Andrew Threlfall travels through fields of lavender to a land filled with the sweet scent of sun, wine and history.
Provence offers a quintessential French experience, villages spread out upon rugged hills overlooking vineyards and fields of lavender. The British Experience became a dreamy cottage industry (literally) thanks to Peter Mayle’s book, A Year In Provence, about about life on the hillsides and a perfect place for exploring stunningly beautiful towns like Gordes, it’s grey and white stone houses rising around a hill topped by the Abbaye de Sénanque.
First the bad, well not too bad, news if you like edgy travel, your arrival to Provence is more than likely as a result of flying into Marseille. Any other way is complicated. Marseille is one of my absolute favourite European cities, but we are here to chill out. So, book a driver to drive you to your hotel and lament that you didn’t join Gene Hackman in a remake of The French Connection over a rose in the hillls.
My driver Bruno works for his own private company organising transportation services and tours in the Luberon & Provence area, based in the heart of the Luberon in the tranquil, shirts allowed village of Lacoste.
I’m dropped at hotel Le Moulin de Lourmarin. An extremely affordable and charming building this former 18th-century oil mill turned hotel in sits across a field from the castle. The Provençal style menu in the hotel’s cavernous vast restaurant area features a rather fabulous sea bream, a real treat, brought in from an Atlantic catch I’m told, not the more adjacent Mediterranean. Lourmarin is an evening stroll waiting to happen for every romantic in love with this part of the world. It doesn’t disappoint, tranquility around every corner, in every carefully manicured hedgerow or restored brickwork. I had to search hard for a supermarket, let alone a Starbucks. Reassuringly neither appeared. A lovely corner shop sold the local fruits and vegetables you might require if say, a panedemic, were to send us all back indoors, but this is village to walk, to eat Al fresco in, to take the dog to, to INDULGE.
Château de Lourmarin over the road from the hotel is a converted castle located in the town of Lourmarin which is situated in the Vaucluse département, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of France.
Originally this 12th-century fortress was then transformed in the 15th century by Foulques d’Agoult, chamberlain of King René I. of Anjou and after that in 1526 the castle belonged to Louis d’Agoult-Montauban and his wife Blanche de Lévis-Ventadour literally Diying the new annex making it the first Renaissance building in the Provence Region. After the French Revolution, and despite having three more owners, the castle slowly descended, like so many in the region, into ruins. A century ago in 1920, Robert Laurent-Vibert, a producer of cosmetics, bought the dilapidated castle and paid the architect Henri Pacon to restore it. Sadly just five years later Laurent-Vibert died in a car accident and in his will he donated the castle to the Académie des Sciences, Agriculture, Arts et Belles Lettres under the condition that it should be transformed into a trust, which would support young artists; hence each room being decorated splendidly with such.
After a visit to nearby olive oil experience which does fabulously themed days for families – Bastide du Laval. Lunch in Vaugines at L’Insitio, a gorgeous small village restaurant as the daytime heat heads north is an idyllic experience away from more bustling villages nearby.
But I can’t resist one last look at the amazing Panama hat shop in the delicately winding streets of Lourmarin village which has the highest concentration of art gallery to shops ratios I’ve ever come across, before I head off down winding hillside roads to the truly magnificent Les Bories & Spa, one of the great luxury hotels of France, a quarter century old now built by Françoise Gallon and Jean-Michel Gallon on the land of shepherd monks from the nearby Sénanque Abbey, commonly known by Pope Urban V as the “Mount of Light”. On this sacred land, a “borie” was a small rural dwelling made of stone slabs, built without mortar or cement, in the style of the ancient Greeks. Hotel Les Bories is the final word in luxury set away from Gordes in an ancient deserted village named Bories after the 20 odd mysterious beehive huts of pile of stones lived in or used as shepherd’s housing on the Bronze Age until the 18th century. I got there at five in the afternoon on a very warm late April day so braved the swimming pool outdoors which thankfully is heated from May onwards. There’s an all year-round indoor version as well go with the understated helipad just a quick breastroke away. The utterly stunning 5-star spa and hotel sits – with its helipad – in an 8-hectare estate of olive trees, cypress trees, oaks and lavender. An exquisite combination of nature and stone imbues its 34 rooms looking out over the Luberon, a never-ending land of breathtaking rolling vineyards, ancient hilltop villages and lavender fields.
The next morning I stroll through the cobbled streets of nearby Gordes, ranked one of the “most beautiful villages In France”, visiting the excellent value for money Chez Esme restaurant, tiny but marvellous, for lunch, before checking a fantastic flat available all year round on airbnb, La Maison du Luberon, with the best views in the village. The ridiculously opulent six star hotel Les Airelles provides the next contrast might be the final touch in luxury in the region as well heeled as the staff are attired in outfits with an almost lederhosen impression. It’s not cheap. But at approximately _£1,000 a night coming into high season (this is the price in low season, it’s way more in high season), it is certainly not outrageous for such an incredible experience. A free drinks bar is available all day too. Speaking of drinks make sure to drop in at Château de Sannes. Of all the wine tastings in the area, this place – with its wedding party friendly vibe, was the most stunning. One of the quintessential Provence memories from my trip.
As I live close to Portobello Road antique market I could not ignore the allure of the 300 plus antique stalls and shops in the larger enclave of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, a paradise for antique lovers featuring a cooling river when summer temperatures can hit the dangerously high mid 40s. I resist buying extra luggage with easyJet and head to a bit of a culture shock for my final night in the region to the, compared to where I’ve just visited, rather unspectacular town of Cavaillon – but it’s value for money, a great location to springboard to the region and I’m staying with an amazing couple who run the guesthouse 215 Gambetta. Toulon rugby is the religion in this household like no other as the rooms, kitchen and garden reflect a truly eclectic almost gothic taste. I didn’t really need the streets outside to enjoy this amazing stay with a couple who in two years have learnt fluent English and who go that extra mile ago to absolutely know their guests.
An extraordinary region, Provence delivers the antidote to actually quite nearby Paris, Marseille and dare I say it, London. And that’s why we keep going back.
Discover loads more about Luberon here
All images © Destination Luberon
