Spontaneity is indeed the spice of life and last month I wholeheartedly tasted it's 'zing'. You see the wife, last minute, had a week off and in a moments thought decided 'let's get the hell out of town'. After moving around some meetings we then had to decide where to go on our little adventure. Not being the forest- type of adventurer, a few days on the beach in the south of France was agreed upon. Namely, St Tropez.

Our next thing to sort out was where to stay. Being the height of summer the hotel situation was grim. On offer was either flea-ridden hostel like places or huge suites with huge nightly rates to match. We had reached an en passe. Then a celebrity friend of mine suggested a villa. Privacy, pools, staff and kinda glamourous. He gave me the secret name of the “guy he used” in June and with fingers crossed called Mr Marquis and explained my dilemma. As we had 24 hours till we were due to leave Mr Big attended to the situation immediately.

Helene, the property manager, greets us at the gates of the villa and welcomes us in - which is great, because we got there at one o’clock in the morning. My 6 year-old daughter shrieked with joy upon seeing the stunning pool with candles, at night, and proclaimed she didn't want to go back to her house she wanted to move there. The property was paradise, all tasteful and decorated in this cozy chic Provencal style, it just begged to be languished in. And languish we did. The staff were outstanding, discreet and efficient and the chef prepared simple and well executed summer fare.

We are now fans of Rosé. Tens of bottles of Rosè.

It seemed many of my better known friends like the Hilton sisters and other 'names' shared the same idea and St Tropez was it's usual 'buzzy' self. We avoided Club 55, and Nikki beach in favour of a a beach club recommended by our Helene, Le Lagon Blue, which was beautiful and more child- friendly than the others.

The last-minute break was heavenly, wife smiling more like a human than a hayna, and we returned home bronzed, relaxed, without an enormous mini-bar and 'extras' bill to regret.

I have saved Mr Marquis’s private number in my special agenda.

Credits: The Villa Book LTD www.thevillabook.com / Le Lagon Blue, quartier Pampelonne Ramatouelle, +33 494 7981