.
19:07And she asked me, do you want to smell? And I said, OK, let's, you know, being curious, I said, OK, let's do it.
19:13And on the end of the session, I said, I want to do that. She said, you want to do what? I'm like, what's inside? I want to do that.
19:20And since I'm little, I always put my nose everywhere. Every time there is a smell, you know, I go and look for it in the flowers or in the fields.
19:29Or even when my mum or my grandmother used to cook, I put my nose, you know, in my plates. And so I did the studies.
19:36And it's called being a nose, really, isn't it? Is that right? Yes, exactly.
19:41What's amazing about smell, I think, for everybody who pays attention to it, it touches your emotion.
19:46Emotions. Doesn't it? Emotions. Oh!
19:48It triggers, it triggers the emotion, so it vibrates here. Yeah.
19:52I lost my father a long time ago, but if I smell his pipe tobacco...
19:57That's wonderful. And it brings memories and, of course, it brings emotion.
20:02So, I'm going to smell various different essences and note down what they remind me of.
20:07Then I'll decide what proportion of each to put into my own personal perfume.
20:13It's a mixture of citrus notes and aromatic notes and a few floral notes.
20:19Is it orange going to be the first one? Orange, yeah. Or number one?
20:22Should I smell it now? You can, so be careful. Do not touch your nose with it, okay?
20:27What's important is that you close your eyes, you take a deep breath.
20:34I love that.
20:36And when you discover an ingredient for this first time, try to imagine all the memories that's coming to your head.
20:46So, what do you think of this orange?
20:48So, I love the first thing was making marmalade as a child.
20:52Yes.
20:53It made me think of the orange peel.
20:55The very first time that I had Aperol Spritz in Venice.
21:00So, I thought of Venice because it had a big slice of orange in it.
21:03But it's amazing, the images that come into your mind.
21:07Exactly.
21:08Not that every smell evokes warm nostalgia.
21:11Well, this one smells of cleaning to me.
21:15Because lemon has been used in a lot of cleaning products and particularly dish washing products.
21:20Yeah, so I think, well, I must do the kitchen.
21:29I could see how you could get hooked doing this.
21:32I could 100% see it.
21:34Okay, mandarin, orange.
21:36That's very different to the other orange.
21:38It smells of my school.
21:40I mean, it's really extraordinary how memories come straight flooding back.
21:44Yeah, that and my grandchildren who love mandarin oranges and I often peel them for them.
21:49And then we make fake teeth and put them in our mouth.
21:52I know.
21:53We find our own fun.
21:55Wow.
21:56So, the mandarin is going to be here to bring some freshness to the orange flower.
22:01Oh, I like, yeah, I like that.
22:03So, I'm going to put fake mandarin teeth.
22:09And the last one is the lavender.
22:14Oh, that's not what I was expecting.
22:17It's much smokier.
22:19It's smokier.
22:20It's smoother.
22:21It's warmer.
22:22Yeah.
22:23Than what you used to smell.
22:24It was not.
22:25I thought I knew what it smelled like.
22:26It's normal.
22:28Is it?
22:29Oh, okay.
22:30Good.
22:31Thought my nose had broken.
22:32Well, if your nose is broken, you could do this.
22:35If you're not wearing any perfume.
22:37Because your body is going to do like a kind of reset.
22:42And in some places, they offer you some coffee grains as well.
22:46Because coffee grains are going to saturate your nose.
22:48Ah.
22:49And then it's going to evaporate very quickly.
22:51So, you can smell something else afterwards.
22:53So, now I have to give each smell a certain weight in my mixture.
22:58And hey, presto.
22:59I have my own perfume.
23:01Okay.
23:02This is super fun.
23:03I love doing this.
23:05I'm glad you like it.
23:06I really love it.
23:07They should have done chemistry like this at school.
23:10They're much more interesting.
23:11Okay.
23:12Stirring.
23:16Looks like some terrible sample of the doctor.
23:19I don't know if I'm well.
23:20I can't tell.
23:21I think maybe not.
23:22Oh, it's really interesting.
