A Floral Retreat in the South of France
Posies, painting & perfumes in PROVENCE
five idyllic days staying in the Provencal countryside just north of the French Riviera
12 to 17 June 2027
A dreamy five days of creating with flowers & dabbling in watercolour painting and perfumery- all in good company & with delectable food & wine…
come and stay with us in the VAR… relax in the bucolic green hills of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region of Southern France
with the glamour and history of the French Riviera near by…
(BTW for any WHITE LOTUS fans- we are staying an hour inland from St Tropez- where they are currently filming the next season!)
STAY in this traditional Provencal bastide …. a renovated stone farmhouse surrounded by vines and olive trees
CREATE with blooms grown locally in a slow flower farm
EXPLORE the local countryside & nearby villages- like the nearby hill top town of Flayosc and the lavender fields of Valensole (pictured below)
Create NATURALLY arranged and SCULPTURAL florals: a summer garden bouquet tied with silk ribbons ; an overflowing garden style table arrangement or a modern sculptural or Ikebana-inspired arrangement in a dish with a kenzan; and a floral installation to adorn our Farewell feast.
Come with us on a road trip to the elegant Riviera town of St Tropez- fill your woven french basket with blooms you select from the famous outdoor flower market in the square…. shop, explore and sip cocktails before lunch…
Paint “en plein air” an impressionistic watercolour of a floral still life and a landscape of the Provencal countryside… be inspired by the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists like Renoir, Matisse, Cezanne and Picasso who lived in the Cote d’Azur.
We are not that far from Grasse- where the flowers are grown for so many French perfumers- so let’s be taken on an olfactory journey by the poetic perfumer write Danu Seith-Fyr… and we may even dabble in a bit of playful perfume-making ourselves with essential oils that speak of the Mediterranean…
After the morning workshops each day, enjoy lovely long lunches overlooking the vineyards and olive groves on our estate… with a dip or two to cool down!.
And each afternoon take time out to wander along the myriad of hiking trails in the forest surrounding us, relax in the shade of an olive tree in the garden, take another dip in our pool OR take your brushes under a tree in the gardens and paint a watercolour, just as Renoir, Matisse etal did a couple of hundred years ago…….
CREATE…
posies, perfumes & painted florals in Provence
Vicki Roycroft from The Wildflower School will chat with you about her floral philosophy of “undone” flowers.
Vicki has spent 30 years creating florals for brides and then passing on her botanical styling knowledge to others undertaking their floral journeys at The wildflower School on Waiheke Island in New Zealand.
So be inspired by her love of flowers and her creativity as she demonstrates her signature natural garden style- but also introduces you to the current “sculptural” and Ikebana-inspired looks dominating in weddings today.
BOUQUETS:
Learn how to create hand tied scented posies inspired by the Mediterranean & the French perfumes shared with us by renowned Perfume writer Dan Seith-Fyr. These may be in a loose whimsical garden style- or in a painterly colour blocked sculptural or Ikebana- inspired style…
PAINTING & PERFUMES:
Let’s dabble in watercolour painting- and creating a perfume!
Vicki will guide you through painting an Impressionistic floral still life and Meditteranean landscape.
And after Danu has shared some of her favourite French perfume samples with us , we will have fun playing with the alchemy of perfume- making: creating our own scents with Mediterranean -inspired essential oils as our base, mid and high notes
URNS & INSTALLATIONS:
In small groups work on larger florals… these could be in large urn- type vessels or in low shallow troughs that look like MEADOWS when placed together in a floral installation…
TABLESCAPES:
Create Provencal style table flowers in pottery vessels: these could be loose, wild and abundant to reflect nature surrounding us
OR more PAINTERLY- structured, colourful, angular and sculptural- inspired by the works of Matisse, Renoir, Picasso and the other painters who lived and worked on the Cote d’Azur.
Les Fleurs…
& Flower Market shopping in St Tropez
Our workroom at the farmhouse will be filled with an abundance of flowers grown for us by a small flower farmer- and we will create with these for our first two floral workshops…
Then on our third day we will visit the glamorous Riviera town of St Tropez.
Every week the beautiful town square fills with a market abundant with flowers and other treasures…. choose blooms to fill your woven French market basket- just as the local French women do… and we will arrange a Provencal tablescape for our farewell feast with these back at the farmhouse the next day.
Enjoy the rest of the morning shopping in the market and exploring the boutiques and cobbled streets of St Tropez…. before enjoying a spritz and lunch at a local cafe.
