Every design for Grasse

Inland from Cannes, Grasse sits high on the hills behind the French Riviera, sheltered from the sea air and watered by the Siagne canal. Its old centre climbs in narrow, shaded lanes, with steep stairways cutting between the streets, while the hamlets around it spread out where olive groves and flower fields once stood.

Ask anyone from here what they remember and the answer is usually a scent. Grasse is known as the world's capital of perfume; jasmine, first brought to southern France by the Moors, is still harvested here, and the old perfume houses keep their doors open. The Musée International de la Parfumerie tells the long story, from the medieval tanners whose leather led to scented gloves, to the noses trained here to tell thousands of scents apart. Galimard, Molinard and Fragonard are household names in town, and the Parfumerie Fragonard and the Villa-Musée Jean-Honoré Fragonard still welcome visitors.

If Grasse is where you grew up, you already know that home has a smell of its own, and it drifts down these hills with every harvest.