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00:00The French Riviera. Playground of the rich and famous and one of the world's great dream
00:10destinations. This is paradise. And by taking a simple rail trip of just over 100 miles from
00:16end to end you can see all its sun-drenched glories. And that's what I'm doing. Wow.
00:23It's luxury beyond all measure and I got the best seat in the house. As well as the
00:30rather nice sea, sand and sun, I want to explore the region's rich past. We're sitting pretty much
00:37in the exact spot. And vibrant present. What a way to toast a new friendship. I'll discover the
00:43famous characters that made the Riviera glitter. You could say that they invented the Cotezio in
00:49the summer time. And I'll visit the places and meet the people that keep it shimmering
00:54today. Oh, I love this. What's not to like about my great Riviera rail trip?
01:08Can you guess where we are? Yes. My great Riviera rail trip has reached the home of the world's
01:15most famous film festival. For almost 80 years, the movie greats have been coming here, and
01:24this wonderful mural sets the scene nicely. I'm genuinely excited. I have never been in
01:33Cannes before and you cannot come here without thinking about the movies. I feel like the kid
01:37up from the country hoping to make it big. Of course, the thing that is big here in Cannes
01:41is the dog population. I think the chances are, rather than finding fame, I'm much more
01:46likely to end up with a furry friend. Cannes is just the first step in this week's stage
01:54of my Tour de France Sud. From here, I'll be taking a slight detour to Grasse to make myself
02:00smell a little nicer. I'll explain later. And then I'll be treading in the footsteps of two
02:06giant artistic figures of the 20th century who put their little stretch of this famous
02:11coastline on the world's cultural map. But first, it's Cannes.
02:17I've never been here before, and I've always wondered what it'd be like to be at the big
02:20fancy film festival. I've been in show business a very, very long time. I've made a couple
02:24of British movies. I've never really done the Hollywood thing, although it was close. So 1971,
02:31maybe I was 11 or 12. I was spotted by a talent scout who asked me if I would audition for Paul
02:36Newman. So I went, and I met him, and I read for him. He was so lovely, those amazing piercing
02:42eyes that he had. It was for a movie called The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man and the Moon
02:47Marigolds, and I was to play his daughter. I didn't get the part because he cast his own
02:51daughter, so I don't feel too bad. But there's a moment in my life, a crossroads, where I might
02:57have gone in a different direction, and ended up here, treading the red carpet.
03:04At least with a job like this, I get to hang out in some of the places those movie stars frequent
03:09when they're at the festival. And nowhere is more central to it than the Great Carlton,
03:15one of the most iconic hotels in the world.
03:19The Carlton opened in 1913, and its signature domes perched on its seafront corners are said
03:27to have been modelled on the breasts of legendary courtesan Caroline Ortero, rumoured lover of
03:32Edward VII and Queen of the Belle Epoque Riviera. What a lovely lot of old gossip.
03:38The Carlton hosted all the eight journalists who came to the first ever film festival in 1946,
03:44and this beautifully preserved ballroom has hosted more stars than there are in heaven over the years.
03:52The Carlton Hotel has fairly recently been renovated, but not this room, because it didn't need it.
03:59Look at this. This is the Grand Salon, and it is sort of bursting with a sense of luxury.
04:07And if you've ever seen that wonderful 1955 film directed by Hitchcock,
04:11to catch a thief with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, you already have a sense of the glory of this place.
04:18In fact, it was also in 1955 at the Cannes Film Festival that Grace Kelly was doing a photo shoot,
04:22and she was asked to do it with Prince Rainier of Monaco, and the rest after that was history.
04:28In fact, I have a feeling if I hang around here long enough, some royal may come and snatch me up.
04:34But I'm happily married, so I'm, you know, obviously not going to let that happen.
04:37The Carlton has remained a hotel to the stars ever since.
04:42Who knows how many movie greats have come down these beautiful lifts
04:46or walked down this grand staircase to tread the red carpet,
04:51then get in a fancy car to take them just a few hundred yards to the Film Festival Palais.
04:57One man who's spent a lot of time catering to the whims of those rich and famous
05:01is veteran concierge Maxime Lekowski.
05:06Maxime, bonjour.
05:07Bonjour.
05:07Je suis Sandy.
05:09Bienvenue.
05:09Thank you so much.
05:11I'm very excited.
05:12A lot of people.
05:14It's always busy at the Carlton, I will say.
05:17OK.
05:17And how many rooms do you have?
05:19At the hotel, we have a little bit more than 360 rooms.
05:25Wow.
05:26And so for a festival, it can be completely full up?
05:28It's fully booked.
05:29Every space is busy and so we try to find more space and more space also.
05:36So you are a very special kind of concierge because you have the golden keys.
05:42Does that mean people come and think you can make magic for them?
05:46We try to be magic.
05:48Yes.
05:48The golden keys are from the chef concierge of El Carlton since five generations.
05:55Wow.
05:56What a responsibility.
05:58It is.
05:58Yeah.
06:00As the Carlton is so close to the centre of the film festival, Maxime's seen his fair
06:05few red carpet moments over the years.