STAY…
in a renovated Provencal “bastide”-
a beautiful old stone farm house
This rustic but elegant place is set in 40 acres of verdant grounds- Mediterranean forests, olive groves and vineyards for you to explore!
relax under the shade of an olive tree or take a dip in the lovely pool- or hike in one of the many trails in the forest.
We can’t wait to be there- living “la vie en rose”- creating beautiful florals, paintings and perfumes- eating delectable French cheeses and dishes under a shaded arbour… with a glass of wine in hand!
EXPLORE…
the Provencal countryside. We are staying in the Alpes- Cote d’Azur region… in the hills and verdant countryside of the VAR, an hour north of the Riviera coastline. You may wish to hire a car to explore the beautiful hilltowns nearby, like Flayosc and Draguignan, or slightly further afield to the medieval village of Lourges or the famed lavender fields on the Valensole Plateau.
OR catch a train down to one of the elegant towns, galleries and beaches on the Cote d’Azur just an hour or so away… St Tropez, Nice or Cannes.
After the retreat ends you may wish to attend the Grasse Perfume Week 17-19 June…. Grasse is a little further along the coast and is of course where many of the roses and other flowers are grown to make the essential oils from which many of France’s and the world’s perfumers create their scents…
It is no surprise then that the production team for the quirky cult series about luxury travel- WHITE LOTUS- has chosen to shoot their next season in this Cote d’Azur area- as it has been beloved by the rich and famous for many years…. but it is the olde world elegance, the history of the stone buildings, the art community who have loved it for centuries, and the beauty of the coast and the olive grove and vineyard encrusted rural scenes that draw us back to this area of Provence…
we think you will love it too!
EAT… In
A simple breakfast will be laid out for you each day. Then after the morning workshops we will serve a lovely relaxed long French lunch each day- al fresco on the terrace. Two of the dinners will also be in our farmhouse- The Welcome and Farewell Dinners.
Our chef (my partner Mark- and trust me- he is a great cook!) will use local produce and create simple classic French dishes…accompanied by lovely wines from the local area!
EAT…Out
For lunch in St Tropez on our Road trip day, and for dinner on three of the evenings, you will be free to make your plans at one of the local restaurants….
All the lovely details….
Our Programme…
Day One: Arrival Cocktails And Welcome Dinner
Arrive in the afternoon and settle in to your room…. Meet your fellow guests- enjoy a cocktail or two while we chat about all the lovely workshops we have planned for the next few days… And then relax and enjoy a casual Welcome Dinner- with French wine and cheeses…
Day Two: Morning WORKSHOP
Perfume -inspired POSIES
Vicki from The Wildflower School will talk a little about the programme for the next few days, then after group introductions she will introduce our Perfume critic, Danu Seith-Fyr.
Danu will take you on a poetic olfactory journey as she introduces some of her favourite FRENCH PERFUMES and talks about the notes in each as we sample them…
Then Vicki will demonstrate her technique for creating a beautiful hand tied scented POSY- influenced by the notes in her favourite perfume and by the Provencal surroundings…… she will talk about how her “undone” floral philosophy, how she selects her floral ingredients, the roles of different types of flowers- how she layers them in , just as she layers in tones in a watercolour painting….. and how she has looked for inspiration in her favourite perfume and in her love of art history- and in particular of the famous artists of the Cote d’Azur, Matisse and Renoir.
Then you will each create a beautiful scented hand tied bouquet- perfume and Provencal inspired!
Day Two: Afternoon WORKSHOP
The Alchemy of PERFUME Making
From a collection of essential oils we will experiment with combinations of base, mid and high notes to (hopefully !) each create a scent we like- and one that speaks to us of Provence!
Day Three: Morning WORKSHOP
URNS & INSTALLATIONS
Vicki will take us through her garden and painterly- inspired creative process as she creates her URN arrangement.
Then, taking inspiration from this, the bucolic beauty of our surroundings, and the artists of the Renaissance, we will work in small groups to create larger scale arrangements in large vessels like urns or low troughs for “meadow” style moments
Day Three: Afternoon WORKSHOP:
Impressionist Paintings “en plein air” …
a FLORAL STILL LIFE or a PROVENCAL LANDSCAPE
In the afternoon, you may choose to join Vicki in a WATERCOLOUR painting session in the shade of an olive tree! She will share some tips on a loose impressionistic take on florals or landscapes- inspired by Matisse and Renoir and their beautiful works while living in the Cote d’Azur.
OR relax, swim, explore…
Day Four: TRIP to St Tropez
Let’s all drive in a convoy - or catch a train- to the elegant resort town of St Tropez. We will start with incredible pastries and cafe au lait for breakfast. Then head to the famous market in the beautiful square La Place des Lices to fill our baskets with blooms that we will arrange the next day.
