Tags
Lacoste, lavender, Luberon, Marquis de Sade, Ménerbes, Peter Mayles, Pierre Cardin, Plus Beaux Villages
Our day began yesterday with the subtle sweet smells of lavender through the morning fog, and ended with a visit to the former home of the infamous Marquis de Sade who shocked the world with his spicy writings.
As the morning air is dense with fog, we stop on our way to the Luberon village of Ménerbes to take a look at the lavender museum in Coustellet hoping the fog will have cleared by the time we come outside again.
We are glad we did, as this little museum gives a fascinating insight into the history of lavender farming in Provence and has some impressive historic pieces of ancient and antique equipment used in the production of lavender oil. We admire the craftsmanship of the copper stills dating back to the 16th century. Naturally throughout the visit we inhale the light fragrance of fine lavender.
The production of essential oil from lavender dates backs to the 16th century. We learn of the difference between fine lavender and hybrid lavender. The floral stalks of fine lavender are short, straight and don’t branch out. It reproduces through the seeds it produces. One hundred and thirty kilograms of the flowers are required to make just one kilogram of essential oil.
Spike lavender has velvety leaves, longer stalks and several spikelets and is no longer cultivated in France. The larger hybrid lavender, known as lavendin, is sturdier than the fine lavender, promulgated through cuttings and yields up to five times more essential oil than fine lavender.
Lavender was traditionally harvested by hand held sickle right up until the 1950s, and was originally the lot of women who collected the lavender in their aprons.
Almost all the production of lavender is intended to be distilled for essential oil production. With the development of cutting and cultivation brought about the evolution of the still equipment from naked flame stills to bain-marie stills and eventually to steam stills.
Tracing the steps of Peter Mayles
We resume our short journey to Ménerbes passing by some beautiful fields of vines.
Ménerbes has attracted artists such as Nicolas de Stael and Picasso long before Peter Mayle discovered and captured it in A Year in Provence. After the worldwide publicity from this book which resulted in hordes of visitors, it has returned now to being a beautiful quiet medieval village and one of the Plus Beaux Villages of France.
We find a small cafe with seating out in the sun for lunch, and the tables soon fill up around us with locals and tourists enjoying fresh salads, quiche, pizza and steak frites. We are also joined by a number of cats and a dog soaking up the sun, and hoping for scraps.
Afterwards we take a walk through some of the winding streets admiring the views, houses and peeping into their tranquil gardens.
There is much to see here including the Citadelle, a miniature 16th century fortress, the Chateau du Castellet where the expressionist painter Nicolas de Stael lived and many examples of 16th and 17th century architecture as well as the church.
Tracing the Marquis de Sade
Driving on we reach the nearby village of Lacoste which is famous for its former resident, the Marquis de Sade.
It is hard to imagine this very pretty village yielding the likes of Sade who was ‘an extreme free spirit’; others may say he was simply a degenerate. He lived at the Chateau de Lacoste in the 1770s and enjoyed mass orgies, also having an affair with his wife’s sister while she was staying here. However he was a notable writer, not just of risqué writings but also philosophical works.
When we arrive we park near the Lacoste tourist office, collect a map and guide, and make our way up the hillside along cobbled stone paths through the heart of old Lacoste through the Portail de la Garde.
Up here it doesn’t seem that much has changed since the 1400s, except when we peer inside some of the buildings we see numerous galleries and a group of American students at work at the American owned Savannah College of Art and Design.
There is much to take in and then we reach the Marquis de Sade’s chateau at the very top of Lacoste.
It is in a state of partial ruin as it was ransacked during the French Revolution and abandoned for 150 years. It has been under renovation since the 1950s by former owner, and subsequently by fashion designer Pierre Cardin. He transformed it into an art space and he also presides over the artistic Festival Lacoste in July and August.
The chateau is set in a lovely open space, and has some impactful sculpture.
The setting is very tranquil and we gaze out to amazing views of the surrounding area, before heading back down the hill and taking the short picturesque drive back to L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.