Nicole Farhi's travel secrets - Telegraph The French fashion designer created her eponymous brand in 1982 as part of the French Connection group, and has since branched into restaurants. She lives in London with her husband, the dramatist and writer David Hare. We go every summer with our children and grandchildren to the South of France, where we have a house outside a quaint little seaside resort called La Ciotat (en.tourisme-laciotat.com), near Marseilles. Because I was born in Nice, I always dreamt of having a house by the sea, and I love it. It's everything that Cannes and St Tropez are not: very discreet and quiet. It is wonderful, when you spend your life designing clothes, to be in a place where you can relax, where you don't have to dress up, put on make-up or meet anybody in the fashion industry (apart from my old friend Betty Jackson, who coincidentally lives five minutes away). It's all terribly old-fashioned and local, with a Saturday market where farmers sell their vegetables or chickens, and men bring fish they've just caught. There's a square with a bar where you can have a glass of wine or a coffee. La Ciotat is very discreet and quiet Other than this family holiday, David and I try to go away once a year on our own - for a birthday, anniversary or celebration - and pamper ourselves. We've been to quite a few Aman hotels (amanresorts.com): three in Bhutan, one in Bali and one in the Turks and Caicos. The last one, in Turkey, was fantastic. The rooms are like villas, with their own pools, and if you don't want to, you don't have to see anyone else. We mostly drove to little villages nearby and ate in tiny restaurants, and I also went to a hammam, which was fun (I love to be scrubbed), and got to see Ephesus and other ruins. If we don't go to an Aman, we tend to stay at a beautiful hotel near Naples called Il San Pietro di Positano (ilsanpietro.it). It's set above rocks and, to get to the beach, you go in a lift through the rock. The balcony views are breathtaking, the rooms are furnished in a lovely classical style, and people dress up for dinner. The food is unbelieveable, just gorgeous.