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00:00Sierra, playground of the rich and famous, and one of the world's great dream destinations.
00:06This is paradise.
00:07And by taking a simple rail trip of just over 100 miles from end to end,
00:12you can see all its sun-drenched glories.
00:15And that's what I'm doing.
00:18Wow.
00:18It's luxury beyond all measure, and I've got the best seat in the house.
00:24As well as the rather nice sea, sand, and sun, I want to explore the region's rich past.
00:30We're sitting pretty much in the exact spot.
00:33And vibrant present.
00:35What a way to toast a new Frenchie home.
00:37I'll discover the famous characters that made the Riviera glitter.
00:41You could say that they invented the Cortezio in the summertime.
00:45And I'll visit the places and meet the people that keep it shimmering today.
00:50Oh, I love this.
00:51What's not to like about my great Riviera rail trip?
01:03Can you guess where we are?
01:05Yes.
01:06My great Riviera rail trip has reached the home of the world's most famous film festival.
01:13For almost 80 years, the movie greats have been coming here, and this wonderful mural sets the scene nicely.
01:22I'm genuinely excited.
01:27I have never been in Cannes before, and you cannot come here without thinking about the movies.
01:31I feel like the kid up from the country hoping to make it big.
01:35Of course, the thing that is big here in Cannes is the dog population.
01:38I think the chances are, rather than finding fame, I'm much more likely to end up with a furry friend.
01:43Cannes is just the first step in this week's stage of my Tour de France Sud.
01:51From here, I'll be taking a slight detour to Grasse to make myself smell a little nicer.
01:56I'll explain later.
01:58And then I'll be treading in the footsteps of two giant artistic figures of the 20th century
02:03who put their little stretch of this famous coastline on the world's cultural map.
02:08But first, it's Cannes.
02:12I've never been here before, and I've always wondered what it'd be like to be at the big, fancy film festival.
02:17I've been in show business a very, very long time.
02:19I've made a couple of British movies.
02:21I've never really done the Hollywood thing, although it was close.
02:25So, 1971, maybe I was 11 or 12, I was spotted by a talent scout who asked me if I would audition for Paul Newman.
02:32So I went, and I met him, and I read for him.
02:34He was so lovely, those amazing, piercing eyes that he had.
02:39It was for a movie called The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man and the Moon Marigolds, and I was to play his daughter.
02:44I didn't get the part, because he cast his own daughter, so I don't feel too bad.
02:49But 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.
02:56At least with a job like this, I get to hang out in some of the places those movie stars frequent when they're at the festival.
03:05And nowhere is more central to it than the Great Carlton, one 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 to have been modelled on the breasts of legendary courtesan Caroline Ortero,
03:26rumoured lover of Edward VII and Queen of the Belle Epoque Riviera.
03:31What a lovely lot of old gossip.
03:32The Carlton hosted all the eight journalists who came to the first ever film festival in 1946.
03:40And this beautifully preserved ballroom has hosted more stars than there are in heaven over the years.
03:47The Carlton Hotel has fairly recently been renovated, but not this room, because it didn't need it.
03:54Look at this.
03:55This is the Grand Salon, and it is sort of bursting with a sense of luxury.
04:02And if you've ever seen that wonderful 1955 film directed by Hitchcock, To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly,
04:09you already have a sense of the glory of this place.
04:13In fact, it was also in 1955 at the Cannes Film Festival that Grace Kelly was doing a photoshoot,
04:17and she was asked to do it with Prince Rainier of Monaco, and the rest after that was history.
04:23In fact, I have a feeling if I hang around here long enough, some royal may come and snatch me up.
04:29I'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 or walked down this grand staircase to tread the red carpet,
04:46then get in a fancy car to take them just a few hundred yards to the film festival palais.
04:51One man who's spent a lot of time catering to the whims of those rich and famous is veteran concierge Maxime Nekowski.
05:01Maxime, bonjour.