06:08In fact, the red carpet, usually they close the red carpet at seven o'clock, you know.
06:16So the, yeah, the cars coming, they start at five.
06:21Oh, wow.
06:22So two hours of cars, you see, as it's just like less than one kilometre from here.
06:28Yeah.
06:29But the ladies are coming dress up, you know, the man with a tuxedo.
06:36And do you get people ringing down saying, oh, I've lost a button on my tuxedo and...
06:41always like that.
06:42Always like that.
06:43Oh, that.
06:44Okay.
06:45Always like that, you know.
06:46If you don't have any bow tie, I sing the song, I have a few of them.
06:51Oh, do you?
06:52Just spare bow tie.
06:53All the time.
06:54All the time.
06:55I like that.
06:56All the time.
06:57Just out front of the Carlton, Cannes Public Promenade, or Quasette, is where you'll find
07:02the movie stars going for a stroll during the festival.
07:05But as they're not here this week, you're more likely to spot dogs.
07:09Because for some reason, Cannes is known for having lots of them.
07:14They're actually barred from the beach in high season, but they do appear to be everywhere
07:18else.
07:19Hello.
07:22Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.
07:24I miss my dog.
07:28And guess what?
07:32Some dogs have become movie stars here too, and they get to stroll the red carpet at their
07:37own awards ceremony.
07:39Dog-loving English journalist Toby Rose hosts the ceremony and can hopefully tell me how
07:44this all got started.
07:46So, we need to talk dogs.
07:49My subject.
07:50Okay.
07:51Why is it your subject?
07:52Years ago in France, where in Cannes, I was in Champagne and I found in a fabulous market
07:57in the country fair, a dog called Muttley, who was a fox terrier.
08:02Made a short film with him.
08:04Okay.
08:05Did you name him Muttley?
08:06I did.
08:07Because it's the dog from Wacky Races, isn't it?
08:08Completely correct.
08:09Yeah.
08:10Right.
08:11And so, you made a film.
08:12What kind of film?
08:13It was a short film.
08:14It's called ID Crisis, and it was about dogs saving the world.
08:18It was a great film, and Muttley did a great thing and a great performance, but no prize.
08:24No award.
08:25So, clearly, I'm thinking about this, there's a lot of great dogs in films.
08:29And where is the recognition?
08:31Exactly.
08:32Yeah.
08:33But now is the recognition.
08:35Okay.
08:36Started off with the Palm Dog.
08:37The Palm Dog.
08:38The Palm Dog Awards.
08:39Sorry, I was a little smile there.
08:40I didn't mean that to...
08:41It is an incredibly witty...
08:43I like it.
08:44...play on the Palm Dog.
08:46Yes.
08:47Look how lovely.
08:48And do you have any celebrity supporters?
08:50Well, we have actually a few.
08:52You may have heard of Quentin Tarantino.
08:55Oh, my word.
08:56When I say the words, Tilda Swinton.
08:59Darling, you've just gone straight for the top, haven't you?
09:02It has to be done, I think.
09:04My name be the Dame of Dogs.
09:05So, every year, is this during the actual festival that you give out the Palm Dog?
09:09It's the last Friday of the festival.
09:11Right.
09:12It's become organically encrusted in the calendar.
09:14I have no idea if we're going to win the, uh, uh, Palm Dog.
09:19I feel no entitlement.
09:21It's the Palm Dog, not the Palm du Rijon.
09:24But I do feel that I was, uh, in a good standing to win the Palm Dog.
09:31All right?
09:32You've watched a lot of dog performances.
09:34In your view, top dog of the Palm Dog.
09:37Would it have to include one of the first epic performances?
09:40Of all time was Uggy from The Artist.
09:44The first award that that film won was down there on the Quasette.
09:47Palm Dog.
09:48Very good.
09:49Very exciting.
09:50You haven't gone for the obvious ones, like Beethoven or...
09:53The Palm Dog started in 2001.
09:55Oh, so we can't even do the dog in Little Orphan Annie, can we?
09:59May I just say, Muttley, who was there very much at the beginning...
10:03Yes.
10:04...was still out of the frame.
10:05So how you could even go back to Lassie...
10:07I'm so sorry.
10:08...go back to Rin Tin Tin...
10:09I feel bad now.
10:10...go back to Astor...
10:11Toto in, uh, Wizard of Oz.
10:12Toto, Wizard of Oz.
10:13Yeah, I feel...
10:14All these greats.
10:15But it's amazing how many I actually know, so I feel slightly odd about it.
10:18Well, you know, that means that you, you know, it's in your DNA.
10:21Yeah.
10:22So I think also you should do other animals.
10:24So I have...
10:25I don't know if it's true.
10:26I think that the bear who played Paddington is the same one in The Revenant.
10:31But it was like showing his range.
10:32It's entirely possible.
10:34Of course, all celebrities, even dogs, need to look their best on the red carpet.
10:40So my next stop is one of Cannes' many canine beauty salons,
10:44where proprietor Alexandrine de Souche prepares her clients for their big moment.
10:48Oh, lovely.
10:49Nice to meet you.
