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WELCOME TO CHANTEDUC

American journalist, author, restaurant critic and celebrated cooking instructor Patricia Wells and her husband, Walter, welcome you to Chanteduc, their beloved farmhouse in Provence, and home since 1984. This catalog contains the fruits of a life devoted to sharing the region’s rich traditions, countryside and culture primarily through Patricia’s popular cooking school, At Home with Patricia Wells. The subsequent pages catalog a very special collection of epicurean objects and decorative antiques, available for purchase from March 1^st, 2024. This is a unique opportunity to acquire a piece of French-American culinary history not to be missed.

“Our job as cooks is not to make a mushroom taste like a carrot, our job is to make a mushroom taste more like a mushroom” Patricia recalls renowned chef Joël Robuchon saying in the 1980s. This is the cooking philosophy Wells passionately has lived by ever since – it echoes through her copper cookware, elegant tableware, and exquisite home décor, and is ever present in the daily rituals and traditions at the farmhouse. The Wells’ collection of culinary antiques, antique artwork and French furniture have been lovingly found one-by-one adding layers of happy memories to Chanteduc, their Provençal haven.

PATRICIA & WALTER WELLS

Patricia Wells’ awards and achievements have left an indelible mark on the culinary world. Patricia began her career as a journalist, writing for The Washington Post and The New York Times which soon led her to Paris where she worked as a global restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune and the French weekly L’Express. Throughout her career she has published several award-winning cookbooks including Simply French, Patricia Wells at Home in Provence and the acclaimed Food Lover’s Guide to Paris.

The ground-breaking guidebook (and now digital Application) revolutionized how tourists and locals explore the French capital’s vibrant food scene, providing a roadmap for discovering local markets, cooking supply stores, boulangeries, chocolate shops and restaurants (of course!).

Her husband, Walter Wells, retired executive editor of the International Herald Tribune shares Patricia’s passion for food, wine, local produce and productive gardens (making their own wine and olive oil and growing fruit and vegetables).

Creating A Life at Chanteduc

We don’t know how old our treasured farmhouse is. Maybe 1600’s, maybe younger. But we are pretty sure that the Romans were up on our hills when they inhabited our village — they called it Vasio — beginning in the second half of the first century, because they loved views. And our favorite, facing east to Mount Ventoux and appreciated as the sun rises, is a view they must have admired. Even today, something as basic as our water links us to the Romans — it comes from a nearby natural spring that the Romans used two thousand years ago.

The name of the property — Chanteduc – translates as "song of the owl", for chanter means to sing in French and the grand duc is the European great owl. We acquired Chanteduc in 1984, not exactly sure how we might use a weekend home that was 700 kilometers away. We’d moved from New York City to Paris in 1980 to continue our journalism careers. And that we did. But weekends offered escape, and we soon found ourselves on the train to Provence every weekend that we possibly could. Since both of us are passionate about restoring and reviving old properties, we set about turning the ancient farmhouse into a very livable treasure, all the while maintaining the Provençal look and feel and respecting the lives of the farmers who had lived there through the centuries. Of course, that meant filling the place with finds from antique shops and flea markets. For decades, we would shop most Sundays, returning at the end of the day in a car loaded with household treasures. And now, plans for the house are settled, and we’re parting with our finds. It’s a different kind of nostalgia, and a different kind of pleasure. And one to share with the world. 

Written by Patricia and Walter Wells.