05:02Bonjour.
05:03Je suis Sandy.
05:04Bienvenue.
05:04Thank you so much.
05:06I'm very excited.
05:07A lot of people.
05:08It's always busy at the Carlton, I will say.
05:12OK.
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.
05:37Does that mean people come and think you can make magic for them?
05:41I would try to be magic.
05:43Yes.
05:43It's golden keys from the chef concierge of the Carlton since five generations.
05:50Wow.
05:51What a responsibility.
05:53It is.
05:54Yeah.
05:55As the Carlton is so close to the centre of the film festival,
05:58Maxime's seen his fair few red carpet moments over the years.
06:04In fact, the red carpet, usually they close the red carpet at seven o'clock, you know?
06:11So the...
06:12Yeah, the cars coming, they start at five.
06:16Oh, wow.
06:17So two hours of cars, you see?
06:19Yeah.
06:19As it's just like less than one kilometre from here.
06:24Yeah.
06:24But the ladies are coming, dress up, you know, the man with the tuxedo.
06:32And do you get people ringing down saying,
06:33Oh, I've lost a button on my tuxedo, and...
06:36Always like that.
06:37Oh, that, okay.
06:38Always like that, you know?
06:40I have to go.
06:40I don't have any bow tie.
06:42I sing a song.
06:45I have a few of them.
06:46Oh, do you?
06:46Just spare bow ties.
06:47Of the time.
06:48Of the time.
06:48I like that.
06:51Just out front of the Carlton, Cannes Public Promenade, or Quazette,
06:56is where you'll find the movie stars going for a stroll during the festival.
07:00But 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?
07:27Some dogs have become movie stars here too, and 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.
07:44My subject.
07:45Okay, why 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 a country fair,
07:53a dog called Muttley, who was a fox terrier.
07:57Made a short film with him.
07:59Okay, did you name him Muttley?
08:00I did.
08:00Because 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 was a short film.
08:09It's called ID Crisis.
08:10And it was about dogs saving the world.
08:13It was a great film.
08:15And Muttley did a great thing and a great performance, but no prize.
08:19No award.
08:21So, clearly, I'm thinking about this, there's a lot of great dogs in films, and where is the recognition?
08:27Exactly.
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 to...
08:36It is an incredibly witty...
08:38I like it.
08:39...play on the Palma Door.
08:41Yes.
08:42Look how lovely.
08:43And do you have any celebrity supporters?
08:46Well, we have actually a few.
08:47You may have heard of Quentin Tarantino.
08:50Oh, my word.
08:52When I say the words, Tilda Swinton.
08:54Darling, you've just gone straight for the top, haven't you?
08:57Has to be done, I think.
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.
09:06Right.
09:06And it's become organically encrusted in the calendar.
09:10I have no idea if we're going to win the Palm Dog.
09:15I feel no entitlement.
09:17It's the Palm Dog, not the Palm du Rijon.
09:20But I do feel that I was in a good standing to win the Palm Dog.
09:26All right?
09:28You've watched a lot of dog performances.
09:30In 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.
09:43Palm Dog.
09:44Very good.
09:44Very exciting.
09:45You haven't gone for the obvious ones, like Beethoven or...
09:48The Palm Dog started in 2001.
09:51Oh, so we can't even do the dog in Little Orphan Annie, can we?
09:55May I just say, Muttley, who was there very much at the beginning, was still out of the frame.
10:00So how you could even go back to Lassie, go back to Rinton Tin, go back to Astor, Toto Wizard of Oz, all 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.
10:17Yeah.
10:17So I think also you should do other animals.
10:19So I don't know if it's true.
10:21I think that the bear who played Paddington is the same one in The Revenant, but it was like showing his range.
10:28It'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 de Souche prepares her clients for their big moment.
10:44Nice to meet you.
10:45What a place you have. I wish I was a dog.
10:48Yes, it's a beautiful castle for a dog in Cannes.