10:50What a place you have.
10:52I wish I was a dog.
10:53Yes, it's a beautiful castle for dogs in Cannes.
10:57This place is for the grooming, ASPA massage, balneotherapy, grooming.
11:03Wow.
11:04And also we produce the articles very special because in Cannes,
11:09it's the city very special for the dog.
11:11Okay.
11:12So you're busy all the time?
11:14All the time.
11:15And sometimes, does the dog get dressed up?
11:19Oh, yes.
11:20The last year, we make one, like, very special for the, for the Cannes.
11:25Saturday dress.
11:27Night fever.
11:29Oh, I love this.
11:30This is wonderful.
11:31Okay.
11:32Yeah.
11:33And one is for, uh, the, um, the stars of film festival.
11:37Yes?
11:38Yes.
11:39I make also for my dog because it's very special.
11:41Hello.
11:42My dog, she's, uh, um, Simone.
11:45Hello, Simone.
11:46She's a beautiful girl.
11:47She is gorgeous.
11:48She was four years old.
11:50Hello.
11:51You're gonna get dressed up, Simone.
11:52I'm not gonna lie.
11:53Every Easter, I dress the dog up as the Pope.
11:55I'm just saying it.
11:56I have pictures, if you wanna see.
11:58Just saying it.
11:59Okay.
12:00Oh, look at you.
12:03So gorgeous.
12:05Now she's ready to win an award, I think.
12:08It's fantastic.
12:09I think I should get a present for my dog to take home.
12:13Ah, you want you to...
12:14Yes.
12:15Uh, what do you like?
12:16We have a beautiful necklace.
12:18I think...
12:19Everything is handmade, okay?
12:20Okay.
12:21We want to...
12:22She's quite small.
12:23She's quite small?
12:24Yeah.
12:25Like, maybe this size.
12:26Oh, I don't...
12:27Yes.
12:28This is magnificent.
12:29It's precious.
12:30Yeah.
12:31Okay.
12:32We love this.
12:33And this Swarovski and special.
12:35We love.
12:36Okay.
12:37This is very good.
12:38It's like a baby.
12:39Yeah.
12:40I'll take one of those.
12:41Very good.
12:43So, I came here hoping to get a taste of Hollywood by the sea.
12:49And I got a chiffon dog collar.
12:51Still, perhaps it's the perfect souvenir of a town where even the dogs live a glamorous life.
12:57Bit worried mine will start getting ideas now.
13:13The next stop on my Great Riviera rail trip is taking me on a little detour inland.
13:20From Cannes, it's just 30 minutes by train to the historic city of Grasse.
13:28And, if you're feeling a bit tired when you get here, you can catch a train around the town, too.
13:36Said I was going to travel by train.
13:38I wasn't expecting this one.
13:40Look at this.
13:41This is fantastic.
13:43Right.
13:44All aboard.
13:47Well, it's a rail trip.
13:48Why not?
13:53It's very steep.
13:54Wow.
14:08Grasse began life as a miniature republic of its own back in the 12th century.
14:13And you can still sense its medieval origins in the streets of one of the largest old towns in the whole of Provence.
14:23That was wonderful.
14:24I have been on the bullet train in Japan, but that was better.
14:29Merci, monsieur.
14:32He doesn't care.
14:34Still, better get some steps in today, I suppose.
14:38You can't walk around here without being interested in the history.
14:46This cathedral here in Grasse was first begun in the 12th century.
14:51And the plaque there mentions the French Revolution, which, of course, you know, we all know a little bit about.
14:55I did not know this.
14:57On the 20th of November 1793, a guillotine was sent to Nice for their use.
15:02But they didn't have anybody to execute, so they decided to lend it to Grasse.
15:07They immediately took receipts and executed 30 citizens, including six priests, ten workmen, four officials, five bourgeois, one lawyer, one merchant, one spinster, and one nun.
15:18And then they returned it used to Nice.
15:22I mean, I like that they were clear about what was needed here.
15:26Thankfully, though, the guillotine isn't what Grasse is really about, for this beautiful little town is best known as the perfume capital of the world.
15:42Up in the foothills of the Alps and sheltered from the sea air, Grasse's microclimate is perfect for growing flowers.
15:52The surrounding sea of jasmine and roses spurred the creation of beautiful scents that spawned a massive industry.
16:01Now, Grasse's many perfume houses turn over 600 million euros a year between them.
16:06Here we are in the world's capital of perfume, and it makes you think, I wonder when human beings first thought of having perfume.
16:15Well, I can tell you.
16:17At 1200 BC, someone wrote down on a clay tablet in Babylonian Mesopotamia the world's first perfume recipe.
16:25Not just the world's first perfume recipe, the very first chemical recipe, and the chemist was a woman called Taputi.
16:32I love that it was a woman who thought of it.
16:35Now, today, I'm going to have a go at making scent. I've no idea how that actually functions.
16:40But I do know the word perfume means through smoke. So I'm hoping, you know, that there's a barbecue element to it.
16:46I'm visiting the historic factory of the Fragonard family, one of the world's oldest and most famous parfumiers.
