Full of Flavours
Local Gems Near Uvita, Costa Rica
Tucked along Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast, Uvita is a small town...
Read more
For a luxury villa in Provence with a private chef, Chateau Margui, Domaine de La Cavalerie and L'Etoile des Baux are three of the strongest choices in our portfolio, and each suits a different kind of stay.
If you are bringing up to 36 people together for a family reunion and want every meal taken care of, Chateau Margui has house managers, chefs and a sommelier, with wine from the estate’s own vineyards.
If you want a chef most days and an afternoon’s cooking class as part of the stay, La Cavalerie has a chef six days a week, wood-fired ovens and cooking classes on offer.
If you want a chef through the summer and a Michelin-starred dinner a few minutes’ walk away, L’Etoile des Baux has a chef from mid-June to the end of August, working from a professional kitchen set aside for the staff.
At each one, you still decide how much of the chef you want: a few chosen dinners, a chef most days, or a full team covering every meal. The owners and staff try to arrange the service around that choice.
Chateau Margui: Every Meal Covered
Chateau Margui is an 18th-century estate in Provence Verte, the wooded heart of the Var, spread across 120 hectares inside a protected natural park. The château sleeps up to 36 guests across 18 bedrooms.
The team includes house managers, private chefs and a sommelier, and they cover every meal. Breakfast is continental or cooked to order. Lunch comes family-style, with shared platters along a long table. The staff bring tea mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and dinner is three courses.
For a family reunion of 36, nobody has to find a restaurant that can seat the whole group, or cook for them.
The estate keeps its own vineyards and a wine tasting room, and the sommelier works alongside the chefs. Barjols, the nearest village, is fifteen minutes away and known for its many old stone fountains.
La Cavalerie: A Chef Six Days a Week
Domaine de La Cavalerie, in the Luberon, is an example of the second option: a chef most days. The estate covers 65 hectares in the foothills of the Luberon, surrounded by olive groves, and traces its origins to a refuge of the Knights Templar more than eight centuries ago. A 12th-century chapel still stands in the grounds.
Domaine de La Cavalerie
11 Bedrooms – 21 Guests
From EUR 55,000 per week to price on request
View detailsIt sleeps up to 21 guests across 11 bedrooms, and a private chef cooks six days a week. The villa has three fully equipped kitchens and wood-fired ovens, and guests who want to cook themselves can book cooking classes.
La Bastide-des-Jourdans, the nearest village, is five minutes away, and Aix-en-Provence is about 45 minutes by car.
L’Etoile des Baux: A Summer Chef
L’Etoile des Baux shows how chef service can change with the season. The villa sits in a quiet valley below the cliffs of the Alpilles, near Les Baux-de-Provence, and sleeps up to 15 guests across eight bedrooms.
From mid-June to the end of August, a private chef cooks lunch and dinner six days a week, working in a separate professional kitchen for the staff, and there is breakfast every day. Outside those months, a chef comes in for the meals you choose.
For a night out, L’Oustau de Baumanière, the Michelin-starred restaurant at the foot of Les Baux, is a few minutes’ walk away.
Picturing a week of long Provençal lunches?
Schedule a personalised video call to plan the menus with our team.
How Villa Chefs Work in Provence
Villa chef service in Provence usually takes one of three forms. The table below shows what each one covers.
| Chef for Chosen Meals | Chef Most Days | Full Villa Staff | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meals | The dinners or occasions you pick | Breakfast and one or two main meals, usually six days a week, often in high season only | Most or all meals, every day |
| Who Looks After You | A chef who cooks, serves and clears, then leaves | A chef, sometimes with help to serve | A chef, a house manager and housekeeping, sometimes a sommelier or driver |
| Your Planning | You plan most days yourself | Menus agreed ahead | The staff run the day around you |
| Best For | Couples and families who like to eat out | Families who want most evenings at the villa | Large groups, celebrations, or hotel-level service in private |
What a Provençal Chef Cooks
A chef in Provence cooks with the seasons, using what the local markets and producers have that week.
In spring, expect artichokes à la barigoule, braised in white wine with onion and thyme, and lamb roasted with wild herbs from the surrounding hills.
In summer, the weekly markets near each estate are at their best: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence on Wednesdays near the Alpilles, Lourmarin on Fridays in the Luberon, Brignoles and Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in the Var. This is where the chef buys tomatoes and aubergines for a tian – vegetables layered and slow-baked in an earthenware dish – and basil for pistou, the basil and garlic sauce stirred into soupe au pistou.
By Provençal tradition, Friday is the day for le grand aïoli: salt cod and vegetables served with a bowl of garlic mayonnaise made in a mortar. The rosé is local too: Coteaux Varois around Margui, the Luberon appellation around La Cavalerie, Les Baux-de-Provence around L’Etoile.
In autumn, the chef can buy figs from Solliès-Pont in the Var and the new season’s olive oil, green and peppery, straight from the mills. The Vallée des Baux has its own protected designation for its oil. As the evenings cool, daube appears on the menu: beef slow-cooked in red wine with a strip of orange peel.
Winter is black truffle season. On Thursday mornings, the truffle market at Aups sells them by the kilo, and a chef can buy enough there for a brouillade, eggs scrambled slowly with shaved truffle. For dessert, marrons glacés from Collobrières.
What to Ask Each Villa
Whichever type of service you choose, ask these questions before you book. They fall into three groups: the meals, the people at the table and the team looking after them.
At My Private Villas, every booking begins with a direct conversation, and these questions belong in it. Because we know many owners personally, we’re often able to explore solutions that aren’t available through standard booking channels.
The Meals
Does the chef service change with the season? Some villas include a chef only in high summer.
How easy is it to change plans? The chef shops ahead, so ask how much notice they need to add or drop a meal.
Who writes the menus? Ask for a draft before you arrive, and how much of it you can change.
Your Group
Can the chef cook for different ages? Ask about an early supper for the children and a later dinner for the adults.
What does the chef need to know? Allergies, plain food for a grandparent, a vegetarian teenager.
What does a celebration dinner involve? Ask about extra staff, wine pairings, the cake and where on the estate you can set the table.
The Team
How present will the staff be? Ask whether they live on site or leave after dinner.
Has the chef cooked at this villa before? A chef who knows the kitchen is ready from the first meal.
Once you have those answers, the chef can plan the week, and you can stop thinking about meals.
After the Last Course
By evening the terrace has cooled. The chef brings out the last of the Solliès figs with lavender honey, and everyone stays at the table long after the staff have cleared the plates.
If you already know who will be at your table, tell us who is coming and what they like to eat, and we can start planning the menus with the chef.
Ready to dive deeper?
Let’s talk! Schedule a personalised video call with our team to discuss your questions.
