Ever heard of Blausasc?

Blausasc: a haven of peace somewhere in the hills beind Nice

She manages the charter fleet at yachting company Edmiston in Monaco; Ben works in Nice. The couple bought a house here nine months ago.

Never heard of Blausasc? Most people haven't, says Williams. "Ben used to play tennis here in his lunch hour. That's how we discovered it."

The area is getting younger, says Williams. "We’d thought that only older families lived in the arrière-pays and the youngsters lived in the centre of town but there are lots of young people up here."

Long working hours mean Sacha and Ben cannot get as involved with village life as they would wish. But they do feel part of a community.

"That's what I immediately loved, when we moved into the house and saw signs up saying 'karaoke night tonight'. Little things like that which we didn't have in Fabron where we used to live in Nice."

The couple love the great outdoors and go cycling in the forest on their mountain bikes. "It's so easy, not even 50 metres from the house and we're in the forest. We can go for long walks; it's so important to us, when you live on the Côte d'Azur drowning in exhaust fumes, and people on top of people everywhere, it's just so nice to be away from it all."

Blausasc is full of surprises. Your RT correspondent is talking to Williams in morning sunshine on the terrace of the village épicerie, which also sells shellfish. "You wouldn't expect in the middle of nowhere to have an oyster seller; they do sushi here, too," she says. "And just up the road there's an ayurvedic centre [Indian healing medicine]."

Williams offers to drive me around. "This is the sporting arena," she explains as we arrive at the Col Pelletier. "Football ground, basketball courts, boulodrome. There were lots of people gathering here when we came up last weekend for a long walk. It really is a focal point."

The commune is also very good at communicating, with regular updates sent out by email: "Every month there's something on - flamenco nights, belly dancing. Tonight there's star-gazing up on the hill." Residents are also kept informed about new projects - of which there are many.

The great communicator is Mayor Michel Lottier, now retired from the Monegasque police force. In collaboration with the other two communes plans are underway to redevelop a 1,500 square metre area at La Pointe de Blausasc, the Contes/Cantaron/Blausasc roundabout, to attract local services and businesses.

He believes the important thing is to respond to residents' expectations: "You must be close to the population, love what you do, not clock watch." Above all, he says, you must understand their needs and, if something is not possible, to explain why.

The mayor hands us a copy of the commune's magazine, Le Blausascois, and the Calendrier des Festivités. "If you know your job and do it because you want to, with love, with passion, if you speak from the heart when you talk to people, there are no problems." Above all be yourself, says Lottier.

Sacha and Ben will join the tennis club and hope to get more involved in village life. "That's what I love, finally feeling part of something."

Carolyn Reynier