16:57Before my little workshop, it's time for a history lesson with commercial director Cyprien Fabre.
17:03The Fragonard factory's extraordinary on-site museum looks back on a century of this family firm and the people who created it.
17:11It has always been a family business. The lady that you can see here on the painting, Tante Jeanne, she used to live in that factory.
17:21It was right here? Right here, right at this floor. You know, the upper floors were for the family.
17:26They would live there and then the employees were working, you know, underneath in the floor downstairs.
17:31Where still we produce perfume in that building that comes from the 18th century.
17:36The museum contains lots of wonderful old artefacts that give a glimpse of how perfume was made in the first half of the 20th century.
17:46So what is happening here? This is jasmine.
17:48It is. We are very proud at Fragonard because this technique about capturing the olfactive power of jasmine is a very old technique, you know, it has centuries.
17:56And from this year onwards, we will do that technique again because...
18:01Are you bringing it back?
18:02Exactly. You know, this is our innovation at Fragonard is bringing it back, you know, from so many centuries ago.
18:08And why do we bring back this technique?
18:11It's because we found out that it's the best technique to capture 100% of the olfactive power of the flower.
18:19Yes, it's all about the smells. And so Cyprien is now introducing me to a professional nose for a rather special perfume creation workshop.
18:30And to create your own perfume, you need a master. Hélène is one of those.
18:34Okay, can you help me?
18:35Yes, of course I can.
18:36Let's try it. Let's try it.
18:37Let's try it.
18:38Wonderful.
18:39Cyprien says you're a master of perfumier. How do you become that? How long does it take?
18:45It takes quite some years. Yeah. And passion.
18:49Yes. So did you always want to do that? Did you grow up as a little girl?
18:52Since the end of ten, yes.
18:53Really? Why?
18:54Yeah, because my mum used to work at the Parfums Givenchy, but not at all in the perfumery, you know, or making.
19:00She was working with human resources and she brought back home the samples for the test to choose, you know, the panel testing samples.
19:12And she asked me, do you want to smell? And I said, okay, let's, you know, I'm being curious.
19:17I said, okay, let's do it. And, and on the end of the session, I said, I want to do that.
19:22She said, you want to do what? What's inside? I want to do that.
19:25And since, since I'm little, I always put my nose everywhere. Every time there is a smell, you know, I go and look for it.
19:32And in the flowers or in the fields, or I, even when my mum or my grandmother used to cook, I put my nose, you know, in my plates.
19:39And so I did the studies.
19:41And it's called being a nose, really, isn't it? Is that right?
19:45Yes, exactly.
19:46What's amazing about smell, I think, for, for everybody who pays attention to it, it touches your emotion.
19:51Emotions. Doesn't it? Emotions. Oh!
19:53The triggers, the triggers is the emotion, so it's, it vibrates here.
19:57Yeah. I lost my father a long time ago, but if I smell his pipe tobacco...
20:02That's wonderful. And it brings memories and, of course, it brings emotion.
20:07So, I'm going to smell various different essences and note down what they remind me of.
20:12Then I'll decide what proportion of each to put into my own personal perfume.
20:18It's a mixture of citrus notes and aromatic notes and a few floral notes.
20:25Is it orange going to be the first one? Orange.
20:27Number one. Should I smell it now?
20:29You can. So, be careful. Do not touch your nose with it. Okay?
20:32What's important is that you close your eyes, you take a deep breath.
20:39I love that.
20:41And when you discover an ingredient for the first time,
20:45try to imagine all the memories that's coming to your head.
20:51So, what do you think of this orange?
20:53So, I love the first thing was making marmalade as a child.
20:57Yes. It made me think of the orange peel.
21:00The very first time that I had Aperol Spritz in Venice.
21:05So, I thought of Venice because it had a big slice of orange in it.
21:08But it's amazing the images that come into your mind.
21:12Exactly.
21:13Not that every smell evokes warm nostalgia.
21:16Well, this one smells of cleaning to me.
21:20Because lemon has been used in a lot of cleaning products,
21:23particularly dish washing products.
21:25Yeah. So, I think, well, I must do the kitchen.
21:27I could see how you could get hooked doing this.
21:37I could 100% see it.
21:39Okay. Mandarin orange.
21:41That's very different to the other orange.
21:43It smells of my school.
21:45I mean, it's really extraordinary how memories come straight flooding back.
21:49Yeah, that and my grandchildren, who love mandarin oranges,
21:52and I often peel them for them.
21:54And then we make fake teeth and put them in our mouth.
21:57I know.
21:58We find our own fun.
22:00Wow.
22:01So, the mandarin is going to be here to bring some freshness to the orange flower.
22:06Oh.
22:07Oh.
22:08I like, yeah, I like that.
22:09So, I'm gonna put fake mandarin teeth.
22:11And the last one is the lavender.
22:16Oh, that's not what I was expecting.
22:21It's much, um, smokier.
22:24It's smokier.
22:25It's smoother.
22:26It's warmer.
22:27Yeah.
22:28Than what you used to smell.
22:29It was not.