10:52This place is for the grooming, ASPA massage, balneotherapy, grooming.
10:59Wow.
10:59And also we produce the articles, very special, because in Cannes is the city, very special for the dog.
11:07Okay, so you're busy all the time.
11:10All the time.
11:11And sometimes, does the dog get dressed up?
11:14Oh, yes.
11:15The last year, we make one, like, very special for the, for the cat.
11:20Saturday dress, Night Fever.
11:24Oh, I love this.
11:25This is wonderful.
11:26It's unread, okay?
11:27Yeah.
11:27And one is for, uh, the, um, the stars of film festival.
11:32Yes?
11:33Yes.
11:33I make also for my dog, because it's very special.
11:36Hello.
11:36My dog, she's, uh, um, Simone.
11:40Hello, Simone.
11:41She's a beautiful girl.
11:42She is gorgeous.
11:43She has four years old.
11:45Hello.
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.
11:50You see that, that?
11:51I'm just saying it.
11:51I have pictures, if you want to see.
11:53Just saying it.
11:54Okay.
11:55Oh, look at you.
11:59So gorgeous.
12:00Now she's ready to win an award, I think.
12:03It's fantastic.
12:05I think I should get a present for my dog to take home.
12:08Ah, you want you to take home?
12:09Yes.
12:10Uh, what do you like?
12:11So she's...
12:11We have a beautiful necklace.
12:13Everything is handmade, okay?
12:15Okay.
12:16We want to...
12:16She's quite small.
12:17She's quite small?
12:18Yeah.
12:19Like, maybe the size.
12:20Maybe this size.
12:21Oh, I don't...
12:22Yes.
12:23This is magnificent.
12:24It's precious.
12:25Yeah.
12:26Okay.
12:27We love this.
12:28And this waroski and special, we love.
12:31Okay.
12:32This is very good.
12:33It's like a baby.
12:34Yeah.
12:34I'm going to...
12:34I'll take one of those.
12:36Very good.
12:37Thank you, too.
12:38Harvest.
12:40So, I came here hoping to get a taste of Hollywood by the sea.
12:44And I got a chiffon dog collar.
12:46Still, perhaps it's the perfect souvenir of a town where even the dogs live a glamorous life.
12:52A bit 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 too.
13:31Said I was going to travel by train. I wasn't expecting this one. Look at this!
13:36This is fantastic! Right, all aboard!
13:41Well, it's a rail trip. Why not?
13:44It's very steep. Wow!
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 towns
14:13in the whole of Provence.
14:17That was wonderful. I have been on the bullet train in Japan, but that was better.
14:23Merci, monsieur!
14:25He doesn't care.
14:27Still, better get some steps in today, I suppose.
14:37You can't walk around here without being interested in the history.
14:40This cathedral here in Grasse was first begun in the 12th century.
14:45And the plaque there mentions the 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.
14:56But they didn't have anybody to execute, so they decided to lend it to Grasse.
15:01They 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.
15:13And then they returned it used to Nice.
15:16I 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, Grasse's microclimate is perfect for growing flowers.
15:46The surrounding sea of jasmine and roses spurred the creation of beautiful scents that 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 the 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.
16:57I'm very excited to be here.
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.
17:16Right here?
17:17Right here.
17:18Right at this floor.
17:19You know, the upper floors were for the family.
17:21They would live there.
17:22And then the employees were working, you know, underneath in the floor downstairs.
17:26Where 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.
17:44We 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.
17:51And from this year onwards, we will do that technique again because...
17:56Are you bringing it back?
17:57Exactly.
17:58You know, this is our innovation at Fragonard.
18:00It's 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.
18:18And 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.
18:28Helen is one of those.
18:29Okay, can you help me?
18:30Yes, of course I can.
18:31Let's try it.
18:32Let's try it.
18:33Let's try it.
18:34Let's try it.
18:35Let's try it.
