Photo credit (L-R): Wikipedia; www.lapeetch.okay-perfect.com
Julia Child and her husband, Paul, built La Pitchoune in Provence in 1963 as a place to cook, entertain and return to year after year. When she gave up the property in 1992, it did not become just another quiet country home. Read on to know more details about it here: When Julia and Paul gave up the house in 1992, Paul’s health was declining. Craig Held and his family acquired La Pitchoune in 2016, after his daughter Makenna became concerned that someone might renovate the house beyond recognition.
Coloradan reported that the property could be rented for stays of up to six adults, while the Courageous Cooking School offered live-in classes and excursions led by Makenna.
Colorado’s Coloradan and Eater have both told the story of the house’s later life, describing how its owners have preserved the original kitchen while welcoming cooks to experience the space for themselves. The small stucco house became their summer retreat for nearly three decades, its kitchen shaped around Julia’s personality and practical approach to cooking. The property passed back to the Beck family, and its story took a new direction. A former student of Beck’s later owned La Pitchoune and ran a cooking school there, continuing its association with food and learning. She had read about the property and felt strongly that its kitchen should be preserved. Makenna had trained at Le Cordon Bleu and wanted to protect the space while sharing it with other people who loved food. The Held family began operating La Pitchoune as both a vacation rental and a cooking school. Their aim was to preserve the house without turning it into a museum visitors could only observe from a distance, as per the reports. The family welcomes guests with food and wine and provides access to the kitchen, including the pots, pans, knives and baking dishes needed to cook. The cooking school builds on that idea with practical instruction. Participants can learn techniques, work with local ingredients and take part in excursions around the region. Rather than treating Julia’s legacy as something fixed in the past, the school keeps it active through the everyday work of cooking. La Pitchoune has outlasted its original purpose as a private summer retreat. It became a cooking school after Julia gave it up, then evolved into a place where visitors can rent the house and learn in its kitchen. Each new chapter has kept the property connected to food. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
It went on to serve as a cooking school, and today visitors can still prepare meals in the kitchen where Child worked.
