Idle in Provence: A Brief History of Thyme

by Eric Idle

In 1971, at the beginning of Monty Python mania, Eric Idle bought a crumbling ruin in the hills of Provence. With no electricity, no water, no road, and no plan, he set out to transform the neglected stone shack into what he lovingly calls a shackeau.

Idle in Provence is the story of the transformation of both the place and the man. Against the sun-drenched backdrop of southern France, Idle penned iconic songs and scripts, hosted a revolving door of eccentric and brilliant friends—George Harrison, Robin Williams, Paul Simon, and others—and found a rare kind of peace far from the madness of showbiz. Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and comedy masterclass, the book is filled with laugh-out-loud moments, tender reflections, and the kind of sharp, self-deprecating wit only Idle can deliver.

As he reflects on love, loss, friendship, and joy, Idle paints a vivid portrait of a place that became more than a home—it became a sanctuary. The story spans decades. It’s a love letter to France, to old friends, and to the wild, unpredictable journey of being alive.

Along the way, readers are treated to behind-the-scenes glimpses of Eric Idle’s creative output, candid memories of fame, and thoughtful meditations on life, purpose, and the legacy of laughter.

Charming, cheeky, and unexpectedly moving, Idle in Provence is Eric Idle at his best—hilarious, candid, and unforgettable.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, France, Humor, Biography, Travel, Autobiography

256 pages, Hardcover

Published September 8, 2026

About the author

Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author and composer of comedic songs. He wrote and performed as a member of the internationally renowned British comedy group Monty Python.

Reviews

[Michael]

I couldn’t connect with this at all. Maybe it’s more for die hard Python fans than Provençal lovers.

[Linda]

Under the Tuscan Sun was a NYT Bestseller for 2 ½ years. So it’s okay if Frances Moyes renovates a dilapidated villa in Tuscany, but according to a few reviews, it’s showing off if Eric Idle does it in Provence. As for the name dropping-- look me in the eye and tell me you’d tell George Harrison to buzz off if he’d tapped you on the shoulder at an event.

I did roll my eyes a tiny little bit when he complained about how little the BBC paid him. I’d love to compare one of his paychecks in, say, 1970, with one of my mother’s. (I was a bit young for a paycheck at the time.)

It was fun to hear about how his house grew, first shed by shed, then finally the main house, when budget and planning permission allowed. The photographs (and if you choose the audio version, do make sure you get the accompanying pdf to see them) make it clear why he chose the area, and stuck around for half a century.

[Guinevere DelaMare]

(Audiobook)

[Jill]

Eric Idle is one of the comic geniuses behind Monty Python, an iconic group of sketch comedians who showed up on the BBC starting in 1969 and made it to America in the mid 1970s, thanks to the film And Now for Something Completely Different and their television show Monty Python’s Flying Circus being added to PBS lineups. But before he’s made it to the States, Idle made it to France, where he put down roots.

He took some of his early Python money and bought a small parcel of land in Provence back when it was still unfashionable. The land had a small shack where he and his wife could spend vacations, but it was far from perfect. It didn’t yet have electricity. Or water. Or a road. It took years and the help of local friends to create a small vacation home with a working kitchen and a small plunge pool. That tiny house made for an ideal place for Idle and his family to get away from the noise and demands of London and show business. It gave him a quiet place to reflect and write. But it also left him wanting more.

As the years go by, they built up a new house, added gardens, created spaces for visitors and creativity, and made it into a place of warmth and comfort. It is a place where kids could run free and Idle could write songs, television shows, movies, books. They watched the stars, swam, cooked, ate, and grieved. There were a couple of wildfires that almost destroyed everything. There was divorce. There were friendships that soured. There was illness, and endings. But Provence became a place where Idle could heal, find love again, watch his kids grow up.

For most of these years, Provence was a place where Idle could be anyman. The residents didn’t care who he was outside of their town, and they didn’t care who his friends were. So when he brought Robin Williams to town when he couldn’t walk through a crowd without being called out for his sit com, Williams couldn’t believe how the locals left him alone and ended up yelling out, “I’m Mork” to the crowd, only to be continue to be ignored. Or when Idle introduced one of his best musician buddies to his longtime friend in France, she told him, “I like that George Harrison. What does he do?”

Idle in Paradise blends the author’s well-known wit and intelligence with his friendships, his challenges to build a second home in France, his personal struggles, and his creative accomplishments. He opens up about his crazy adventures, his moments of quiet sadness, and his longstanding perseverance.

When I first read Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence, I was transported to a place I didn’t know existed, and I wanted to go back. When I saw that Eric Idle had also written a book about buying a place in Provence and turning it into a dream home, I was instantly enchanted. I wanted to go back to France for another adventure. And while the first part of Idle’s book is similar to Mayle’s, what happens next is so much more.