18:36So Princess, you're a master perfumier.
18:38How do you become that?
18:39How long does it take?
18:40It takes quite some years.
18:42Yeah.
18:43And passion.
18:44Yes.
18:45So did you always want to do that?
18:46Did you grow up as a little girl?
18:47Since the age of ten, yes.
18:48Really?
18:49Why?
18:50Yeah, 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.
19:01Right.
19:02For the test to choose, you know, the panel testing samples.
19:07And she asked me, do you want to smell?
19:09And I said, okay, let's, you know, I'm being curious.
19:11I said, okay, let's do it.
19:13And, and on the end of the session, I said, I want to do that.
19:16She said, you want to do what?
19:17I'm like, what's inside?
19:18I want to do that.
19:19And since, since I'm little, I always put my nose everywhere.
19:23Every time there is a smell, you know, I go and look for it and in the flowers or in the fields.
19:28Or I, even when my mum or my grandmother used to cook, I put my nose, you know, in my plates.
19:34And so I did the studies.
19:36And it's called being a nose, really, isn't it?
19:38Is that right?
19:39Yes, me.
19:40Exactly.
19:41What's amazing about smell, I think, for, for, for everybody who pays attention to it, it touches your emotion.
19:46Emotions.
19:47Doesn't it?
19:48Emotions.
19:49Oh!
19:50It triggers, it triggers, it's the emotion.
19:51So it's, it vibrates here.
19:52Yeah.
19:53I lost my father a long time ago.
19:55But if I smell his pipe tobacco.
19:58That's wonderful.
19:59And 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?
20:21Orange.
20:22Number one.
20:23Should I smell it now?
20:24You can.
20:25So be careful.
20:26Do not touch your nose with it.
20:27Okay?
20:28What's important is that you close your eyes.
20:31You 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
20:44that'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.
21:03And 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.
21:21So I think, well, I must do the kitchen.
21:27I could see how you could get hooked doing this.
21:32I could 100% see it.
21:34Okay.
21:35Mandarin 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.
21:45That 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.
22:02Oh, I like, yeah.
22:03I like that.
22:04So I'm going to put fake mandarin teeth.
22:10And the last one is the lavender.
22:15Oh, that's not what I was expecting.
22:17It's much smokier.
22:20It's smokier.
22:21It's smoother.
22:22It's warmer.
22:23Yeah.
22:24Oh, I thought I knew what it smelled like.
22:26The fresh flowers.
22:27It's normal.
22:28Is it?
22:29Oh, okay.
22:30Good.
22:31I thought 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, I have my own perfume.
23:01Okay.
23:02This is super fun.
23:03I love doing this.
23:04I'm glad you like it.
23:06I really love it.
23:07They should have done chemistry like this at school.
23:10It would be much more interesting.
23:12Okay.
23:13Staring.
23:17Looks like some terrible sample of the doctor.
23:20I don't know if I'm well.
23:21I can't tell.
23:22I think maybe not.
23:23Oh, it's really interesting.
23:25Can I smell yours?
23:26Sure.
23:27Not a sentence I've ever said to anybody.
23:29And you will see it's completely different.
23:30Okay.
23:31Yours is terrific.
23:32Could we pretend that's mine?
23:33No, it's the same.
23:34You can.
23:35You can.
23:36But yours is different because you use different ingredients.
23:48And you see how funny it is because with nine ingredients, a recipe, a common recipe originally,
23:55we can do various different things.
23:58Astonishing difference.
23:59I loved it.
24:00So now into the perfume bottle.
24:02Do you give it a name?
24:05Yes.
24:06Okay.
24:07Luke.
24:08What have you called it?
24:10Oh, Sandy.
24:11Oh, Sandy.
24:12I like that.
24:15That's so exciting.
24:16I need to give it a name.
24:19Belle Helen.
24:27There you go.
24:28Thank you for your time and patience.
24:30You're welcome.
