EXPLORE secret PROVENCE

Dive deeper into this sun-drenched corner of France with the best local experiences. Francophile and food writer Carolyn Boyd shares her favourites

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1 Make your own perfume in Grasse

Set in the hills above Cannes, the town of Grasse has long been known for its perfumeries. Between the orangeand pink-hued buildings you'll find bijou independent perfume houses, as well as the International Perfume Museum. In the surrounding area, abundant flower farms grow roses, jasmine, geraniums and many other blooms for use in the scents of three main perfume houses, Fragonard, Molinard and Galimard, and also supply big designer brands and smaller artisanal perfume houses.

Craft sweet scents

At Galimard, you can take a two-hour workshop to learn the finer points of creating a scent and how to combine 15-20 aromas (from a choice of 126). It’s a little like a chemistry lesson, but with the ultimate reward – your own signature scent.

With the help of one of the multilingual perfume experts, you sit in front of the ‘organ’ – three tiers of aromatic essences in dark brown bottles certainly look like one – and choose each level of the perfume. Base notes may include musk, woody scents such as cedar, or warming tones such as almond or vanilla. The heart notes can be floral scents of rose petals or freesia, or spicy, such as cinnamon, while the top notes comprise citrusy scents including bergamot and lemon, or more unusual tomato or lychee.

At the end of the session, you are presented with a bottle to take home and wear. The wonderful thing is that they keep your ‘formula’ on file, so when you run out you can reorder.