22:30I thought I knew what it smelled like.
22:32It's normal.
22:33Is it?
22:34Oh, okay.
22:35Good.
22:36I thought my nose had broken.
22:37Well, if your nose is broken, I, you could do this.
22:40If you're not wearing any perfume.
22:42Because your, your, your body is going to do like a kind of reset.
22:47And in some places they offer you some coffee grains as well.
22:51Because coffee grains are going to saturate your nose.
22:53Ah.
22:54And then it's going to evaporate very quickly.
22:56So you can smell something else afterwards.
22:59So now I have to give each smell a certain weight in my mixture.
23:03And hey, presto, I have my own perfume.
23:06Okay.
23:07This is super fun.
23:08I love doing this.
23:09I'm glad you like it.
23:10I really love it.
23:12They should have done chemistry like this at school.
23:15It would be much more interesting.
23:17Okay.
23:18Stirring.
23:22Looks like some terrible sample of the doctor.
23:25I don't know if I'm well.
23:26I can't tell.
23:27I think maybe not.
23:28Oh, it's really interesting.
23:33Can I smell yours?
23:34Sure.
23:35Not a sentence I've ever said to anybody.
23:41And yours is completely different.
23:45Okay, yours is terrific.
23:46Could we pretend that's mine?
23:47No, it's the same.
23:48You can if you don't.
23:49You can if you don't.
23:50But yours is different because you use different ingredients.
23:53And you see how funny it is because with nine ingredients.
23:57Yeah.
23:58A recipe, a common recipe originally, we can do various different things.
24:03Astonishing difference.
24:04I loved it.
24:05So now into the perfume bottle.
24:09Do you give it a name?
24:10Yes.
24:11Okay.
24:12Luke.
24:13What have you called it?
24:16Oh, Sandy.
24:17Oh, Sandy.
24:18I like that.
24:20That's so exciting.
24:21I need to give it a name.
24:22Bill Hillen.
24:24There you go.
24:25Thank you for your time and patience.
24:26You're welcome.
24:27I had a wonderful time.
24:28Thank you for having you.
24:29Yes, it was great.
24:30It was really good.
24:31Thank you so much.
24:32Thank you, Sandy.
24:33Oh, I'm going to.
24:34Well, I carry you with me now.
24:35That's it.
24:36And you have to.
24:37We're waft off.
24:38We're waft out of here.
24:39Oh.
24:40Can I keep the apron?
24:41Yes, for you.
24:42This has been a great day.
24:43Okay, more respect now, people.
24:44I'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.
25:21The scent industry originally flourished here due to the surrounding countryside and a climate that is particularly conducive to growing flowers.
25:30So today, I'm heading into that countryside to enjoy the heady aroma of some of those flowers.
25:38In the olive groves of La Mouisson, an Englishwoman, Lady Maggie Lockett, has created one of the most illustrious gardens in the whole of France.
25:48And lucky me, has been invited round for tea.
25:52I hope I've got the right day.
25:58Hello.
25:59Oh, hello.
26:00It's Sandy.
26:01Oh, hi.
26:02Hello.
26:03Welcome.
26:06La porte est ouverte.
26:08I like that.
26:09It's like a French lesson.
26:11La porte est ouverte.
26:14Here we go.
26:15La Mouisson was and still is an olive grove, with its trees placed across the steep walled terraces of its hillside location.
26:27But the redoubtable Lady Lockett has created a series of gardens in and amongst the trees that together have created something truly magical.
26:36Maggie, I'm Sandy.
26:37Hello.
26:38It's a pleasure to meet you.
26:39Oh, I can't thank you enough.
26:40I'm so excited.
26:41Yes, lovely to see you.
26:42Can we get started on the go?
26:43We get started straight away, yes.
26:44Let's do it.
26:45We have the loo.
26:46Obviously.
26:47Is that a chestnut roaster?
26:48Yes, it is.
26:49But 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.
27:10I am always going to quote you on that.
27:15And this one.
27:16Well, it's Christopher Lloyd.
27:17No, no.
27:18I'm going to quote as you said it.
27:19I love that.
27:20And on that unladylike note, we began a stroll through this beguiling garden.
27:25Or should it be gardens, as there are distinctly different aspects and styles, beginning with this enchanting bamboo walk.
27:35Oh, this is magnificent.
27:38Well, this was the first garden I dared make here, after having only gardened in London, because it is so enormous.
27:45And if you say, oh, we'll turn it into a garden.
27:48Oh, gosh, I don't know where to start.
27:50So we started here and made the path.
27:54Emma, my daughter, and I, we came up with two huge bags of flour and marked the edge of the path.
28:00And what we decided is that you shouldn't see the entrance and exit from either end.
28:05So it's a small mystery.
28:07You can be lost in it.
28:08But what I love is that the garden, sometimes when you do it as if it feels like outdoor rooms, different rooms for different moods.
28:14Yes.
28:15Well, in a garden this size, you cannot have all of it looking wonderful on the same day.
28:20Because you've got a two month period where any bit of the garden looks its best.
28:25But the calm and shade in here.
28:27It's nice, isn't it?