24:31I had a wonderful time.
24:32Thank you for having you.
24:33Yes.
24:34It was great.
24:35It was really good.
24:36Thank you so much.
24:37Thank you, Sandy.
24:38Oh, I'm going to...
24:39Well, I carry you with me now.
24:40That's it.
24:41We wafted.
24:42We wafted out of here.
24:43Oh!
24:44Can I keep the apron?
24:45Yes, for you.
24:47This has been a great day.
24:49Okay.
24:50More respect now, people.
24:51I'm an apprentice, but I want a little bit more respect from all of you.
24:56I'm still in Grasse, the perfume capital of the world.
24:59The scent industry originally flourished here due to the surrounding countryside and a climate that is particularly conducive to growing flowers.
25:11So today, I'm heading into that countryside to enjoy the heady aroma of some of those flowers.
25:28In the olive groves of La Mouisson, an Englishwoman, Lady Maggie Lockett, has created one of the most illustrious gardens in the whole of France.
25:42And lucky me has been invited round for tea.
25:45I bet I'll call.
25:47Hope I've got the right day.
25:52Hello.
25:53Hello.
25:54Oh, hello.
25:55It's Sandy.
25:56Hello.
25:57Oh, hi.
25:58Hello.
25:59Welcome.
26:01La porte est ouverte.
26:03I like that.
26:04It's like a French lesson.
26:06La porte est ouverte.
26:09Here 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.
26:22But 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.
26:49We have the loo.
26:50Obviously.
26:52Is that a chestnut roaster?
26:53Yes, it is.
26:54But it deflects the water.
26:56Otherwise, I shall say what Christopher Lloyd said.
27:00With the water feature, you have to make sure it does not sound like a horse pissing.
27:05I am always going to quote you on that.
27:10And this one.
27:11Well, it's Christopher Lloyd.
27:12No, no.
27:13I'm going to quote this.
27:14You said it.
27:15I love that.
27:16And on that unladylike note, we began a stroll through this beguiling garden.
27:20Or should it be gardens, as there are distinctly different aspects and styles, beginning with this enchanting bamboo walk.
27:32Oh, this is magnificent.
27:33Well, this was the first garden I dared make here, after having only gardened in London, because it is so enormous.
27:40And if you say, oh, we'll turn it into a garden.
27:43Oh, gosh, I don't know where to start.
27:45So we started here and made the path.
27:49Emma, my daughter, and I, we came up with two huge bags of flour 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, yes.
28:10Well, in a garden this size, you cannot have all of it looking wonderful on the same day.
28:14Because you've got a two-month period where any bit of the garden looks its best.
28:20The 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.
28:34So this is the vine walk, which is in full flow in June.
28:39So we're lucky with the date.
28:41That smell already.
28:42Is jasmine?
28:43Yes, the false jasmine in full flower.
28:48This one is not a real jasmine.
28:50It's a different plant.
28:51And 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.
29:06And 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.
29:19You 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?
29:38Yes.
29:39Yes.
29:40Upturned kitchen stool, it used to be.
29:41It's just sugar and grapes.
29:43No water, nothing.
29:44Don't mess about with it.
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.
29:54In this part of the garden, there's no watering, except in a 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?
30:14OK.
30:15Maybe it's me.
30:16A gardening book, maybe.
30:17A gardening book.
30:18OK.
30:19It's magnificent.
30:20Yeah.
30:21I did a lot of garden courses.
30:23Right.
30:24Mostly in England.
30:25And 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.
30:41Right.
30:42And 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?
30:53Absolutely awful.
30:54And yet, look what you've done.
30:55OK, Sandy, would you love to come and have a look at the lawn where I've got some fresh lemonade made?
31:01I 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.
31:21OK.
31:22I've been reading about gardens in France, and there's a thing called Remarquable Gardens.
31:26Can you tell me about that?
31:27Yes.