23:27Can I smell yours?
23:28Sure.
23:29Not a sentence I've ever said to anybody.
23:36And you will see it's completely different.
23:39Okay.
23:40Yours is terrific.
23:41Could we pretend that's mine?
23:42No, it's the same.
23:43You can.
23:44But yours is different because you used different ingredients.
23:47And you see how funny it is because with nine ingredients.
23:51Yeah.
23:52A recipe, a common recipe originally, we can do various different things.
23:57Astonishing difference.
23:58Astonishing difference.
23:59I loved it.
24:00So now into the perfume bottle.
24:04Do you give it a name?
24:05Yes.
24:06Okay.
24:07Luke.
24:08What have you called it?
24:11Oh, Sandy.
24:12Oh, Sandy.
24:13I like that.
24:15That's so exciting.
24:16I need to give it a name.
24:19Bill Hillen.
24:23There you go.
24:24Thank you for your time and patience.
24:29You're welcome.
24:30I had a wonderful time.
24:31Thank you for having you.
24:32Yes, it was great.
24:33It was really good.
24:34Thank you so much.
24:35Thank you, Sandy.
24:36Oh, I'm going to...
24:37Well, I carry you with me now.
24:38That's it.
24:39And you have your foot.
24:40The waffle.
24:41The waffle.
24:42The waffle.
24:43The waffle.
24:44Oh!
24:45Can I keep the apron?
24:46Yes, for you.
24:47This has been a great day.
24:49Okay, more respect now, people.
24:51I'm an apprentice, but I want a little bit more respect from all of you.
25:12I'm still in Grasse, the perfume capital of the world.
25:16The scent industry originally flourished here due to the surrounding countryside and a climate
25:21that is particularly conducive to growing flowers.
25:24So, today, I'm heading into that countryside to enjoy the heady aroma of some of those flowers.
25:32In the olive groves of La Mouisson, an Englishwoman, Lady Maggie Lockett, has created one of the most illustrious gardens in the whole of France.
25:43And lucky me has been invited round for tea.
25:47I've got a cool.
25:51I hope I've got the right day.
25:55Hello.
25:56Oh, hello, it's Sandy.
25:57Hello.
25:58Oh, hi.
25:59Hello.
26:00Welcome.
26:02La porte est ouverte.
26:04I like that.
26:05It's like a French lesson.
26:06La porte est ouverte.
26:07Here we go.
26:08Here we go.
26:14La Mouisson was and still is an olive grove, with its trees placed across the steep walled terraces of its hillside location.
26:21But the redoubtable Lady Lockett has created a series of gardens in and amongst the trees that together have created something truly magical.
26:34Maggie, I'm Sandy.
26:35Hello.
26:36It's a pleasure to meet you.
26:37Oh, I can't thank you enough.
26:38I'm so excited.
26:39Yes, lovely to see you.
26:40Can we get started on the go?
26:41We'll get started straight away.
26:42Let's do it.
26:43We have the loo.
26:44Obviously.
26:45Is that a chestnut roaster?
26:46Yes, it is.
26:47But it deflects the water otherwise, I shall say what Christopher Lloyd said, with the water feature, you have to make sure it does not sound like a horse pissing.
27:04I am always going to quote you on that.
27:05And this one.
27:06Well, it's Christopher Lloyd.
27:07No, no, I'm going to quote this.
27:08You said it.
27:09I love that.
27:10And on that unladylike note, we began a stroll through this beguiling garden.
27:19Or should it be gardens, as there are distinctly different aspects and styles, beginning with this enchanting bamboo walk.
27:29Oh, this is magnificent.
27:32Well, this was the first garden I dared make here after having only gardened in London, because it is so enormous.
27:39And if you say, oh, we'll turn it into a garden.
27:42Oh, gosh, I don't know where to start.
27:45So we started here and made the path.
27:48Emma, my daughter, and I, we came up with two huge bags of flour and marked the edge of the path.
27:55And what we decided is that you shouldn't see the entrance and exit from either end.
27:59So it's a small mystery.
