Visitor Information

Musée de la Lavande
Route de Gordes
84220 Coustellet
Tel: 0033 (0)4 90 76 91 23 Fax: 0033 (0)4 90 76 85 52 The Lincelé family, generations of whom have been producer-distillers of essential lavender oil on the Monts de Vaucluse, welcome visitors to their Lavender museum. For details of many other visits to lavender farms, distilleries, gardens and museums throughout Alpes de Haute Provence, Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône, see: Provenceweb

For further details of lavender history and production, visit:
Enprovence

Some festivals and other events:
Valensole Lavender Festival Digne Lavender Parade Esparron-sur-Verdon Lavender Festival
Sault Lavender Festival, plus cutting competition, flower parade
Valréas Lavender Parade Apt Lavender Festival

The Colour Purple

Lavender. the very word conjures up images of long hot days in rural France. Down to earth, yet with a hint of the exotic. We celebrate the very essence of summer.

It's another balmy July evening in les Baronnies, ebbing into pastel torpor as the once-fierce sun now hangs like a pale disc, a spent force among the gathering haze. The broad valley spread out below as far as the eye can see is fading, too, into near-monochrome. Here and there, mostly dotted around the south-facing hillsides, subtle patches of cool grey stand out from the landscape. Tomorrow, after the sun has burnt off the early morning mist, they'll leap from the canvas with a vibrancy which upstages everything else in sight. We're in lavender country.
Or rather, in the best-known of them. Over the years Provence has become synonymous with lavender cultivation (where its name in patois is 'baïasse', and its lavender fields are known as 'baïassières'), but it's actually a very long way short of having a monopoly. The plants are also grown commercially in Gard and the Cévennes, in Dauphiné, in the Pyrénées and the Monts du Lyonnais. And, of course, for their decorative value, in gardens and civic landscaping schemes throughout France. Just about everyone, it seems, loves French lavender.

But all is not as it seems. There turn out to be at least twenty varieties, of which three are commonly found in commercial cultivation in France. True 'lavande' or Lavandula Angustifolia (also known as Fine and Female Lavender) actually has a quite subtle natural fragrance. Lavande grows quite happily at altitudes of 800 -1300 metres and its essential oils - Oleum Lavandulae - are highly-prized by perfume-makers. Next comes 'aspic' or Lavandula Latifolia, (also called Grande Lavande and Male Lavender), which is very similar, but has broader leaves on its multi-stemmed branches. Aspic grows on plateaux at between 600 and 800 metres altitude and flowers slightly later. This variety also produces a distinctive strong, camphor-like essence used in paints and varnishes.

The third cultivar is 'lavandin', the product of the cross-pollination of the true and aspic varieties. The resulting hybrid has larger leaves, multiple flowered stems, can be grown at much lower altitudes and typically yields between five and ten times more essential oils than either of its progenitors, making it, since the 1950s, the most popular choice for planting. Today around 80% of what you see lighting up the landscapes will be not lavande, but lavandin, most of it destined to provide the fragrances of cleaners, soaps and shampoos. Recently, researchers have been working to increase the number of clones, improving their hardiness, productivity and overall quality, while conserving their genetic heritage. Some of the results of their labours can occasionally be found in nurseries offering gardeners varieties such as grosso, abrial and super.

So which of these is actually 'French lavender'? The answer is none of them. Strictly speaking, the term should be applied only to the native wild lavender (lavendula stoechas) which grows naturally in the landscapes, rather than in commercial lavanderaies. It was used by the Romans to protect linen against moth damage and to perfume their bath water. In fact, its very name probably derives from the Latin 'lavare' - to wash. But the Romans had also discovered as early as the 1st Century B.C. another, more important value, as an ingredient in an antidote against poisonous venom bites. Its medicinal qualities meant that wild lavender was also cut regularly during the Middle Ages for use as a tonic, an antiseptic, a sedative, a treatment for insect bites, digestive upsets and much more. It had also been known to repel not only moths but also flies, mosquitoes and even moles. Later, lavender essence would be burnt in houses infected with the plague, in an attempt to prevent the spread of the epidemic. In the 18th Century, one Madame de Sévigné suggested that applying an ointment made from lavender oil and bitter almonds "would rid one of fleas and other vermin..". And then there are the tales of hunters in lavender-growing regions saving the lives of their dogs bitten by adders, by rubbing the wound immediately with a sprig of lavender crushed between their fingers. For all its folklore history, the medicinal value of true lavender essence should not, it now seems, be underestimated. Modern clinical research has revealed it to be an even more powerful antiseptic than had previously been suspected, with concentrations of as little as 0.2%, being effective in destroying the bacteria responsible for diphtheria, typhoid, pneumonia, etc.

With the spectacular rise of the perfume industry of Grasse during the 16th Century, large areas of the region's landscapes were transformed, as mimosa, jasmine, roses and lavender were planted in ever-increasing numbers. By the beginning of the 19th Century, lavender in particular had become an important commercial crop, and distilleries were appearing in many villages. The traditional harvest ('la recolte') or picking ('la cueillette') takes place at the height of the flowering season in July to September. The newly-cut stems are then allowed to dry in well-ventilated stores for several days, before being transported to the distillery. Originally, the stems were beaten to detach the flowers, which were mixed with water and then boiled over an open fire to produce a concentrate. Later, the present distillation process was introduced, employing a conventional double-boilered copper still or alembic. The lavender flowers are placed onto a grill known as a 'cucurbite', steam passes through the area and the resulting vapour becomes charged with the extracted lavender essence. After passing through a swan's-neck the solution condenses in a spiral and is collected in the essencier. The lavender essence, being lighter than water, then rises to the surface, and thus can be easily separated. An average of 100 to 130 kg of lavender flowers are required to obtain just 1 kg of essence.

In recent years, as part of the continuing quest to improve yields, the old technique of distillation in the fields has been reintroduced experimentally, allowing the crop to be distilled virtually as soon as it is picked. Every little helps, in an industry not noted for its financial rewards. Surprisingly, the picking or harvesting process remained unchanged for centuries, until the introduction, during the1970s, of today's efficient mechanical harvesters. Occasionally, however, it's still possible to chance upon teams of pickers in the fields carrying out the back-breaking work by hand during the fierce heat of the day, using a sickle and tying the bunches with twine. The newly-created sheaves prove irresistible to visitors browsing in the local gift shops and village markets, and the work helps to keep alive an age-old tradition.

© Words and pictures Roger Moss
This feature first appeared in everything France magazine Issue 7

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