31:28It's organised by the Ministry of Culture, and it covers the whole of France.
31:34I 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.
32:06We'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.
32:17I haven't checked.
32:18So do they come and inspect, a bit like a restaurant inspector?
32:21Oh, yes.
32:22We have to prepare all the documentation.
32:24We did a 35-page plan of the garden.
32:29Being a Jardin Remarquable means Lady Lockett has to open to the public too,
32:34so 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.
32:46Actually, my parents were both German.
32:49They started their married life in England.
32:53I was born in 1950.
32:55And, you know, I was brought up in proper German mother.
33:01And, you know, my father worked as several things.
33:05A 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.
33:20I'm the eldest of five.
33:21She taught all of us that we should work hard at school,
33:26to 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,
33:44which 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. That's lovely.
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'm...
34:07I may never leave, you know that, right?
34:09That's good, I'd love for that.
34:11I promise you, I can be entertaining in the evening.
34:14It'll be fine.
34:15Yeah.
34:20I have learnt that when you're travelling,
34:22there'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
34:30without wanting to just sit,
34:33maybe eat a strawberry,
34:35and smell all the glorious scents.
34:37I mean, it's no wonder it's the perfume capital of the world.
34:41Ooh!
34:58After my perfumed and pleasurable sojourn in Grasse,
35:01it's time to go back to the coast for a bit of culture.
35:04Just two miles inland from the station at Golf Juan Valerice
35:08sits the old town of Valerice.
35:10The first thing that hits you here is the pottery,
35:12and the number of shops selling ceramics.
35:13They're everywhere,
35:14which is why this pretty old town
35:15has become the pottery capital of France.
35:17The pottery tradition in Valerice dates back to Roman times,
35:19and among the many great potters
35:20who've worked here over the centuries,
35:21perhaps the most famous is Picasso.
35:23Picasso moved here in 1948 to pursue his passion,
35:24and turned a former perfumery into his studio.
35:25Almost 80 years later,
35:26you can still feel his presence in the town.
35:27The pottery tradition in Valerice dates back to Roman times,
35:30and among the many great potters who've worked here over the centuries,
35:32perhaps the most famous is Picasso.
35:37Picasso moved here in 1948 to pursue his passion,
35:41and turned a former perfumery into his studio.
35:48Almost 80 years later, you can still feel his presence in the town.
35:56It's hard to think of a more romantic spot,
35:57sitting in a cafe, got a rose.
35:59I am, of course, on my own.
36:02This is the very place behind me
36:05where Picasso married his final wife, Jacqueline Roque.
36:08Can I just say, marrying Picasso, never a good idea,
36:10did not go well.
36:11Jacqueline, very sadly, eventually took her own life,
36:14as did another one of his lovers.
36:16Two of them had nervous breakdowns.
36:18It is the spot where Rita Hayworth married the Arga Khan.
36:22That lasted four years.
36:24I don't know whether she got to keep the stuff,
36:27you know, the wedding lists, about the toaster and things.
36:29I don't know how that worked.
36:37But back to Picasso,
36:38because perhaps the greatest legacy he left Valéry's
36:41lies inside this old chapel that's now a museum to him.
36:48Picasso transformed the interior of the chapel
36:50into a work of art with his epic mural, War and Peace.
36:57Themed on the classic Tolstoy novel,
37:00Picasso created the artwork to express his communist values.
37:04On 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
37:13when a group of local potters threw a birthday dinner
37:16and a few pots for him here.
37:18They say he drew 300 sketches to come up with the ideas
37:22for 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,
37:39about his protests against war.
37:41What's interesting, though, is that behind the dove,
37:45you can see the shimmering portrait
37:48of his then-lover François Gillot,
37:51who was, in her own right, a fabulous artist.
37:54And it's so ironic it's behind the dove of peace,
37:56because his treatment of her was appalling.
37:59He was 40 years older, he was abusive.
38:02When she left him, he tried to stop her career.
