VILLAGE OF THE STARS

Ros Wynne-Jones visits a French retreat once revered by royalty and now loved by Hollywood legends

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Every place has a story, but Cotignac, a village hidden deep in the Provencal countryside in the South of France, is a place with more stories than most.

From kings battling infertility to religious apparitions and Hollywood stars, from French crooners to Pink Floyd, this softly painted village at the foot of a huge limestone cliff, has seen it all. In 1660, King Louis XIV and his mum Anne of Austria made a pilgrimage to the Notre Dame de Grâces church here, to thank the Virgin Mary for Louis’ miraculous birth. As the only place in the world where all three members of the Holy Family have appeared in visions, Cotignac is a major site for Catholic pilgrimage - with around 150,000 pilgrims a year.

But for decades, the village has also been a magnet for Hollywood royalty and musical legends. George and Amal Clooney, live close by - near enough for George to have a preferred baker in the village from which he collects his breakfast bread and croissants, according to one resident. And another villager, Brad Pitt, is allegedly in dispute with ex-wife Angelina Jolie over their neighbouring vineyard.

Joe Dassin, one of the most famous French singer-songwriters, recorded nearby at Studio Miraval - before building his house in the village a few years later and dying at 41 of a heart attack. Which is where our hotel, Lou Calen, enters the story. When Chateau Miraval opened a studio that rose to fame after recording Pink Floyd's The Wall, a nearby 16-room hotel-restaurant found itself ideally located to wine, dine and accommodate recording artists from all over the world.

Opening it in 1971, Huguette Caren named the hotel, Lou Calen - meaning the Oil Lamp - and her cooking and hospitality soon attracted names from Dassin to Brigitte Bardot, Pink Floyd, The Cure and even Yvonne De Gaulle, wife of Charles.