Only the quick-witted and French-speaking might realise the subtle indication that here is Hotel Les Roches, its luxuries sequestered far below the vantage point of those motoring by toward a faster pace.

A private oasis set into the sea wall with nothing but a vast, unblemished seascape beautifully inescapable from every angle, its own beach frontage, balconies best suited to measurement by acreage, and cuisine to appease the most relentless gastronome, to recommend it is Hotel La Roche.

As history might record, these were once the essential elements of a Cote d'Azur indulgence. Fullsome enough to please, sufficiently rare to truly savour with their deceptively simple but utterly indulgent guile. In fact, today, it is more and more difficult to find and maintain these rarities. And writing about this place, one feels as if one is divulging a precious secret compelled to do so, but at the same time, acutely aware of the consequences. Hotel Les Roches is in another world - so far removed from the distractions of the cities on the sea as to be the nemesis of its dazzling debutante sisters: It is indeed miraculous that this small southern stretch of coastal France has escaped the marauding development that has rampaged up and down the densely populated Cote.