A villa changes the arithmetic of packing, because it comes with a washing machine and a line. A hotel guest packs for every day of the stay, or pays the laundry list. A guest in a private house can pack for half of it and wash on Wednesday. That single difference is why linen for villa holidays deserves separate thought: the cloth is at its most pleasant when it is washed often and dried in warm air, and a rented house in the south is one of the few places on holiday where that happens as a matter of course.

The second difference is that nobody is watching. There is no lobby to cross and no restaurant with a dress code at breakfast. The day in a villa has its own shape: coffee barefoot on the terrace, the pool, a long lunch at the house, a drive to the market or the village, and dinner either at the big table outside or, once or twice in the week, in a restaurant. Clothes are worn for comfort and for the people one came with. In practice that means fewer garments, worn more often, and it favours cloth that is comfortable from the first hour of the morning to the last of the night.

Laundry in an unfamiliar house deserves a few minutes of attention on the first day. Find the gentle or delicate programme and set it to 30°C. Use less of the detergent in the cupboard than seems necessary, as it is often a strong one, and leave out fabric softener. Linen dries happily on a line in the sun, in the shade of a pergola or in the tumble dryer on a low setting, so whatever the house offers will do. If the house has staff who do the washing, the two things worth saying on arrival are cool and gentle. The fuller routine is in how to wash linen shirts.

The pool is the centre of the house, and it has its own short wardrobe. For men, PP natural swim shorts, which are 100% Belgian linen, in two colourways so that one pair is always dry; a rinse in fresh water after chlorine or salt keeps them in good order, as the natural swim shorts care guide describes. For women, the ladies linen set in Sky Blue or Lemon is easy over a swimsuit between the lounger and the kitchen, and the Amelia linen dress shirt is the garment for lunch. One habit saves a good deal of washing: let sun cream sink in before putting linen on over it.

Lunch at the house is the meal the week will be remembered for, and it asks only that swimwear be replaced by something dry. A PP Natural Set in Oatmeal or Vanille, a shirt and shorts in the same linen, is the simplest answer for a man, since it removes a decision at the point in the day when nobody wants one. The sets are in the natural sets collection. They are made in certified Belgian linen, and they are among the garments that benefit most from a house with a line, because both halves can be washed together and worn again two days later.

The trip out is the one moment when a villa guest dresses for other people. A market town in Provence, Puglia or the Peloponnese is not a beach, and a shirt and shorts to the knee, or a blouse with trousers, is the considerate level. For him, a Cuba Linen Shirt in Blue or a Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in Oyster with PP linen shorts in Beige. For her, the PP linen blouse in Pink or Sky Blue with trousers or a long skirt from her own wardrobe, which also covers a church if the walk passes one. A basket for the shopping is the only accessory the morning calls for.

Evenings at the house are a quiet pleasure of this kind of holiday, and they have one practical complication, which is the mosquito. Around dusk, on a terrace near a garden or a pool, long sleeves and long trousers in a loose weave are simply more comfortable than bare skin, and they suit the cooler air as well. The Bliss Linen Shirt in Sky Blue or Pink with PP Casual Linen Trousers in Black serves at the house, and the same outfit, pressed, goes to the restaurant in the village. A woman might keep the Amelia linen dress shirt in Dubarry or Violet for those evenings out. The women's garments are in the women's linen collection.

For a week, then, a man needs less than he thinks: two pairs of swim shorts, one set, two further shirts of which one has long sleeves, one pair of linen shorts and one of trousers. A woman's list is as short. Shared houses add one caution, which is to wash deep colours separately the first time and to agree whose turn it is. Linen will crease on the line and in the drawer, and a villa is the easiest place to accept that, since an iron is usually in a cupboard for anyone who minds. Most people stop minding by Tuesday. It is one of the things a week in one house is for.

What to Wear at a Pool Villa  ·  The Linen Set Packing Guide  ·  What to Wear in a Provençal Village