It is no wonder that expats find it comforting to move here. They sell up back home buy a beautiful villa in pleasant surroundings and get to work in Nice, Monaco, or Sophia Antipolis very easily. But where do the kids go to school? One of the major problems with re-location is the children integrating into a new place with a new language. In Mougins, this is not a problem, with the Mougins International School being created in 1987 to look after children of expats moving to Mougins and the surrounding areas.

The Mougins International School enrolls 454 students from 35 nationalities, with all teaching in English. Subjects available include: Art, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, English, French, Geography, German, History, Mathematics, Physical Education, Physics, Spanish and Music. Facilities include : Library, 2 Art Studios, 3 Science Laboratories, Information Technology Centre, Gymnasium, synthetic football pitch, exterior sports court, Music Room, Performing Arts Hall, Examinations Room, Dining Room. Here children can take the AS and A level exams that they would have taken back home in the UK. As the teaching is in English and subjects are the same there is no real reason for problems of re-location when adults are searching for a better quality of life.

Thanks to the Mougins International School Mougins is becoming a sought after place to buy property in the South of France. Local Mougins immobilier have said people are actually searching for houses and villas for sale close to the Mougins International School. It is not surprising as families looking to re-locate to the South of France find it much easier in Mougins thanks to the fantastic location, amenities, culture, ease of getting to work, and an English school close by for the kids.

Even if you’re not a dedicated fan of walking tours or walking holidays, France is still one of the best countries for a great all-round walking experience-and for many it remains at the top of all the European walking tours available. However, for walking in France some areas are better than others.

One of the best areas to walk in is the Alps Maritime. There’s the magnificent scenery, the warm welcome the great weather, the fine cuisine, and of course the delicious wine. All these on there own would be reason enough to visit, but when you get them all together as a package It turns a nice break into a holiday to remember for years to come.

One of the best places to stay is in the charming village of Sospel. This is a favourite place for walkers, mountain bikers and people who just like being in the countryside because it has everything you need.

Sospel is right in the centre of the mountains and from there you can access more than a thousand kilometres of walking, hiking and biking trials that will suit most levels of walkers, hikers and bikers. The village of Sospel itself has enough restaurants and bars to cater for most tastes and pockets and there are a dozen or more guest houses, hotels and gites to stay at.

This is a relatively easy 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hour walk along part of the Bevera Valley and a small side valley off to the South. Walking is in a mixture of paths and tracks passing through both forested and more open areas.

We leave Villa Amiel- probably the best bed and breakfast in Sospel and head east crossing the road into the Parc de Platanes, go past the war memorial towards the Co-operative building that look like an old warehouse. Going between it and the 1960s transformer building oposite, we follow the small road heading more or less towards the east that within a few hundred yards starts to track along the north side of the railway line heading towards La Source.

There are a few interesting houses along this track an occasionally friendly sheep and just the odd car – but you’ll soon be leaving most signs of civilisation behind you.

Continue along for about half a mile, we then take a road that bears up to the right and is signposted to a kennel complex, turn right here. Follow the road as it bears right and goes across the railway line. Five minutes after crossing the railway line we arrive at a “crossroads” area, where 3 roads converge, and our path takes us straight on down the un-made track in front.

After passing the large gates complete with a lot of barking dogs, the track continues on for about half a mile and finishes at some large gates. We leave the track and take the footpath off up to the right and continue along a tree-lined path that for the time being heads due south. Continuing along the path you you notice that it starts to climb slightly as we leave the Bevera Valley and enter a side of valley that takes us onto the Vallone De Sues.

Following the fairly obvious path we soon pass a big rock… or two! And about 20 to 25 minutes from leaving the track – come across an old and fairly picturesque cottage. Looking out through the trees at this point we get some stunning views back down into the Bevera Valley. Leaving the cottage behind, the path bears slowly right as it drops down towards the river bed which depending on the time of year you do the walkcan be full of water or empty!

There are large boulders in the riverbed, so even if the river is pretty full, it- like many of the small waterways in this region – is easily crossable with care. However, this is a good place to sit and have a rest or a picnic – as so we did, enjoying a nice half hour break for good picnic food, drink and entertaining chat.

After having a pleasent rest, we join a path on the other side of the river, that goes both ways, up and down the hill. We decide to go up the hill, as although it adds an extra 40 minutes to this enjoyable walk — the views from the ruins near the top are glorious.

Having had our fill of the views we about turn following the path back down again and pass the crossing point in the river The path dips slightly and we noticed some unusual moss covered rocks that even in the driest weather seemed to stay moist After about 400m, we follow the path that goes up the incline to the right. and at the top-and bear left on to the track heading vaguely north.

Keeping to the track, we bear left where the farm entrance joins the it and a little later on notice the footpath proper goes off down to the left but we stick to the track as that follows a higher route and so affords some nice views up the valley towards Sospel.

