The Olive Retreat - mid November

Take part in the annual olive harvest in the Mas de Chausse grounds while staying in a traditional farmhouse for three nights. This is a retreat for a small business or team looking for a few memorable days of team-building in mid November. There are five bedrooms (some with twin beds) so it is an intimate set-up.

This is an excellent opportunity for a group of four to eight people to reconnect and strategise outside their usual setting. The olive harvest offers time and space to team build and take part in meaningful discussions away from a meeting room or an office environment.

Most of the days will be enjoyed helping with the harvest, picking olives in the groves and visiting the local olive oil mill. This is a team effort. The latter part of the day will be free for the requirements of your team. There is space at the house for team meetings. Outings including museums, ancient Roman sites and quad biking can also be organised.

Food and drink will all be catered. The harvest takes place in November so there will be time for fireside chats - actually in front of a fire - as well as autumnal walks, hearty meals and excellent wines. All food is seasonal and homecooked and wines are local - we are in the Côte du Rhône region after all!

The mas is located in between Arles, Avignon and Nimes. For more information about getting there and away, please click here. Avignon TGV train station, Nimes airport, or Marseille airport are all arrival options.

This retreat (four days and three nights) is for groups of between four and eight people.

Please contact for more details on prices and logistics.

The Painting Retreat - mid May

The Retreat is run by Richard Burger and Fleur Macdonald. Richard will be running the painting side of the retreat and Fleur will be looking after you during your stay, including the cooking. We can host up to eight guests in the four large and beautiful bedrooms. If you would like to share your room, you are more than welcome to do so. Guests who are accompanying a painter, but may not necessarily want to take part, are also welcome. They can relax, go for walks in the nature reserve or lounge by the swimming pool. Any questions, please scroll down to the bottom.

Mas de Chausse

The mas, which was once the silk factory of the Frigolet Abbey, a 12th century monastery close by, has its own artistic heritage. For a long time, the Chanel model and muse Inès de La Fressange lived there. Its owner in the 1960s, architect Édouard Albert was a professor at the École des beaux-arts de Paris and jury member for the prix de Rome. He organised painting retreats at the mas for his friends, many of whom were artists and painted Mas de Chausse. The mas is also the subject of a fresco in the local town hall. Find photographs of the mas and its interiors here.

A typical day at the Mas de Chausse Painting Retreat

Open the blue shutters and look out over the swimming pool, olive groves and the limestone outcrops of the Montagnette nature reserve. Enjoy a leisurely breakfast from 9am onwards, outside on the terrace looking over the almond orchard and swimming pool. At 10.30am the morning lesson will begin. There will be life model for those who want to practice their figure drawing or painting. Those inspired by the landscape will be able to set up their easel outside in the grounds of the house in the orchard. There will be a relaxed light lunch of fresh, seasonal produce.

The afternoon class will be from 2.30 - 5pm. On some days there will be excursions including a trip to St Remy de Provence, a town where Vincent Van Gogh painted many of his most famous works, as well as to LUMA Arles, the Frank Gehry-designed contemporary art centre. At 7pm we will meet for drinks but also to discuss the day’s work. Dinner, inspired by traditional local cooking and using the freshest, seasonal ingredients, will be served at 8pm. Of course, the wines of the region will be well represented at the dining table. We are close to some of the best Côtes du Rhône vineyards like Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Lirac, Vacqueyras, Gigondas.

Previous painters

“I did the artists retreat at Mas de Chausse. The house and grounds are beautiful, the catering spoiling and the atmosphere more like a welcoming home than somewhere to stay. Go.”

John (Cheltenham, UK)

“Upon entering Mas de Chausse, I was entirely captivated by its magic. The almond orchard, the seemingly endless grounds, the superbly restored mas- complete with comfortable accommodations. I attended the painting retreat solo, on a friend’s recommendation, and I could not have been more pleased. I’d change nothing. Not to mention, our hostess, Fleur, is truly gifted in the kitchen-cooking lunch and dinner for our entire stay. By the end, I made six new friends from around the world, and I am entirely grateful. I will be back! À tout!!”

Rachel (Los Angeles, USA)

 Please get in touch if you have any questions at fleur_macdonald@hotmail.com