A Bastide is a local name for a manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

 in Provence

Provence

Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

, in the south of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, located in the countryside or in a village, and originally occupied by a wealthy farmer. It was larger and more elegant than the farmhouse called a mas

Mas (Provencal Farmhouse)

A mas is a traditional farmhouse in the Provence region of France as well as in Catalonia, where is also named masia or masía ....

and was square or rectangular, with a tile roof, walls of fine ashlar-stone

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

 sometimes covered with stucco

Stucco

Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...

 or whitewash

Whitewash

Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a very low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime and chalk . Various other additives are also used...

ed, and often was built in a square around a courtyard. In the 19th and 20th century, many bastides were used as summer houses by wealthy citizens of Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

. More recently, most bastides in Provence have been transformed into expensive country homes.

One well-known bastide in Provence is the Bastide Neuve, located in the village of La Treille

La Treille

La Treille is a quartier on the outskirts of Marseilles' 11th arrondissement, in the Department of Bouches-du-Rhône, France. At the quartier's centre is the ancient village of La Treille, with some 900 inhabitants...

 near Marseille, which was a summer house for the family of French writer and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol

Marcel Pagnol

Marcel Pagnol was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. In 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie Française.-Biography:...

. César Soubeyan, the wealthy farmer in his novels Jean de Florette

Jean de Florette

Jean de Florette is a 1986 French historical drama film directed by Claude Berri, based on a novel by Marcel Pagnol. It is part of a duology, and is followed by Manon des Sources. The film takes place in rural Provence, where two local farmers scheme to trick a newcomer out of his newly inherited...

and Manon des Sources, lived in a bastide.