Have a wander in the cobbled streets of the town, people watch on the harbour, explre galleries and boutiques and have lunch and a spritz or glass of wine in a beautiful cafe of your choice!
Spend the afternoon walking the hiking trails in our Domaine - or relax by the pool!
Day Five: A PROVENCAL TABLESCAPE for the FINAL FEAST
Vicki will demonstrate how to arrange in a vessel for a table centrepiece using a grid of chicken wire as a base structure- or a flower frog or kenzan. You will learn how to arrange in a spilling over, loose, whimsical meadow inspired style- and also in a sculptural or Ikebana -influenced colour blocked more contemporary style.
Then, with the blooms you selected at the market in St Tropez, create a gorgeous table centre for our Final Feast table.
Later you may want to help put the tablescape together- and to work in a group to use our meadow pieces and urns to create a floral installation around our feast table.
OR choose to spend your last afternoon relaxing and chatting by the pool!
Our Floral retreat in the South of France Is Suitable For All Skill Levels- From Those Who Have Merely Dabbled At Arranging Flowers To Professional Botanical Stylists…..
You Just Need To Love Flowers …. And Eating And Drinking And Soaking Up The Sunshine In Lovely Provence!
BEGINNERS and FLORISTS…all welcome!
INVESTMENT…
7500 NZD per person for a Private Room with En Suite bathroom (NOTE: there are only 9 of these rooms)
or 6500 NZD per person for a Shared/ Twin room, with an ensuite bathroom
(NOTE: As at September 2026 7500 NZD is approximately equivalent to 6020 AUD/ 3200 GBP / 3740 Euros/ 4280 USD )
A deposit of 3000 NZD is due on booking to secure your place. A second payment of 2000.00 will be due by 1 December 2026. The final balance is due before 1 April 2027.
EARLY PAYMENT DISCOUNT option:
In order to receive a NZD 300 EARLY PAYMENT discount from the full amount you may choose to pay the full balance immediately to secure your place, rather than just the deposit.
“WILDFLOWER SHOOL FAMILY” Discount: if you have attended a Wildflower School course or workshop in the past please enquire about this discount
Other ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS:
NOTE: if you are sharing a room with a partner or friend who is NOT planning to participate in the floral workshops then the reduced rate for them for room and board only will be 4000NZD- and for you 6500.00
NOTE: Places usually book out fast! ! ! So if you missed out last year then don’t delay
Please note: we will CONFIRM once we have reached our minimum required bookings -and at this point all payments will be NON REFUNDABLE.
In the unlikely event that we do not receive sufficient bookings before the 1 January 2027 you will contacted and your payments refunded to you.
Payments are NOT refundable once the trip is fully booked and we have confirmed it is going ahead . This is because we, and other attendees, have already committed to large expenditure for accommodation and airfares etc, so we are unfortunately not able to offer refunds as that would jeopardise the viability of running the workshop. However if due to unforeseen circumstances you are unable to attend, you can arrange for your place to be transferred to another person whom you have found to take your place- and please let The Wildflower School know.
Please keep this in mind when booking flights- and we highly recommend you take out travel insurance IMMEDIATELY on payment of your deposit to us!
Included
accommodation for 5 nights - Arrival after 4pm please on the 12th of June and Departure before 10am on the 17th of June
a welcome dinner on the first evening- so we can all get to know each other- and a Farewell dinner on the last evening!
5 simple breakfasts, 3 lunches, 3 dinners (including Welcome and Farewell and one other), wines and other beverages for all meals at the farmhouse
a bag with linen apron and other gifts
perfume samples to take home and essential oils to make your own perfume
a handmade watercolour sketchbook… and use of brushes and paints
all flowers and foliage and use of florist tools, materials, ribbons, vessels and equipment
Not Included
travel to France and local travel in France
travel insurance
one lunch(on our St Tropez trip you are free to choose your favourite cafe!) and two dinners (when you can make your own plans for dinner in a local village restaurant)
transfers to the accommodation- once you have booked we will send information on the closest airports, train stations and put you in touch with other guests so you can share taxi costs etc
car hire- NOTE: we highly recommend you hire a car if you want the freedom to take off and explore in the afternoons
Register interest below or email me on vicki@thewildflowerschool.co.nz to make a booking
or phone for a chat on +64 274420787
We can’t wait to see you in France!
Vicki xxx
Register interest using the button below
Or email VICKI@THEWILDFLOWERSCHOOL.CO.NZ