28:28Yeah.
28:29It's very cooling.
28:30I haven't realised.
28:31I know.
28:32I know.
28:33It's perfect.
28:34Even the dogs are happy.
28:35I don't get out enough, obviously.
28:39So this is the vine walk, which is in full flow in June.
28:44So we're lucky with the date.
28:46That smell already is jasmine?
28:48Yes, the false jasmine in full flower.
28:53This one is not a real jasmine.
28:55It's a different plant.
28:56And you know it by the flowers being in a spiral.
29:00But it's also part of the olive family, which jasmine is.
29:03OK, I did not know that.
29:05And was it all olives here?
29:07It's still 250 olive trees.
29:09We're working as an olive farm.
29:12And I've installed the gardens.
29:15Anything in flower is my work in here over the last nearly 30 years.
29:21Wow.
29:22And the grapes?
29:23The grapes, they're unusual.
29:25You can't buy these commercially because they have something in them
29:30that makes it hallucinogenic if you make it wine.
29:34I think they do it in Italy.
29:36They make this strawberry wine, and they call it strawberry wine.
29:39But we make a grape jelly out of it.
29:42I love grape jelly.
29:43Do you press it through the muslin?
29:44Yeah.
29:45Yes.
29:46Upturned kitchen stool, it used to be.
29:47It's just sugar and grapes.
29:49No water, nothing.
29:50Don't mess about with it.
29:51Yeah, yeah.
29:52But I like the idea that you're passing me by drugs already, Maggie.
29:55I think we're getting to...
29:56This is fun.
29:57I like this.
29:58This is very fun.
29:59In this part of the garden, there's no watering,
30:02except in the complete heat wave, we do put a hose on it.
30:05But I've chosen plants that can do without water.
30:09But it's wonderful.
30:10You feel sort of contemplative as soon as you walk in, don't you?
30:13Yeah, yeah.
30:14You feel as if you should walk with a book of poetry.
30:16Well, I don't know.
30:17I'm not very poetic.
30:18Oh, you're not?
30:19Oh, okay, okay.
30:20Maybe it's me.
30:21A gardening book, maybe.
30:22A gardening book, okay.
30:23It's magnificent.
30:24Yeah.
30:25I did a lot of garden courses.
30:28Right.
30:29Mostly in England.
30:30And did some travelling with our little plant school.
30:35We went mostly to Mediterranean places, so South Africa.
30:38And what I learned was the Mediterranean climate zone.
30:42So the places where you can get the best plants for here.
30:46Right.
30:47And then we have to adapt to what we've got with the soil and the climate.
30:51So it's a bit of hit and miss.
30:53And what's the soil like?
30:54Is it...
30:55Oh, this is terrible.
30:56Oh, is it?
30:57Absolutely awful.
30:59And yet, look what you've done.
31:00Okay, Sandy, would you love to come and have a look at the lawn where I've got some fresh lemonade made?
31:07I mean, you're like a siren luring me.
31:11It's marvellous.
31:16So 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.
31:26I've been reading about gardens in France and there's a thing called Remarquable Gardens.
31:31Can you tell me about that?
31:32Yes.
31:33It's organised by the Ministry of Culture and it covers the whole of France.
31:40I think number one is Versailles.
31:42Oh.
31:43We're nowhere near.
31:44Nowhere near.
31:45It's a good place for a garden.
31:47We visited a garden up in the hills, oh, maybe ten or more years ago.
31:53And I went with my gardening team and some gardening friends.
31:56We're all a bit funny about, oh, I wouldn't have planted that with that.
32:00And meanwhile, the gardener's saying, well, if they have Jardin Remarquable, we can ace it with that.
32:06Wow.
32:07And I thought, well, this will be good to spur them on.
32:10Yeah.
32:11I said, right, we're going to do it.
32:12We're going to go for Jardin Remarquable.
32:14And 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.
32:20I don't know if I am or not.
32:22I haven't checked.
32:23So do they come and inspect, a bit like a restaurant inspector?
32:26Oh, yes.
32:27Well, we have to prepare all the documentation.
32:29We did a 35-page plan of the garden.
32:35Being a Jardin Remarquable means Lady Lockett has to open to the public too, so anyone and everyone can enjoy this beautiful garden.
32:44Are you surprised to find yourself?
32:46I'm amazed.
32:48Here you are in France in a remarkable garden that you've created.
32:51Yeah.
32:52Well, actually, my parents were both German.
32:55They started their married life in England.
32:58I was born in 1950.
33:01And, you know, I was brought up in a proper German mother.
33:07And, you know, my father worked as several things, a bus conductor in one place, and then he worked in an engineering factory,
33:15and then he worked milking cows for the last 30 years of his life.
33:19OK, so we're not talking about an aristocratic background.
33:21No, not at all.
33:22No, very simple.
33:23My mum taught all the children.
33:25I'm the eldest of five.
33:26She taught all of us that we should work hard at school to work hard to earn money to bring into the family.
33:34So it was all about, you are preparing yourself for a life of work.
33:38When you're grown up, you're going to work, and that's it.
