After Biarritz, I continued my Grand Tour by paying a visit to my friend, Florian Colomb de Daunant, who owns the amazing, genuinely authentic and utterly historic Mas de Cacharel. With his great hospitality and good taste, Florian has brought this iconic place into the twenty- first century. It is a haven for nature lovers: a quiet, laid-back retreat located in the Camargue, one of Europe’s largest river deltas and a birdwatcher’s paradise where flamingos, egrets and other waders flock in huge numbers. Guests can explore all this on guided horse rides from the hotel’s courtyard. The Cacharel still has its own working stables and visitors are more than welcome to bring their own horses. Florian’s father, Denys Colomb de Daunant, bought this remote ranch in the Camargue wetlands in 1947. It had no electricity, water or telephone but his aim was to transform it into the first, and best, equestrian inn in the Camargue. He had married a granddaughter of Folco de Baroncelli, one of the most emblematic figures of the Camargue. De Daunant, who was also an artist, writer and filmmaker, adapted the screenplay for Crin Blanc (whose 10-year-old hero is also called Folco) and the film was shot at Le Mas de Cacharel, north of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. His whole life was dedicated to the promotion of the Camargue and, among other things, he established the bullring in Saintes-Maries. Le Mas de Cacharel is now run by his son Florian, who continues this legacy in a fabulous way, and it remains a cut above the rest, probably because it retains the spirit of its founder Denys and his visitors, who included Hemingway, Picasso, Cocteau and Provencal writer and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol. I always look forward to sharing stories with Florian around the Cacharel’s enormous hand-carved fireplace, so when I asked him how he experienced ‘le confinement’ he smiled at me and said, “I am always in splendid isolation”. For me, this is always a great place to recharge my batteries so that I can restart my journey full of inspiration.