Discovering Dieulefit. Sunday 13th September, 2009.

There is nothing much really to have me recommend the village of Dieulefit to you, there are no major tourist attractions, nothing of note to share. But this little village had a few little treasures that would never be written about in a tourist brochure, you would never hear about them while visiting the Office du Tourism, so I thought I would share them with you.

My first discovery was a shop selling local ceramics, the kind you see so often in Provence. The shop was unique and was carved into the bottom of a hill, cave like – what am I talking about? It was a cave! To my surprise, at the back of the cave was another cave and it was filled with spring water, pure, clean spring water. My curiosity got the better of me and I asked the owner about it as I had never seen anything like it. Between her non-existent English and my un petit peu French, I managed to glean that the shop used to be an old leather tannery – I will have to find out more I think.

Rue du Bourg is the main street that snakes through the town and is just a delight to wander late on a Sunday afternoon when life is easy. The street is full of shops and homes, cheek by jowl, designed this way to provide maximum shade and to protect the properties from the heat and wind. Every facade was hung with the most beautiful assortment of shutters, some closed awaiting the night and others wide open hoping to catch the last rays of sun. Some building walls were neglected, their paint peeling in large whisps, others were tended and loved, painted in lovely soft pastels. The cobbles were light and the combination of things gave rue du Bourg a freshness you don’t often see in old villages. The doors and their knockers catch one’s eye too. Dieulefit is well worth a wander.