Idle brings us not just into his Provencal home; he brings us into his life. We see his heartbreak when a fire almost destroys everything. We see his ambition as he tries to write Spamalot. We see his playfulness as he joins up with friends and plays music, writes, and laughs. And we see his soul as he stares up at the stars and tries to understand the edges of the universe. This is not a book about a celebrity’s vacation home. This is a look into an artist’s humanity, and it is a trip I will not soon forget.

If you’re a Python fan, or a fan of Idle’s other works; if you’re a fan of celebrity memoirs with gossip about other famous people; if you’re a fan of stories about rundown European vacation homes, or just wanting to know what it’s like to live the life of an artist, then you will find something to enjoy about this book. I loved every page, and I can’t wait to visit Idle’s Provence all over again.

Egalleys for Idle in Provence were provided by Harper Select through Edelweiss, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.

[Elise]

Eric Idle recounts his experiences purchasing and renovating a tiny house in Provence alongside his growing fame with comedy troupe Monty Python throughout the 1970s.

With no electricity, no running water, and nothing to suggest this would be a good idea, Eric Idle and his wife Lyn go out on a whim, navigating French bureaucracy and infrastructure to renovate a “shakeau”, as he calls it, into a cozy home away from home. While the house undergoes its own transformation, Idle himself is on a journey of immense change, as Monty Python’s popularity soars. Reminiscing on friendship, love, loss, Idle’s memoir is a cheeky ode to the life-giving power of a creative project.

Sitting comfortably around 240 pages, it’s a quick read not only due to the page count, but Idle’s quick-witted prose. He blasts through stories of the incredible people who have stepped over the threshold of his shakeau, coming into his life and leaving their mark, like Paul Simon and George Harrison. My only complaint is that I wish Idle would have slowed down during the deeper moments, allowing the emotions to breathe and linger; before you know it, you’re off to the next anecdote.

However, I read the whole thing with a smile on my face, laughing at Idle’s uniquely wry perspective on humanity. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of my favorite movies of all time, deeply influencing my sense of humor, fascinating me with its satirization of myth, authority, and narrative itself. Idle has always been one of my favorite members of Monty Python, and I enjoyed seeing how he has personally influenced the popular sketches that have made the group infamous. He wrote many of the songs that appear in their films, such as Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, which my husband and I quote often, when life is going bonkers.

[Stefan Nordin]

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I guess there are two entry points to this book. You either pick it up because you are a Monty Python fan or because you have a fondness for books about people who buy rundown houses in the south of Europe.
I actually fit both but ever since I read Peter Mayle, I have had a soft spot for books about Provence so that was the deciding factor in this case. I also read Idles earlier self-biography when it came out in 2018, so I knew was I was expecting.
Idle ticks off all the necessary Provencealia; fields of lavender, Rosé vine, eccentric plumbers and tasty food. All as expected and all according to the genre.
Idle is the literary of the Pythons and he has a quick and funny style, and I really liked the Provence-parts. Sadly, there is a lot of biographical overlaps from his earlier autobiography. A lot of stories get repeated and even though its par for the course for celebrity biographies there is a LOT of namedropping. I get it Eric, you’re famous and you have a lot of really famous friends.
In the end this is a charming book and I enjoyed it. It might have liked it better if I hadn’t read the earlier book so if you haven’t and you enjoy Provence porn you will like it even better than I did.

[Don]

Releases 9/8/2026, I read an advanced reader copy. Laughed, cried, had a nostalgic ride through my 1970s and 1980s when Monty Python was definitely on my radar, just had a good time reading this memoir. It’s refreshing reading a memoir by a man known for his wordplay, self-deprecation, and willingness to not take himself too seriously. I even stopped to watch a couple of the old movies. I loved the part referencing my favorite character: Mr. Creosote, the famously grotesque diner from the Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983). My friends and I ran around for weeks saying “a wafer-thin mint” in a horridly poor French accent. Not at all like Mayle’s A Year in Provence (1989) and yet left me yearning for a Provence that I am sure is no longer there. My ARC did not have colored photos but did have black and white photos, I don’t know if the amount of photos or color matters. Idol’s handing of the tragedies was deft, quick, but touching; notably his divorce from his first wife and the deaths of friends, especially Robin Williams.

[Bookworm]

*Free ARC from Publisher for Review*
This is both a memoir and a love letter to Provence, a place Idle clearly feels at home.

Touching, sentimental, and comedic all at once, with tales of toilet thieves, family adventures, and home renovation dreams and disasters over many years of Idle's life.

Anyone who has ever had a special place in their heart for a temperamental house that took up more of their time than a school of toddlers, or that summer camp with yearly skunk infestations, poison ivy outbreaks, and lack of a stable electricity connection that you still looked forward to attending all year long will understand the fondness Idle has for his home in Provence, a place of memories, friends, chaos, adventure, warmth and love.