33:41But because you understand that, because it's in your core, is that why you try to share the garden and try and...?
33:47I think so, yeah.
33:48Because we'd had a London garden, which is about the size of where we're sitting.
33:52And now I've got eight acres and 250 olive trees, and my goodness, how did that happen?
33:59And I'm amazed.
34:02Cheers.
34:03Cheers.
34:04That's lovely.
34:05This is...
34:06I mean, I...
34:07The scent and the calm and the sound of the water.
34:11I mean, I'm...
34:13I may never leave, you know that, right?
34:14That's good.
34:15I'd love for that.
34:16Fine.
34:17I promise you, I can be entertaining in the evening.
34:19It'll be fine.
34:25I have learnt that when you're travelling, there's a danger of always being in forward motion.
34:29And sometimes, you just need to be in the moment.
34:33And you cannot come to this garden without wanting to just sit, maybe eat a strawberry, and smell all the glorious scents.
34:42I mean, it's no wonder it's the perfume capital of the world.
34:47Mm.
34:50Mm.
34:51After my perfumed and pleasurable sojourn in Grasse, it's time to go back to the coast for a bit of culture.
35:09of culture. Just two miles inland from the station at Golf Juan Valerice sits the old town of Valerice.
35:22The first thing that hits you here is the pottery and the number of shops selling ceramics.
35:28They're everywhere, which is why this pretty old town has become the pottery capital of France.
35:34The pottery tradition in Valerice dates back to Roman times,
35:37and among the many great potters who've worked here over the centuries, perhaps the most famous is Picasso.
35:47Picasso moved here in 1948 to pursue his passion and turn a former perfumery into his studio.
35:54Almost 80 years later, you can still feel his presence in the town.
36:01It's hard to think of a more romantic spot, sitting in a cafe, got a rose.
36:05I am, of course, on my own. This is the very place behind me where Picasso married his final wife,
36:12Jacqueline Roque. Can I just say, marrying Picasso, never a good idea, did not go well. Jacqueline,
36:18very sadly, eventually took her own life, as did another one of his lovers. Two of them had nervous
36:23breakdowns. It is the spot where Rita Hayworth married the Aga Khan. That lasted four years.
36:29I don't know whether she got to keep the stuff, you know, the wedding lists, like the toaster and things.
36:35I don't know how that worked.
36:42But back to Picasso, because perhaps the greatest legacy he left Valerice lies inside this old chapel
36:49that's now a museum to him.
36:50Picasso transformed the interior of the chapel into a work of art with his epic mural, War and Peace.
37:02Themed on the classic Tolstoy novel, Picasso created the artwork to express his communist values.
37:08On one side, he depicted the horrors of war. On the other, the joy of peace.
37:15Picasso got the idea to paint the abandoned chapel when a group of local potters threw a birthday dinner,
37:21and a few pots, for him here. They say he drew 300 sketches to come up with the ideas for this symbolic masterpiece.
37:29That's Picasso's famous dove of peace. It became the symbol of peace, in fact. And so many wonderful images that
37:41Picasso did over the years. Guernica, of course, about the violence of war, about his protests against war.
37:47What's interesting, though, is that behind the dove, you can see the shimmering portrait of his then lover,
37:55François Gillot, who was, in her own right, a fabulous artist. And it's so ironic it's behind the dove of peace,
38:02because his treatment of her was appalling. He was 40 years older, he was abusive. When she left him,
38:09he tried to stop her career. She had to leave France because nobody would buy her art, because he was so powerful.
38:15And it's so hard to separate that man from the work that he did.
38:19But despite all that, this is an undeniably moving expression of the hope of peace in a world so often at war.
38:49After seeing how Picasso was inspired by the Riviera, it's time now to tread in the footsteps of another
38:58giant artistic figure who's indelibly linked with this beautiful region.
39:05I'm leaving Valerice to head to the Antibes Peninsula and the seaside resort of Juan Le Pen.
39:11Back in the 1920s, Antibes's stunning coastline became a magnet for a very special expat community
39:20of American artists who would mythologize the place in the world's imagination.
39:26And their great chronicler was F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night.
39:33As a literary nerd, I'm beyond thrilled to be visiting the hotel that was once the Fitzgerald's home on the Riviera.
39:41And my old friend, Lainey Goodman, is going to tell me about what these rather wild Americans got up to.
39:52So this was the original smoking room where Zelda and Scott, this was definitely part of the old villa,
39:59this part here. And I think a lot of people came in this space to just hang out.
40:05I mean, that's just... I'm such a nerd, I just find it exciting.
40:12Fitzgerald would go on to immortalize the jazz age Riviera in his masterpiece Tender is the Night,
40:18much of it based on the rather intense lifestyle of him and his wife Zelda as they partied away the decade.
40:24Well, it's kind of a saga with Fitzgerald. He started out in 1924 in Saint Raphael down the coast.
40:34And that was at the point where he was trying to finish The Great Gatsby.
40:38He couldn't do it in Great Neck. He was too distracted with all the parties.
40:42So Great Neck in New York.
40:43In New York. Yep.
