Huff Harrington trips to France

Kelli Kaufman solo at Huff Harrington Reading Huff Harrington trips to France 4 minutes Next House Beautiful creates its whole home project – right in our neighborhood!

By Huff HarringtonOct 22, 20181 comment

In 2009, when the world was upside down and people were barely buying art or home furnishings, against everyone’s recommendation and probably our better judgment, we decided to embark on a new adventure and offer trips to France! Why not, we thought? People are still traveling and we go to France anyway several times a year. It’ll be just like our own trips with seven or eight friends tagging along!

Well, our maiden voyage was a bit of a wake up call. Although our clients were extremely gracious (and luckily, remain clients and friends), our first trip to Provence taught us that perhaps it wasn’t a great idea for us to do all the planning, cooking, cleaning, touring and driving while attending to our art gallery business when our guests were sleeping! We still had a great time, but came away completely wiped out and decided that our trips needed a bit of fine tuning. So we hired an amazing driver, hooked up with a few local caterers, engaged a daily house-keeper and with that, have steadily and happily expanded our trip offerings over the years.

We now offer more than six different trips a year that include a variety of options, centered around Paris and Provence. And we’ve just finished three trips which remind us how far we’ve come in nine years — and how much we love doing these trips! Thank you to our darling clients who accompanied us on these trips. And for those who couldn’t come along, but may wish to consider a trip in the near future, here are some photos to enjoy:

PARIS & PROVENCE TRIP: Offered twice yearly, this trip dabbles in Paris with three days for museum hopping, shopping, eating and walking – followed by five days in Provence, where we visit several towns, dip our toes in the Mediterranean, seek out vineyards, shop in local markets, eat fancy lunches and dine quietly at home every evening, watching the sun set over the Luberon mountains.

Friends posing in Paris (while Napoleon rests in the background)

We always take the time to smell the roses

There’s always a little shopping to be done, like at the flea market in Clignancourt

On our last evening, what can be more fun than taking in the sites on two wheels?

In Provence, we always head the Mediterranean for a little boat ride

PARIS BUYING TRIP: This trip, for buyers of antiques and one-of-a-kinds, takes place in Paris, coinciding with the opening of a twice yearly antiques market on the island of the Seine. We shop, eat, shop, walk, shop, bargain, shop, talk …. and shop some more! We help with the buying, assist in the bargaining, and handle all the shipping. We love every minute and we think our clients do too!

Finding treasures like this butcher’s “billot” – soon to be in a beautiful kitchen in Texas

Kate found this amazing vest at the Vanves market

And there was some successful retail shopping in the Marais

We all eyed this amazing tea set from the flea market

And one of us couldn’t pass up this beautiful portrait

(Once home, you never know where the treasures from the Hermes vintage store might end up!)

PAINTING IN PROVENCE: This trip is a natural extension of our art gallery, and offers artists of all levels, the opportunity to paint with a Huff Harrington artist, surrounded by the beauty of the Provence countryside. This year’s trip was led by artist Allison Chambers, and we are happy to announce that Allison is back with us again, by popular demand for next year!

Allison Chambers, doing a value study in Lourmarin

Posing by the iconic Chapelle St. Sixte in Eygalieres

But sometimes we just want to grab a picnic so we can keep on painting!

Part of the teacher’s job is scouting locations

An indelible tradition: Show and tell on the final night

Now that we’re back, we’re enjoying some of the emails that have come in from our lovely “campers.” We’ve posted some of them to the website — but we’d like to end with this one, from our artist Allison Chambers, reminiscing about her favorite memories and capturing the flavor of “Painting in Provence:”

-Getting to know each other around the table playing games (who knew “someone” would have a tattoo??)

-Laughter, laughter and more laughter

-VALUE (it’s the underwear) -underwear before jewelry!

-The “Schmoo”

-“Sneaky sexy” (you know who you are!)

-Beauty matters…

-Watching you ALL become fearless!

-bon qui qui

–Rose’

-Berets and bidets

-“Linda, Linda, Linda!!”

-JOYEUX

-Create studies in the field

-YOU each are a masterpiece!

Merci to Allison Chambers, Allison Wagasky and Catherine Bennett for helping to lead some of the trips; merci to all of the campers who entrusted us with their arrangements and made our lives so easy; and especially, a grand merci to our Linda, for organizing all of the trips and always being the hostess extraordinaire.

Ta ta,

P.S. Interested in joining us next year? You can sign up on our website or call us to discuss at 404.257.0511. And if you’d like to organize your own group of seven friends, we’ll be happy to customize a trip for you.