Recently hailed as ‘the most beautiful village in France’, there is certainly much to recommend Cotignac.
Historic and picturesque, its narrow streets shelter in the shade of a huge limestone cliff, where troglodyte caves are linked by a secret passage to a Saracen tower.
A medieval boom town, during this period there were visions of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus, a hat-trick which made it a major place of pilgrimage — and pilgrims still come today.
But there are some new attractions in town.
Hollywood A-lister George Clooney and his accomplished human rights lawyer wife Amal are quite the most sparkling addition to Cotignac which has a population of just over 2,000.
Hollywood A-lister George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal are quite the most sparkling addition to Cotignac. Pictured here with the local mayor Didier Bremond
Amal and George’s enormous manor house near Cotignac which the couple bought in July 2021
As Ganaelle Joly, the owner of the bakery Lou Gourmandises, sighs: ‘Madame Clooney is tall and fabulous and very, very, beautiful. No matter who you are, you are going to look at her.’
The couple, who share twins Alexander and Ella, seven, quietly bought a simply enormous manor house near Cotignac in July 2021.
It took well over a year for the house to be upgraded to their standards, but they started living there in 2022 and are now very firmly ensconced.
And with his current dismay over U.S .politics — his renunciation of Joe Biden’s candidacy and terror at the possibility of Trump in the White House again — many believe this will be his refuge going forward.
The mayor of nearby Brignoles, Didier Bremond, who has been to visit and become a friend, says that the newly renovated house is ‘in the Italian spirit’.
Their house is so large — and sits on 425 acres of land — so it’s not as if the neighbours catch sight of them over the fence. However, they are spotted often in the vicinity and have made friends with the mayors of both Cotignac and Brignoles.
Why move to France? Sources locally say that they were attracted to the area by another couple — their best friends who are from Quebec, but not famous, and also have a place in the region.
It seems this might be lawyer Kathleen Davis and her partner. When Amal went out for a birthday lunch in February with George and her new St Bernard puppy she was joined by Kathleen, the director of strategy at their charity, the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
Davis lives in Quebec and used to be a foreign policy adviser to the Trudeau administration. The two women have multiple connections via the New York legal circuit.
Cotignac has recently been hailed as ‘the most beautiful village in France’
Historic and picturesque, its narrow streets shelter in the shade of a huge limestone cliff, where troglodyte caves are linked by a secret passage to a Saracen tower
And she’s not the only pal nearby. By happy coincidence, the Clooney residence in Provence is not far at all from Brad Pitt’s Chateau Miraval.
The two men are longstanding buddies — think back to the Ocean’s Eleven film in 2001. But apparently Pitt doesn’t spend much time at Miraval, now part-owned by the Stoli group. He remains in litigation with former wife Angelina Jolie over her selling her stake to them.
But, despite that, it appears their French manor has become the Clooneys’ main base and their favourite place in the world.
There are gracious, airy rooms, with stone floors and moulded ceilings. Outside, there is a lavender garden, a boules pitch, an enormous swimming pool and enough space for quad biking and horse riding and any other outdoor pursuits.
As a result of their love affair with France, George’s house on Lake Como, bought in 2002, seems to have been downgraded to holiday home status.
There were even rumours last year that Clooney had put Como up for sale. He denied them saying: ‘First I’ve heard of it!’
However, word is that the family are now pretty much permanently based in France, and Como will just be a place to go when it gets roasting hot in Provence in August.
Naturally, the A-list relocation has caused a stir in Provence. Ms Joly of the Lou Gourmandises bakery, recalls that the Clooneys recently popped in for a salmon and ham sandwich with their dog — and posed for a photo with her.
They then went on to eat lunch in the nearby Picotte restaurant, which has become a regular haunt. Ms Joly says: ‘If George puts on a hat and sunglasses, he can easily pass unnoticed.’
Sources locally say that Amal and George were attracted to the area by another couple – their best friends who are from Quebec
She adds: ‘They’re down to earth, simple and nice. They’re not acting like huge stars. Many celebrities come to live in the region because once they’ve been noticed, the novelty wears off and they’re able to just live their lives.’
The dining manager of Picotte told a local newspaper: ‘They are very simple customers. He chose a marrow bone and a plate of cheeses. She had a salad. She speaks French very well, by the way.’
Amal is, in fact, fluent in English, French and Arabic. The twins speak some Italian, and some French. George says: ‘I’m from Kentucky, English is my second language.’
The Clooneys also have been seen at the Michelin-starred restaurant Chez Bruno in Lorgues, half an hour away. Chef Sebastien Bruno posted a picture with the couple on Instagram, but then apparently regretted it, saying: ‘I don’t want to become a celebrity restaurant. I cook for the average person.’