28:02You can be lost in it.
28:03But what I love is that the garden, sometimes when you do it as if it feels like outdoor rooms, different rooms for different moods.
28:09Yes.
28:10Well, in a garden this size, you cannot have all of it looking wonderful on the same day, because you've got a two-month period where any bit of the garden looks its best.
28:20But the calm and shade in here.
28:22It's nice, isn't it?
28:23Yeah.
28:24It's very cooling.
28:25I haven't realised.
28:26I know, I know.
28:27It's perfect.
28:28Even the dogs are happy.
28:29I don't get out enough, obviously.
28:30So this is the vine walk, which is in full flow in June, so we're lucky with the date.
28:41And...
28:42And smell already.
28:43Is jasmine?
28:44Yes, the false jasmine in full flower.
28:48This one is not a real jasmine, it's a different plant, and you know it by the flowers being in a spiral.
28:55But it's also part of the olive family, which jasmine is.
28:58OK, I did not know that.
29:00And was it all olives here?
29:01It's still 250 olive trees.
29:04We're working as an olive farm.
29:07And I've installed the gardens.
29:10Anything in flower is my work in here over the last nearly 30 years.
29:16Wow.
29:17And the grapes?
29:18The grapes, they're unusual.
29:20You can't buy these commercially because they have something in them that makes it hallucinogenic if you make it wine.
29:28I think they do it in Italy.
29:30They make this strawberry wine.
29:32And they call it strawberry wine.
29:34But we make a grape jelly out of it.
29:36I love grape jelly.
29:37Do you press it through the muslin?
29:39Yeah.
29:40Absolutely.
29:41Yes, upturned kitchen stool it used to be.
29:42It's just sugar and grapes, no water, nothing.
29:44Don't mess about with it, eh?
29:45Yeah, yeah.
29:46But I like the idea that you're passing me by drugs already, Maggie.
29:49I think we're going to...
29:50This is fun.
29:51I like this.
29:52This is very fun.
29:53In this part of the garden there's no watering, except in the complete heatwave we do put a hose on.
30:01But I've chosen plants that can do without water.
30:04But it's wonderful.
30:05You feel sort of contemplative as soon as you walk in, don't you?
30:08Yeah, yeah.
30:09You feel as if you should walk with a book of poetry.
30:11Well, I don't know.
30:12I'm not very poetic.
30:13Oh, you're not?
30:14Oh, okay, okay.
30:15Maybe it's me.
30:16A gardening book, maybe.
30:17A gardening book.
30:18Okay.
30:19It's magnificent.
30:20I did a lot of garden courses.
30:23Right.
30:24Mostly in England and did some travelling with our little plant school.
30:30We went mostly to Mediterranean places, so South Africa.
30:33And what I learned was the Mediterranean climate zone, so the places where you can get the best plants for here.
30:41And then we have to adapt to what we've got with the soil and the climate.
30:46So it's a bit of hit and miss.
30:48And what's the soil like?
30:49Is it...
30:50Oh, this is terrible.
30:51Oh, is it?
30:52Absolutely awful.
30:53And yet, look what you've done.
30:55Okay, Sandy, would you love to come and have a look at the lawn where I've got some fresh lemonade made?
31:02I mean, you're like a siren.
31:04Good.
31:05Luring me.
31:06It's marvellous.
31:11So as we sit down to enjoy the freshly made lemonade from the garden, I want to ask how Maggie, if I can call her that, acquired the hallowed status of Jardin Remarquable.
31:22Okay.
31:23I've been reading about gardens in France, and there's a thing called Remarkable Gardens. Can you tell me about that?
31:27Yes, it's organised by the Ministry of Culture, and it covers the whole of France. I think number one is Versailles.
31:36Oh.
31:37So we're nowhere near.
31:39It's a good place for a garden.
31:41We visited a garden up in the hills, oh, maybe ten or more years ago, and I went with my gardening team and some gardening friends.
31:51We're all a bit funny about, oh, I wouldn't have planted that with that.
