The British actor Richard E. Grant has sold his holiday home in Provence to Hollywood star couple Jim Piddock and Ann Cusack. The local area has attracted many international stars including Brad Pitt who owns a vineyard there, Geoge Lucas, George and Amal Clooney, and Eric Idle.
The idyllic three-bedroom farmhouse was owned for more than 30 years by Richard, who starred in Loki, Star Wars and Withnail And I, and his late wife Joan Washington. They and their children spent summers there. Richard posted on social media: “Heart sore to sell Le Pigeonnier in Provence after 30 summers. Sleeps 7. Pool, badminton, olive and fruit trees.”
Located a 90-minute drive from the airports of Marseille and Nice, the property is on the edge of the pretty village of Aups in the Var. Surrounded by vineyards, stone terraces, olive groves, truffle forest and wilderness, the village is far removed from the glitz and glamour along the coast of the Côte d’Azur.
Buyers, veteran British actor, writer and producer Jim Piddock and his wife, Hollywood actress Ann Cusack, are best known for their roles in Independence Day and A League of Their Own, respectively. “I was first introduced to the Var about a quarter of a century ago by my dear friend Eric Idle and have been visiting the area almost every summer since then,” said Jim. “Ann and I have made friends locally and fell in love with all the beautiful villages in the Haut Var. It feels a million miles away from Hollywood, and the insular world of show business, and forces you to appreciate a much simpler, slower pace of life.
“Every year, I’d fantasize about buying somewhere in Provence and we’d maybe look at a small handful of places for sale, but we never quite found the right fi
