We found it more rewarding to drive around its base along the road above the Gorges de la Nesque, and drop in on Sault, where the lavender fields are spectacular in July.

If you prefer to admire Mont Ventoux from afar, stop for coffee at the Hostellerie de Crillon le Brave, at the top of the hamlet of Crillon, and built from a jumble of honey-coloured walls, village houses, even a former school room.

Less daunting than the Mont Ventoux circuit, the drive around the Dentelles de Mirailles, a series of lacy peaks, meanders from hilltop village to village, all top-heavy with a church or château, and each one a candidate for the prettiest village in France. In our charts, Le Barroux wins narrowly over Le Crestet, followed by Séguret, which is guardian of Provence’s Christmas traditions.

The cobbled streets are lined with shops selling santons, the little figures which make up nativity scenes. Competing for attention with these picture- postcard hamlets are the Côtes du Rhône villages, Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Châteauneuf- du-Pape. If you have a sweet tooth, follow the signposts to Beaumes de Venise for the village ’s famous amber Muscat.

For our next foray from Saint-Rémy, we find ourselves in more familiar territory. We bypass Ménerbes, put on the map by Peter Mayle in his A Year in Provence in favour of Gordes, where there are reported to be more Parisian art directors and stars in the summer than in the capital.

Gordes looks golden, beautiful, seductive — but it’s a sprawling traffic jam. “Absolument non,” replies a harassed gendarme raising a stern white gloved hand when we enquire about parking. We leave.

We fare better in Roussillon, the village perché named after the ochre tint that was once quarried here. Not that it has pretentions to be anything other than a tourist village with terrasses panoramiques, art galleries and boutiques crammed with pottery and lavender.

“It’s dead here in winter, most of us shut up shop and go home,” said a young Scandinavian gallery owner. But in summer when the alleys spill roses and swallows swoop round the clock tower, Roussillon seems very pleasant indeed.

We make our most precious discovery a 20-minute drive from Saint-Rémy. Ravishing little Eygalières features in few guide books, and consists of little more than a tree-shaded main street narrowing to a steep alley up to the church.

Mellow stone cottages line the alleys, their balconies drooping geraniums, their tiny gardens brimming with hollyhocks. Just the kind of cottages that have you rushing to the nearest estate agent, and it’s soon clear that a fair number of Swiss, Belgians and other étrangers have got there first.

Climbing up to the church, I come across the Musée Maurice Pézet in a tiny chapel, open only on Sundays, staffed by volunteers, and one of the most moving little museums I’ve ever visited. In memory of her husband, Suzanne Pézet, the former village school teacher now in her eighties, spent half a lifetime collecting fossils, flints and memorabilia to keep the flame of the village alive.

The walls are covered with her flowing script; Suzanne combed the country for references to her tight-knit little community whose proud lineage orginated from the Counts of Provence.

Dreaming of living in this delightful village, we sit down in a busy café for a chilled rosé and coq au vin when I catch the flat vowels of my native Lancashire at the next table. Holidaymakers? I approach, my notebook at the ready.

“You’re not going to write up this place and spoil it I hope,” says Dave, a fellow countryman. “We came here 30 years ago and we haven’t been back to the UK for five years. Tell the tourists to go to Cannes or Nice — we don’t want the hordes here.”

I do find some holidaymakers — at Marseilles airport on my way home. Dr Mike Saunders and his wife Diana were returning from a break at the Vieux Castillon, a Relais & Château hotel in Castillon du Gard. “The hotel was splendid and we just loved the old villages. We wouldn’t dream of going back to the Rivièra.

“We’ll be back for more.”

So will I.

NEED TO KNOW

Getting there: Jill Crawshaw travelled with Voyages Ilena (020-7924 4440, www.voyagesilena.co.uk).

Le Bastidon, which sleeps six, costs £1,123-£2,310 a week, including return Eurotunnel crossings. A week at Les Ramiers, which sleeps eight, costs £1,305-£2,390 per property; staying at L’Amazette in Le Crestet, sleeping up to four, costs £1,320-£2,060 per week.

A week’s B&B (with Channel-crossing fares) at the Hostellerie de Crillon le Brave costs £689-£1,859 per person. At Le Vieux Castillon hotel a week’s B&B costs £790 per person, both through Voyages Ilena.

Reading: Provence and the Côte d’Azur (Rough Guides, £11.99).

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