31:55And meanwhile, the gardener's saying, well, if they have Jardin Remarquable, we can ace it with that.
32:01Wow.
32:02And I thought, well, this will be good to spur them on.
32:04Yeah.
32:05So I said, right, we're going to do it. We're going to go for Jardin Remarquable.
32:08And then when I looked at it for a bit, I thought, oh, it would be nice to be the only English woman in the Alp Maritime.
32:15I don't know if I am or not. I haven't checked.
32:18So do they come and inspect, a bit like a restaurant inspector?
32:21Oh, yes. Well, we have to prepare all the documentation. We did a 35-page plan of the garden.
32:30Being a Jardin Remarquable means Lady Lockett has to open to the public too, so anyone and everyone can enjoy this beautiful garden.
32:39Are you surprised to find yourself?
32:41I'm amazed.
32:43Here you are in France in a remarkable garden that you've created.
32:46Yeah, well, actually, my parents were both German. They started their married life in England.
32:53I was born in 1950. And, you know, I was brought up in a proper German mother.
33:02And, you know, my father worked at several things, a bus conductor in one place, and then he worked in an engineering factory,
33:10and then he worked milking cows for the last 30 years of his life.
33:13OK, so we're not talking about an aristocratic background.
33:16No, not at all. No, very simple.
33:18My mum taught all the children. I'm the eldest of five.
33:21She taught all of us that we should work hard at school to work hard to earn money to bring into the family.
33:29So it was all about you are preparing yourself for a life of work.
33:33When you're grown up, you're going to work, and that's it.
33:35But because you understand that, because it's in your core,
33:38Yeah.
33:39Is that why you try to share the garden and try and...
33:42I think so, yeah.
33:43Because we'd had a London garden, which is about the size of where we're sitting.
33:47And now I've got eight acres and 250 olive trees.
33:51And my goodness, how did that happen?
33:54I'm amazed.
33:57Cheers.
33:58Cheers.
33:59That's lovely.
34:00This is...
34:01I mean, I...
34:02The scent and the calm and the sound of the water.
34:06I mean, I may never leave. You know that, right?
34:09That's good. I'd love that.
34:10I promise you I can be entertaining in the evening. It'll be fine.
34:15I have learned that when you're traveling, there's a danger of always being in forward motion.
34:24And sometimes you just need to be in the moment.
34:28And you cannot come to this garden without wanting to just sit, maybe eat a strawberry and smell all the glorious scents.
34:37I mean, it's no wonder it's the perfume capital of the world.
34:40Hmm.
34:41Hmm.
34:42Hmm.
34:43Hmm.
34:44Hmm.
34:45Hmm.
34:46Hmm.
34:47Hmm.
34:48Hmm.
34:49Hmm.
34:50Hmm.
34:51Hmm.
34:52Hmm.
34:53Hmm.
34:54Hmm.
34:55Hmm.
34:56Hmm.
34:57Hmm.
34:58After my perfumed and pleasurable sojourn in Grasse, it's time to go back to the coast for a bit of culture.
35:04Just two miles inland from the station at Golf Juan Valeris sits the old town of Valeris.
35:17The first thing that hits you here is the pottery and the number of shops selling ceramics.
35:22They're everywhere, which is why this pretty old town has become the pottery capital of France.
35:28The pottery tradition in Valeris dates back to Roman times, and among the many great potters who've worked here over the centuries, perhaps the most famous is Picasso.
35:42Picasso moved here in 1948 to pursue his passion and turned a form of perfumery into his studio.
35:49Almost 80 years later, you can still feel his presence in the town.
35:56It's hard to think of a more romantic spot, sitting in a cafe, got a rose.
36:00I am, of course, on my own.
36:03This is the very place behind me where Picasso married his final wife, Jacqueline Roque.
36:08Can I just say, marrying Picasso, never a good idea, did not go well.
36:12Jacqueline very sadly eventually took her own life, as did another one of his lovers.
36:16Two of them had nervous breakdowns.
36:19It is the spot where Rita Hayworth married the Arga Khan.
36:23That lasted four years.