40:45And he and Zelda decided that the franc was very low and the dollar was very high.
40:52And why don't they just go to France?
40:57Things took a turn, however, when the Fitzgeralds joined the rather lively social set
41:01that circled around Gerald and Sarah Murphy, a wealthy expat couple
41:05who were renting rooms at the Hotel de Cap Eden Rock down the road.
41:09The Murphys and the Fitzgeralds would play a genuinely historic role in the development of the Riviera.
41:19You could say that they invented the Cote d'Azur in the summertime.
41:23They launched the summer season. They were the original influencers, you know.
41:27Because the hotels would close in the summer, is that right?
41:29Yes, yes, yes.
41:30And they persuaded, is it the Eden Rock Hotel?
41:32Yes.
41:33To stay open.
41:34Exactly.
41:34Because they thought it seemed marvellous to be here in the summer.
41:38They had a very strict ritual. You know, the morning, the children were tutored
41:43and they were doing little things around the house. Then they all went to the beach.
41:47Then they had these marvellous picnics. Very, very beautiful food coming out of these hampers
41:53and jazz playing and beautiful umbrellas. They had these mad costumed beach parties.
42:00And it was all very magical. And Zelda loved it.
42:02But Scott was usually in the shade drinking gin because he wasn't really a sun person. He wasn't a beach kind of guy.
42:11The thing I find interesting is that the British didn't come in the summer.
42:14It really is an American thing to begin with, isn't it?
42:17Oh, they came and they rubbed themselves with cocoa butter and they, you know,
42:23they were the first people to be tan, along with Coco Chanel, also started that Vogue.
42:29The 20s Riviera became so glamorous, it attracted almost all of America's greatest writers,
42:36including Ernest Hemingway himself, who became Scott's neighbour.
42:39But the pressure to keep up with the heady lifestyle of this celebrity community
42:45would eventually get to Scott as he descended into alcoholism.
42:50Am I right that in many instances Scott was writing, so, for example, short stories,
42:55just because they didn't have the money to maintain the life that Zelda wanted, is that right?
43:00Exactly. Well, that they both wanted, I think, that they really went into debt.
43:04Um, they spent everything that they, that Scott spent everything that he earned.
43:09As their fortunes declined, Zelda also entered a dark place.
43:15Her mental illness, if you want to call it that, whatever we can diagnose it with today,
43:20you know, showed itself in very many ways because she did very self-destructive things
43:25and she tried to involve Scott. And I know that there's a very famous story about Isidore Duncan
43:30in Saint Paul de Vence at the Colôme d'Or, where, uh, they were having dinner, um, and somebody pointed
43:36out that Isidore Duncan was there. And when Scott went to the table and they were talking and she was
43:42stroking his head, calling him my Centurion, uh, Zelda sort of flipped and she left the restaurant
43:49and threw herself down a stone stairwell. Wow, that's a way of getting attention.
43:53Exactly. What, was she okay?
43:55She was okay. She had bloody knees, but that was okay. She was off balance a lot. So she would go
44:01into these, you know, very, very severe self-destructive, and of course, diving off the rocks,
44:07she would bring Scott with him and try to dive into the pitch black sea.
44:13Scott and Zelda's lives would end tragically early as their problems mounted after they returned to
44:18America. So it's rather poignant to remember them in this room when they were young and gay and life
44:23seemed full of sunshine, friendship and promise.
44:29The Fitzgeralds may have long gone from these parts, but their legacy remains almost a century on.
44:34Each year, the hotel's owners award the Fitzgerald Prize for a novel that reflects Scott's literary
44:40qualities. This year, it's gone to the great contemporary American writer Richard Ford,
44:47and Ford has his own interesting take on why Scott, despite all the marital strife, really loved this place.
44:55There's a plaque out in the lobby in which Fitzgerald says that he's back in his precious Riviera,
45:03and he is feeling for the first time in a very long time that he's being able to be happy. And what I wrote
45:14my wife, because I took a picture of that plaque today, I wrote my wife and I said, the poor Saad,
45:19I said, he thought it was the place that made him happy when it was the person he was with.
45:34There's a fantastic view from up here of dozens and dozens of super yachts, and I really have had
45:39a glimpse into the kind of life that you really mostly only see in the movies, fantastically rich
45:45and privileged. Also, some amazing creativity in writing and in art. But the thing that I have
45:51absolutely learned is that no matter who you are, you bring your baggage with you,
45:55and there are some extremely troubled souls underneath that veneer of exclusivity.
46:03I've also met some wonderful people who've made a great life for themselves here.
46:07And it's fair to say the dogs seem happy too. So the next time somebody says,
46:12it's a dog's life, I'm going to think that sounds pretty good. I'm off to Nice, which
46:18counter-intuitively for me, is that way.
46:25And we'll see you there same time next Saturday. And for more from Sandy, she and Raksha Dave are
46:31exploring the hidden wonders right beneath our feet. Stream the series now. And tomorrow at 8.30,
46:37game of wool moves time just for one week to make way for the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix highlights.
46:43Next night, Devon and Cornwall at Christmas.
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