38:05She had to leave France because nobody would buy her art,
38:07because he was so powerful.
38:09And it's so hard to separate that man
38:12from the work that he did.
38:18But despite all that,
38:19this is an undeniably moving expression
38:22of the hope of peace in a world so often at war.
38:37After seeing how Picasso was inspired by the Riviera,
38:50it's time now to tread in the footsteps
38:52of another giant artistic figure
38:54who's indelibly linked with this beautiful region.
39:00I'm leaving Valerice to head to the Antibes Peninsula
39:03and the seaside resort of Juan Lepin.
39:08Back in the 1920s, Antibes's stunning coastline
39:11became a magnet for a very special expat community
39:14of American artists
39:16who would mythologize the place in the world's imagination.
39:21And their great chronicler was F. Scott Fitzgerald,
39:24author of The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night.
39:28As a literary nerd, I'm beyond thrilled
39:31to be visiting the hotel
39:33that was once the Fitzgerald's home on the Riviera.
39:37And my old friend, Lainey Goodman,
39:39is going to tell me
39:40about what these rather wild Americans got up to.
39:47So this was the original smoking room
39:49where Zelda and Scott,
39:51this was definitely part of the old villa,
39:53this part here.
39:55And I think a lot of people came in this space
39:58to just hang out.
40:00I mean, that's just...
40:01I'm such a nerd, I just find it exciting.
40:06Fitzgerald would go on to immortalize
40:08the Jazz Age Riviera
40:10in his masterpiece Tender Is the Night,
40:12much of it based on the rather intense lifestyle
40:15of him and his wife Zelda
40:17as they partied away the decade.
40:19Well, it's kind of a saga with Fitzgerald.
40:23He started out in 1924
40:25in Saint Raphael down the coast.
40:27And that was at the point
40:29where he was trying to finish The Great Gatsby.
40:32He couldn't do it in Great Neck.
40:34He 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
40:41that the franc was very low
40:44and the dollar was very high
40:46and why don't they just go to France?
40:51Things took a turn, however,
40:53when the Fitzgeralds joined
40:54the rather lively social set
40:56that circled around Gerald and Sarah Murphy,
40:58a wealthy expat couple
41:00who were renting rooms
41:01at the Hotel de Cap Eden Rock down the road.
41:04The Murphys and the Fitzgeralds
41:07would play a genuinely historic role
41:09in the development of the Riviera.
41:13You could say that they invented
41:15the Cote d'Azur in the summertime.
41:17They launched the summer season.
41:19They were the original influencers.
41:21Because the hotels would close in the summer,
41:23is that right?
41:24Yes, yes.
41:25And they persuaded,
41:26is it the Eden Rock Hotel?
41:27Yes.
41:28To stay open.
41:29Exactly.
41:30Because they thought
41:31it seemed marvellous to be here in the summer.
41:33They had a very strict ritual.
41:35You know, the morning,
41:36the children were tutored
41:38and they were doing little things around the house.
41:40Then they all went to the beach.
41:42Then they had these marvellous picnics.
41:44Very, very beautiful food
41:46coming out of these hampers
41:48and jazz playing
41:49and beautiful umbrellas.
41:51They had these mad costumed beach parties
41:54and it was all very magical.
41:56And Zelda loved it.
41:57But Scott was usually in the shade
42:00drinking gin
42:01because he wasn't really a sun person.
42:03He wasn't a beach kind of guy.
42:06The thing I find interesting
42:07is that the British didn't come in the summer.
42:09It really is an American thing
42:11to begin with, isn't it?
42:12Oh, they came and they rubbed themselves
42:14with cocoa butter
42:15and they, you know,
42:18they were the first people to be tan
42:20along with Coco Chanel
42:21also started that vote.
42:23The 20s Riviera became so glamorous
42:27it attracted almost all of America's greatest writers
42:30including Ernest Hemingway himself
42:32who became Scott's neighbour.
