Letter: Gordes enjoys state protection

IN HIS article on Provence (Sunday Review, 9 August) Marcel Berlins claimed that Gordes, being outside the Parc Naturel Regional du Luberon, has 'succumbed to its popularity' and that 'new buildings were allowed'.

He has got his facts very wrong. Gordes is indeed within the Luberon national park. If you do manage to buy buildable land, you have to pass before five committees to get a building permit. Each new house has to be built in the local stone, in the traditional Provencal style, with old tiled roofs and hand-built stone walls. All this makes Gordes probably the area's best protected village.

Christine Johnston

Solaris Property Services

London NW3 and Gordes,

Provence, France