Lavender and lavandin
The Apt plain is covered with carpets of "real" lavender and lavandin, or hybrid lavender.
Lagarde d’Apt alone accounts for 20% of France's lavender production.
Once the lavender is cut (initially with a scythe, now with a combine harvester), it is dried and then distilled to produce essential oil. Around 100 kg of dried lavender is needed to make 1kg of oil.
Lavender oil has been used since Antiquity, but it wasn't until the Renaissance that trade developed, thanks largely to the Medicis. Since then, the flower that has become synonymous with Provence has been used in a wide range of products including herbal tea, spiced bread, sorbet, lemonade, soap, and perfume.
How to tell one type of lavender from another :
• Common lavender : small clumps and a single spike.
• Spike lavender : large-leafed, with lots of small spikes.
• Hybrid lavender : large round clumps.
Don't forget: Lavender blossoms from June to late July and is harvested and distilled from mid-July to late August.
Itinerary
Leave Apt towards Les Agnels, where there is an internationally-known distillery which supplies perfumers and detergent manufacturers.
Then head towards Saignon via the Claparèdes plateau, with its tints and fragrances of lavender. While on this road you will notice a number of splendid isolated stone huts.
Continuing towards Auribeau and Castellet, you climb up Grand Luberon. The beautiful views over the lavender fields and the valley are a photographer’s delight. When approaching the villages at certain times of the year, the air is heady with the perfume of traditional lavender distilleries.
Continue towards Viens, Lagarde d’Apt and the Albion Plateau, with its striped fields of fine lavender...
Go back towards Apt to visit a traditional distillery at the gates of the town. Here you can meet the lavender growers, the Borde family, who have passed the distillery from father to son and will welcome you with a guided visit.
Addresses
• Distillerie Les Coulets route de Rustrel 84400 Apt tél. 04 90 74 07 55
Traditional lavender distillery on a farm, a few minutes from Apt. Retail.
From 20 July to 10 September/Common lavender distillery.
• Aromatology Institute in Provence : lessons, workshops, theme visits about essences.
Acquire theoritical and practical knowledge about essences, watch the production, learn their uses for health, well-being and beauty.
Contact : Laurence Bec
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.ipal-formation.com
tél. 06.20.27.58.94 – fax. 04.90.47.47.90.
• Jean-Claude Guigou Hameau Les Agnels Route de Buoux 84400 Apt tél. 04 90 74 34 60 / 06 81 20 37 28
Shop everyday, the whole year.
• Lavande 1100 D34 entre Sault et Apt 84400 Lagarde d’Apt tél. 04 90 75 01 42 Distillerie de lavande fine.
You can learn all about the distilling process, watch demonstrations, and buy AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée, the label guaranteeing the origin of produce in France), organically grown lavender. From 20 July to 10 August.
• Château du bois Les Espagnols 84400 Lagarde d’Apt tél. 04 90 76 91 23
Walking tours through 80 hectares (197 acres) of lavender.
Tour of the distillery. www.lechateaudebois.com
• Lavender Museum route de Gordes 84220 Coustellet tél. 04 90 76 91 23
Exhibition of stills from the 16th century to the present day.
Video and mail-order. www.museedelalavande.com/uk/
Open 7 days a week, including public holidays (annual closure in January and 25th December)
