Seductive smells to tantalising tastes: the books inspired by southern France

Richard visits the Cévennes mountains, Marseille, Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera and Grasse in the hills north of Cannes.

Reading key passages from the books as he goes, Richard gains fresh insights into the diversity of the region and its distinctive and captivating landscapes.

Richard’s French encounter starts in the Cévennes mountains, one of the nation’s most sparsely populated regions. He sets out to recreate part of the walk described by Robert Louis Stevenson in his famous travelogue Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes.

Stevenson was just 28 when he undertook his journey. He was recovering from tuberculosis and was also heartbroken following the end of an affair with Fanny Osbourne, a married American woman. He hadn’t yet written the books that were to make him famous and was still financially dependent on his parents. The Cévennes offered cheap living and the chance to reflect and to write.

Struggling with his reluctant donkey, just as Stevenson did, Richard visits the Catholic monastery Our Lady of the Snows to learn about the region's turbulent religious history, and settles down for a night under the stars.

In the town of Saint-Jean-du-Gard, Richard meets British author and Stevenson expert Adam Thorpe who has lived in the Cévennes for over 30 years.

Thorpe's own book tells how he made a home in this rustic corner of France, reflects on national identity and explores how history has left its marks on the landscape.

Travelling south, Richard heads for the bustling port of Marseille. Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, he takes a boat to the Château d'If, recreating the journey undertaken by Dumas’ hero Edmond Dantès before being imprisoned in what used to be one of France’s most notorious and escape-proof prisons.

Here Richard learns that prisoners were treated differently according to their class and wealth. The poorest were placed at the bottom, confined perhaps twenty or more to a cell in windowless dungeons under the castle, while wealthier inmates could pay for private cells with windows.

Continuing his journey south, Richard heads to the heart of the French Riviera, where writers across the ages have been inspired by the dazzling coastline and stunning light.

One such devotee was the great American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, who lived in Antibes’ sister town Juan-les-Pins for two years in 1925. Richard visits the Hotel Belles Rives, formerly the seaside house rented by Fitzgerald, his wife Zelda and their daughter Scottie. It was here that Fitzgerald was inspired to write his classic Tender is the Night.

For Fitzgerald, the Cote d’Azur was the perfect place to explore the themes of money, decadence and young love that so fascinated him. He modelled his characters Dick and Nicole Diver on real-life friends, the wealthy Americans Gerald and Sara Murphy.

Driving up into the hills above Cannes, Richard visits actor turned writer and passionate amateur olive farmer Carol Drinkwater, whose books about renovating a crumbling old olive farm have become international bestsellers.

Carol shows Richard around the property and talks about the trials and tribulations she experienced starting a new life here. She cooks lunch for Richard from Elizabeth David’s A Book of Mediterranean Food and explains David’s huge influence on British cooking.

Carol Drinkwater is just one of many thousands who have been inspired by Elizabeth David's charming cookbook.

David learned about Mediterranean food while visiting Antibes in 1939, from the writer Norman Douglas. When she returned to London in the 1950s, she set about introducing ingredients like olive oil, garlic, courgettes and aubergines to post-war Britain.

Richard’s final stop on his French adventure is Grasse, perfume capital of the world. It's also the setting for one of his favourite books, Patrick Süskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; a classic literary historical novel about how one man's indulgence of his sense of smell leads to tragedy.

Some years ago Richard realised his childhood dream of creating his own perfume, doing much of his research in Grasse which has a microclimate perfect for flower farming. It was here that Süskind's main character arrived in the 18th century to learn the ancient art of enfleurage, a technique for extracting the aromatic oils from flowers.