The couple have also been to the Abbey restaurant in Celle, where the signature menu costs a whopping €130 (£109).
Director Julien Freulon says George and Amal have been in four times and counting, taking lunch on the terrace with friends. ‘He likes to come in the nice weather. He is a charming person. It is a pleasure to have him.’
The pair are also regulars at the Jardin Secret restaurant in Cotignac, where they enjoy the cuisine of Benoit Witz, who trained with the legendary chef Alain Ducasse.
And now it can be revealed that George, 63, is plunging further into the local culture by becoming a wine producer. He is sending grapes from his four- hectare vineyard into a local co-operative, Les Vignerons de Correns, to be made into rosé wine.
Wine expert Laurence Berlemont actually planted the Vermentino variety vines on Clooney’s estate 20 years ago. She says: ‘I am George Clooney’s farmer. He has already participated in a few blends. He gives us his opinion. He has a good palate. He is someone very humble, a good listener.’
The wines produced are a white Cote Varois and a rosé, called Ferme Saint-Georges.
What could be nicer than joining the wine-erati? Celebs from Sarah Jessica Parker to Sam Neill lend their names to wine, but Clooney’s involvement has a crucial difference in that he actually owns the land on which the grapes are grown.
Word is that the Clooney family are now pretty much permanently based in France
Adam Dakin, a specialist in vineyard transactions at Wine Objectives, says he isn’t against wealthy and famous investors in the local wine industry.
‘They play their role, but we can’t say they’re responsible for, let’s say, the success of rosé wine. Most people who have protested against billionaires investing in the wine industry are targeting French people (like Bernard Arnault, the boss of luxury good house LVMH), not Hollywood celebrities.
‘People recognise that these celebrities are not the ones actually doing the producing themselves and getting their hands dirty. It’s like a hobby for them.’
He adds: ‘They’re creating jobs and getting more people interested in Provence and this region,’ he says. ‘I see their presence here in a positive light.’
Michael Latz, former mayor of Correns, asked Brad Pitt, George Clooney and George Lucas — all of whom own, or part-own, Provence vineyards — to get involved in a charity wine auction in June, and they all said yes.
He says: ‘It’s a positive thing to have them in the French wine market. It helps promote wine from this region. I don’t see it as us against them, we all participate. In the end they’re a small part of the market for the moment.’
He says that the Clooneys are, ‘discreet, much less bling-bling than the others… But in reality, they’re just people like everyone else. I’ve had Brad Pitt over and he’s a nice person.’
Clooney has gained kudos for taking part in a couple of charity initiatives. He gave ¤20,000 (£16,790) to help rebuilding efforts after flooding in the Var region in 2021, and has also financed a greenhouse which grows fruit and veg for schoolchildren.
Mayor Didier Bremond said: ‘They wanted to participate in local life. It’s the educational side that interested them.’ George even posted a New Year video message on the Mayor’s Facebook page.
In his professional life Clooney is busy. He’s been making a film with Greta Gerwig’s husband Noah Baumbach in Italy and will be in Goodnight, And Good Luck on Broadway next spring.
H e’s also involved with The Department, an English-language version of the hit show Le Bureau Des Legendes, which is also set to star Michael Fassbender.
Now that Clooney is so enraptured with France, it seems likely that they will be spending less time at their other houses around the globe.
Their spectacular home on the Thames at Sonning — which is unfortunately prone to floods —seems the least popular of them all. Bought in 2014 when they were newlyweds, neighbours say they’ve not been in evidence in ‘years’. Perhaps they just use it as a base when visiting Amal’s mother, Baria, who lives in the UK.
The family is also sometimes spotted in New York — Amal is a visiting professor of law at Columbia University and they have a $18 million mid-town apartment there, near George’s old friend Rande Gerber, and his wife Cindy Crawford.
There’s also George’s one-time bachelor pad in Studio City, Los Angeles, where the family spent much of the pandemic. George said that he had been doing ’15 loads of laundry’ a day and had been varnishing doors. It may or may not have been a joke.
But for now, a new life in France is the latest chapter in his love story with Amal, whom he married almost exactly ten years ago in Venice. La vie est belle for gorgeous George, and the locals even call him ‘George l’ecolo’ — George the ecologist — for his good works.
Some grumble, quite quietly, that he has fenced his paradise so there is no more motocross rallying over his estate. But the man whose charm is legendary seems to have won over pretty much the whole of Provence.
Additional reporting: Megan Dupont