After about 20 minutes — not counting the time we spent taking photos — we found ourselves walking along and above the south side of the railway line slowly descending back down towards the valley bottom. Following the track as it sloped down around a right-hand bend we crossedthe railway line, then turning westerly went along another small roadway taking us back towards La Source, a small countrified estate of houses situated down the river from Sospel.

Just before this small housing estate starts, we turned left up the slope following the track still heading vaguely west – this time – below and to the north of the railway line. About half an hour after crossing the railway- we recognise the first part of the track we had walked along a few hours earlier as we head back towards the cooperative warehouse and Sospel.

From here it is just a short walk through the car park and pass the memorial. to be greeted by the much welcomed drink waiting for us when we get back to the Villa Amiel. This hasn’t been the hardest walk we’ve ever done, but it was certainly enjoyable and we look forward to many more like it. You can see the photos and maps for this walk on the www.villaamiel.com website

The villa has a long an interesting history that is over 2000 years old. The first villas we think were built during the Roman Empire; it is amazing to think just how much luxury the ancient Roman civilisation had.

Villas today try to continue the legacy left by the Roman villa designers but add their own unique touch of style and design to create a more modern living experience.

Pliny the Elder, a Roman philosopher (died 79 AD) noted that there where two types of villa the villa urbana and the villa rustica; the latter was a country villa that could be easily reached from Rome for one or two nights (in the urbana or suburbs of Rome), the former was a farm-house estate constantly occupied and maintained by servants.

Villas of course were built for the wealthy upper-class and designed for comfort and style. Interestingly the villa rustica would have been occupied seasonally by their owners to escape the Roman summer heat in the hills surrounding the city. Interestingly the great Cicero apparently owned seven villas set in wonderful botanic gardens.

Does this seasonal inhabitation remind you of any modern practices’, how many holiday makers escape the rat-race to relax the mind, body and soul in the beautiful hills of Southern France, Tuscany in Italy or Ubud in Bali?

In terms of design it is difficult for art historians to discover who the designers and builders were of the ancient villas. The design story starts in Renaissance Italy a time that has so deeply influenced so much design and art since then.

Some of the greatest villas still standing are the Medici villas built in 15th century and designed by Michelozzi and Niccolo Tribolo. The later villas designed by Niccolo Tribolo are outstanding examples of Renaissance and Baroque architecture. These villas were very big and the opposite to the small boutique resorts you find today.

The first designer to pull the villa into the modern world was Andrea Palladio considered as one of the most influential individuals in the history of Western architecture. He designed and built villas in northern Italy for the Venetian aristocracy. By consolidating the stand-alone farm buildings into a single structure, and organising this structure to have a strong centre and symmetrical side-wings, Palladio was able to give a new breath of life into decaying old villas turning them into examples of deluxe styling accommodation.

In 18th century England a revival in the interest of Palladio and Inigo Jones led to the development of neo-palladian villas being built along the river Thames. At this time the word villa was being used to describe any big suburban house that was detached with landscaped botanic gardens. Eventually the term villa became to loosely used and dropped out of existence to be replaced by bungalow.

Now, the concept of the villa is mostly isolated to southern Europe, Latin America, German speaking countries and on the American west coast.

However, I suggest that there has been second Renaissance in villa design; this second Renaissance is based on transforming huge overpowering villas into small boutique resorts but still keeping the villa feeling. I have stayed in villas all over southern Europe and have felt underwhelmed by what they call deluxe styling accommodation, they tend to be second homes rented out for the summer, the care and attention is just not there.

I spent a one month on the island of Bali and spent two weeks in Bali’s cultural centre Ubud. I had heard that Bali has unbelievable, small boutique resorts and luxury villas for rent and was interested to see for myself. The competitive nature of Bali and especially Ubud villa rental means that all villa owners have to be on top of their game.

I searched Google for Ubud villa rental and found a charming little place called The Purist Villas. I had a wonderful time taking in all the cultural aspects of Balinese traditions in Ubud and my accommodation was the icing on the cake. The owner of this deluxe styling accommodation was also the designer and builder of the villa complex. His name is Alberto Cortes and I very much enjoyed speaking to him about the history of villa design.

Alberto Cortez suggests that European villas are too big and do not cater for the couple on holiday or for a small family that does not need 4 large bedrooms. Alberto Cortez designed a set of 2 bedroom villas in Ibiza that were massively popular. He applied elegant and simple design to this idea and bought it to Ubud. I was also surprised to find that accept for all the original pieces, every piece of furniture and fitting was designed by Alberto Cortez and his wife – the attention to detail is incredible.

I think it’s fantastic that we still continue the 2000 year old tradition of villa building. From the massive stately retreats of Cicero to the small boutique hotels in Ubud, humans really know how to live in style