This was also really relaxing to read. I feel this is a book best read a chapter or two at a time rather than in one sitting. I took my time with this one.

[Myra]

If I were to be reading this book, sitting anywhere other than in Cotignac, I’m not certain I would have found it as charming and relatable. But my husband and I came to town for the release party, which was its own fun, and sitting in our AirBnb and reading this was a lovely sort of magic. We will be in this town two more days before leaving back for the States, and will be making sure to use that time to visit some of the hidden gems that Idle references. In that case, if you plan on traversing the small town of Cotignac and its beautiful surrounding area, I’d recommend this book wholeheartedly.

If you don’t see yourself coming to this quiet Provence of France, I’m not certain this piece is for you. Certainly, it’s entertaining to read Idle’s witty quips, but the meat of the work is definitely the land itself (as it should be) as well as the lovely reminiscence of time passing. If you came here hoping for celebrity or Python gossip, this isn’t the book for you.

[Amy Ashworth]

As Eric Idle fans might imagine, this autobiography spanning 1971 to present, set in Provence, is chock-full of silliness and absurdity and features guest appearances by a gamut of celebrities. Ultimately, though, it is the story behind Idle's Winchester Mystery-style house. I imagine he might have plans to expand it in yet another direction with proceeds from this book.

A francophile myself (although I'd call Idle more of a francogeophiliac), I was curious to see how he navigated all the barriers and pitfalls of land ownership in France. As it turns out, he gets by with a lot of help from some pretty fantastic friends. Friendship and loving relationships are at the heart of the book.

Many thanks to Harper Select and NetGalley for access to the digital arc in exchange for my review.

[Michael]

Eric Idle's enthusiasm for Provence is infectious. My 68th birthday will be in a few days. If I had read this book when I was a much younger man, he would have totally convinced me that I needed to at least visit Provence. If I had nothing but beautiful dreams and I kept a diary of them, it might read a little like this book. As it is, I'm glad I got to glimpse even a sliver of the joy and the beauty of the life Mr. Idle has built for himself there. I assumed going in that the title was a pun on the author's name and being idle but by the end it was clear that it was more a pun on the word Idyll.

[Ann Margolis]

Disappointed.Too many names of people I didn’t know or care about.Most of the story wasn’t that funny or as cute as Mr.Idle thought it was as he was writing it.The descriptions of his property and the problems with trying to fix up an old broken down cottage was a bit confusing.I always loved the Monty Python movies and tv shows but not this nf.Sorry.
I felt that what happened were tidbits taken from his diaries but came off as rambling on the pages of his bio.
Thank you Netgalley,publisher,Harper Select and Eric Idle,author for the opportunity to read the arc ebook of Idle in Provence.
On Sale,September 08,2026

[Stephanie]

I received an advanced listener copy from Libro.fm, and I was excited to hear Eric Idle after hearing his previous biography. While there is a slight overlap on some events, this book mainly centers on Idle's time in Provence, building and expanding his house as he was able to, the celebrities that he had visit, and how nice it was to not be recognized all of the time.

On its own, it isn't a thrilling read since it is part love letter to a place he enjoyed, but in addition to his previous book, it feels like getting to know a friend a little better.

[Leila Coppala]

This one is for the Python fans! When the Pythons were still a new phenomenon, Eric Idle purchased a piece of land with a ruin of a stone building on it in the then-sleepy area of Provence, France. Idle fell in love with the location. He and his wife were looking for a place to get away from it all, and where he could comfortably write without too many distractions. The house grew and changed over the decades, as did Eric's family and the Pythons, and the area itself. This book is both about the house, the village it's near, and the life Eric nurtured there. A wonderful, moving story, and I learned a couple of things: I did not realize Eric wrote so many of the Pythons' wonderful, witty songs, and I really need to visit France.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Select, and Eric Idle for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[amelia]

A unique framing of a memoir — it focuses on just one place, which means the majority of Eric Idle’s life and career and stories happen elsewhere. But it also inserts a humility (we’re all laid low by house renovations) and opportunity to share a very, very special project. Which is all to say: if you like Eric Idle and his sunnily-pragmatic attitude, you’ll like this, especially on audio. I fit that category, and it was a pleasant accompaniment for a few days!

Thank you to Libro.fm and the publishers for this ALC!

[Gerard Murphy]

Well written memoir with some great moments of humour topped by a healthy amount of name dropping.
Interesting both in terms of learning more about a part of France, the Monty Python crew and Eric Idle in particular.
Well worth a read.

[Joe Badal]

A thoroughly enjoyable witty look at Eric Idel’s 50 year relationship with the south of France

[Laura]

Fantastic and emotional.

[Lawanda]

DNF