Île de Bendor

The Île de Bendor lies just off the coast of Bandol and was once owned by Paul Ricard.

When he bought the island in 1950 the only inhabitants were sheep, and he dedicated his life to turn Bendor into a paradise out at sea.

He was quoted to have said: "This island was a real passion for me, I built here a miniature world and there was nothing there I could not do. I only had to consider its surface area. The sky and the sea were the only limits of my dreams."

There's a boat every half hour from Bandol, and the crossing takes about 5 minutes!

We had a really nice day there, and walked round the island within an hour as its so small. But there's a hotel, various restaurants and shops, together with a little beach. So after walking the circumference of the island we had a very nice champagne lunch overlooking the sea. I then had a 'fishy pedicure', where the fish nibble away at the skin on your feet - it was very therapeutic! Then we finished off the day on the little beach which we more or less had to ourselves.

It really was like being in paradise, and my blip was taken at Neptune's garden - I love the sculpture of Neptune at the edge of the sea with the lovely blue skies.