1.
Chashme Shahi sits half-way up a mountain in Srinagar, Kashmir. The name means "royal spring", after the mountain stream that flows through the garden. The garden follows a traditional 'char bagh' pattern: four parts divided by water channels, each level higher than the next. At dusk, when the crowds thin, the scent of Kashmiri roses mingles with the mist rising from the fountains. The mountain air carries notes of fresh greenery and stone-cooled water.

2.
Saint-Paul-de-Vence sits on a hilltop in Provence, protected by thick stone walls that have stood for centuries. Flowers grow everywhere - roses and bougainvillea spill over walls and wind through narrow streets. Hidden behind these walls are small gardens where flowers bloom in the afternoon heat. Beyond the village, fields of lavender stretch into the distance. Everything here basks in summer's sunlight - the flowers climbing the walls, the tall cypress trees, even the stones themselves seem to hold the warmth.

Forty years separate my visits to these places, yet they share so much - the play of water and stone, the abundance of flowers, the feeling of being somewhere between earth and sky. Prem Rouge carries this connection: the cool calm of a Kashmir evening meeting the sun-warmed soul of a French afternoon.

Arpit Kaushik
founder, dilli house