Idle In Provence : A Brief History of Thyme

Author: Idle, Eric

France

Published on 10 September 2026 by Ebury Publishing (Ebury Press) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 256 pages
241 x 163 x 28 | 514g

'Enchanting and hilarious' Stephen FryIn 1971, two years after the launch of Monty Python’s Flying Circus made his comedy troupe global superstars - and made all their lives a little more complicated - Eric Idle decided to buy a ramshackle property in the south of France.

In search of a simpler, quieter life, what followed was a story akin to A Year in Provence, but with more disaster, more heartbreak, more laughs - and much more spam.

A tale spanning a fifty-year quest of home-building, friendship-making and bad-French-learning, Idle in Provence is a hilarious, tender and unforgettable memoir of Eric Idle's very own escape to the country.