36:25I don't know whether she got to keep the stuff, you know, the wedding lists, like the toaster and things.
36:29I don't know how that worked.
36:32But back to Picasso, because perhaps the greatest legacy he left Valeris lies inside this old chapel that's now a museum to him.
36:47Picasso transformed the interior of the chapel into a work of art with his epic mural, War and Peace.
36:57Themed on the classic Tolstoy novel, Picasso created the artwork to express his communist values.
37:03On one side, he depicted the horrors of war.
37:07On the other, the joy of peace.
37:10Picasso got the idea to paint the abandoned chapel when a group of local potters threw a birthday dinner, and a few pots, for him here.
37:18They say he drew 300 sketches to come up with the ideas for this symbolic masterpiece.
37:27That's Picasso's famous dove of peace.
37:30It became the symbol of peace, in fact.
37:33And so many wonderful images that Picasso did over the years.
37:37Guernica, of course, about the violence of war, about his protests against war.
37:42What's interesting, though, is that behind the dove, you can see the shimmering portrait of his then-lover François Gillot, who was, in her own right, a fabulous artist.
37:54And it's so ironic it's behind the dove of peace, because his treatment of her was appalling.
38:00He was 40 years older, he was abusive.
38:03When she left him, he tried to stop her career.
38:05She had to leave France because nobody would buy her art, because he was so powerful.
38:09And it's so hard to separate that man from the work that he did.
38:14But despite all that, this is an undeniably moving expression of the hope of peace in a world so often at war.
38:27After seeing how Picasso was inspired by the Riviera, it's time now to tread in the footsteps of another giant artistic figure
38:54who's indelibly linked with this beautiful region.
38:59I'm leaving Valerice to head to the Antibes Peninsula and the seaside resort of Juan Lepin.
39:07Back in the 1920s, Antibes's stunning coastline became a magnet for a very special expat community of American artists
39:15who would mythologise the place in the world's imagination.
39:20And their great chronicler was F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night.
39:27As a literary nerd, I'm beyond thrilled to be visiting the hotel that was once the Fitzgerald's home on the Riviera.
39:35And my old friend, Lainey Goodman, is going to tell me about what these rather wild Americans got up to.
39:43So this was the original smoking room where Zelda and Scott, this was definitely part of the old villa, this part here.
39:55And I think a lot of people came in this space to just hang out.
39:59I mean, that's just... I'm such a nerd, I just find it exciting.
40:06Fitzgerald would go on to immortalise the Jazz Age Riviera in his masterpiece Tender is the Night,
40:12much of it based on the rather intense lifestyle of him and his wife Zelda as they partied away the decade.
40:18Well, it's kind of a saga with Fitzgerald. He started out in 1924 in Saint Raphael down the coast.
40:28And that was at the point where he was trying to finish The Great Gatsby.
40:32He couldn't do it in Great Neck. He was too distracted with all the parties.
40:36So Great Neck in New York.
40:37In New York.
40:38Yep.
40:39And he and Zelda decided that the franc was very low and the dollar was very high.
40:46And why don't they just go to France?
40:48Hmm.
40:51Things took a turn, however, when the Fitzgeralds joined the rather lively social set
40:55that circled around Gerald and Sarah Murphy, a wealthy expat couple
40:59who were renting rooms at the Hotel de Cap Eden Rock down the road.
41:03The Murphys and the Fitzgeralds would play a genuinely historic role in the development of the Riviera.
41:13You could say that they invented the Cote d'Azur in the summertime.
41:17They launched the summer season. They were the original influencers.
41:21Because the hotels would close in the summer, is that right?
41:23Yes, yes.
41:24And they persuaded, is it the Eden Rock Hotel?
41:26Yes.
41:27To stay open.
41:28Exactly.
41:29Because they thought it seemed marvellous to be here in the summer.
41:32They had a very strict ritual. You know, the morning, the children were tutored
41:38and they were doing little things around the house. Then they all went to the beach.
41:41Then they had these marvellous picnics. Very, very beautiful food coming out of these hampers
41:47and jazz playing and beautiful umbrellas.