42:35But the pressure to keep up with the heady lifestyle
42:38of this celebrity community
42:39would eventually get to Scott
42:41as he descended into alcoholism.
42:43Am I right that in many instances
42:47Scott was writing,
42:48so for example, short stories
42:50just because they didn't have the money
42:52to maintain the life that Zelda wanted?
42:54Is that right?
42:55Exactly.
42:56Well, that they both wanted, I think.
42:57Right, okay.
42:58They really went into debt.
42:59They spent everything that they...
43:01Scott spent everything that he earned.
43:03As their fortunes declined,
43:05Zelda also entered a dark place.
43:09Her mental illness, if you want to call it that,
43:12whatever we can diagnose it with today,
43:14you know, showed itself in very many ways
43:17because she did very self-destructive things
43:19and she tried to involve Scott.
43:21And I know that there's a very famous story
43:23about Isidore Duncan in St. Paul de Vence
43:26at the Colôme d'Or
43:27where they were having dinner
43:29and somebody pointed out that Isidore Duncan was there
43:32and when Scott went to the table
43:34and they were talking and she was stroking,
43:37his head, calling him my Centurion,
43:40Zelda sort of flipped
43:42and she left the restaurant
43:44and threw herself down a stone stairwell.
43:46Wow, that's a way of getting attention.
43:48Exactly.
43:49Was she okay?
43:50She was okay.
43:51She had bloody knees, but that was okay.
43:53She was off balance a lot,
43:55so she would go into these, you know,
43:57very, very severe, self-destructive...
44:00And, of course, diving off the rocks,
44:01she would bring Scott with him
44:03and try to dive into the pitch black sea.
44:06Scott and Zelda's lives would end tragically early
44:10as their problems mounted after they returned to America.
44:13So it's rather poignant to remember them in this room
44:16when they were young and gay
44:18and life seemed full of sunshine, friendship and promise.
44:21The Fitzgeralds may have long gone from these parts,
44:26but their legacy remains almost a century on.
44:29Each year, the hotel's owners award the Fitzgerald Prize
44:32for a novel that reflects Scott's literary qualities.
44:36This year, it's gone to the great contemporary American writer Richard Ford,
44:41and Ford has his own interesting take on why Scott,
44:45despite all the marital strife, really loved this place.
44:48There's a plaque out in the lobby in which Fitzgerald says that he's...
44:54that he's back in his precious Riviera,
44:58and he is feeling for the first time in a very long time
45:03that he's being able to be happy.
45:08And what I wrote my wife,
45:09because I took a picture of that plaque today,
45:11I wrote my wife and I said,
45:13the poor Saad, I said,
45:14he thought it was the place that made him happy
45:16when it was the person he was with.
45:18There's a fantastic view from up here
45:31of dozens and dozens of super yachts,
45:33and I really have had a glimpse into the kind of life
45:36that you really mostly only see in the movies,
45:39fantastically rich and privileged.
45:41Also, some amazing creativity in writing and in art.
45:44But the thing that I have absolutely learned
45:47is that no matter who you are, you bring your baggage with you,
45:50and there are some extremely troubled souls
45:52underneath that veneer of exclusivity.
45:57I've also met some wonderful people
45:59who've made a great life for themselves here.
46:02And it's fair to say the dogs seem happy too.
46:05So the next time somebody says,
46:07it's a dog's life,
46:08I'm going to think that sounds pretty good.
46:10I'm off to Nice,
46:12which counter-intuitively for me is that way.
46:16And we'll see you there same time next Saturday.
46:22And for more from Sandy,
46:24she and Raksha Dave are exploring the hidden wonders
46:27right beneath our feet.
46:29Stream the series now.
46:30And tomorrow at 8.30,
46:32Game of Wall moves time just for one week
46:34to make way for the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix highlights.
46:37Next night, Devon and Cornwall at Christmas.
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