41:51They had these mad costumed beach parties. And it was all very magical. And Zelda loved it.
41:56But Scott was usually in the shade drinking gin because he wasn't really a sun person. He wasn't a beach kind of guy.
42:06The thing I find interesting is that the British didn't come in the summer. It really is an American thing to begin with, isn't it?
42:12Oh, they came and they rubbed themselves with cocoa butter and they, you know, they were the first people to be tan along with Coco Chanel also started that vogue.
42:24The 20s Riviera became so glamorous, it attracted almost all of America's greatest writers, including Ernest Hemingway himself, who became Scott's neighbour.
42:36But the pressure to keep up with the heady lifestyle of this celebrity community would eventually get to Scott as he descended into alcoholism.
42:45Am I right that in many instances Scott was writing, so for example, short stories, just because they didn't have the money to maintain the life that Zelda wanted? Is that right?
42:55Well, that they both wanted, I think. They really went into debt. They spent everything that they, that Scott spent everything that he earned.
43:04As their fortunes declined, Zelda also entered a dark place.
43:08Her mental illness, if you want to call it that, whatever we can diagnose it with today, you know, showed itself in very many ways because she did very self-destructive things and she tried to involve Scott.
43:21And I know that there's a very famous story about Isidore Duncan in St. Paul de Vence at the Colôme d'Or where they were having dinner and somebody pointed out that Isidore Duncan was there.
43:32And when Scott went to the table and they were talking and she was stroking his head, calling him my centurion, Zelda sort of flipped and she left the restaurant and threw herself down a stone stairwell.
43:46Wow. That's a way of getting attention. Exactly. Was she okay?
43:50She was okay. She had bloody knees, but that was okay. She was off balance a lot. So she would go into these, you know, very, very severe, self-destructive.
43:59And of course, diving off the rocks, she would bring Scott with him and try to dive into the pitch black sea.
44:07Scott and Zelda's lives would end tragically early as their problems mounted after they returned to America.
44:13So it's rather poignant to remember them in this room when they were young and gay and life seemed full of sunshine, friendship and promise.
44:23The Fitzgeralds may have long gone from these parts, but their legacy remains almost a century on.
44:28Each year, the hotel's owners award the Fitzgerald Prize for a novel that reflects Scott's literary qualities.
44:35This year, it's gone to the great contemporary American writer, Richard Ford, and Ford has his own interesting take on why Scott, despite all the marital strife, really loved this place.
44:48There's a plaque out in the lobby in which Fitzgerald says that he's back in his precious Riviera and he is feeling for the first time in a very long time that he's being able to be happy.
45:07And when I wrote my wife, because I took a picture of that plaque today, I wrote my wife and I said, the poor Saad, I said, he thought it was the place that made him happy when it was the person he was with.
45:18There's a fantastic view from up here of dozens and dozens of super yachts.
45:33And I really have had a glimpse into the kind of life that you really mostly only see in the movies, fantastically rich and privileged.
45:40Also, some amazing creativity in writing and in art.
45:44But the thing that I have absolutely learned is that no matter who you are, you bring your baggage with you.
45:49And there are some extremely troubled souls underneath that veneer of exclusivity.
45:57I've also met some wonderful people who've made a great life for themselves here.
46:01And it's fair to say the dogs seem happy, too.
46:05So the next time somebody says it's a dog's life, I'm going to think that sounds pretty good.
46:10I'm off to Nice, which counter-intuitively for me is that way.
46:15.
46:17Now I'm coming back in time.
46:18Now I'll find the things that areczneave me.
46:19I have a good opportunity for me to change my life through Memorями.
46:20And here I am talking to them all in publishing.
46:21Here are some things mentioned, some friendships andCs in the library.
46:22Now, get your family and all these particulars, or if you like my actors.
46:24Here are a few moments, that you are teaching the illustriery and what?
46:39Which is the onlyination of subs!
46:40How can I continue?
46:41Like, can I continue online with everyone especially?
46:42And here are someippets watching!
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