A Walk To Remember. Wednesday 9th September, 2009.

The afternoon came quickly. We arrived at Domaine Rocheville at 5.30pm to take the thematic walk around the farm which grows grape vines, fruit trees and olives. Magic hour was the perfect time to walk the hills of the farm and to learn all about the nurturing and harvesting of the many things Domaine Rocheville grows. At each numbered point we stopped, and AJ read the information, we began at the cherry trees, then the olives and soon after the vines which were heavy with ripe grapes awaiting the beginning of harvest on Monday – how exciting. The walk lasted two glorious hours, uphill and down dale and we loved every moment of it. We arrived back at the car as the sun disappeared behind the surrounding hills.

AJ’s ‘Concentration de Vehicles’ was to be on again at 8 in Nyons so off we headed. Remember last Wednesday when we arrived to see it and there was nothing there? Well, same scenario this week, what a shame for AJ who was keen to see what it was all about. We returned home for dinner before settling down on the couch for a movie, ‘Gran Torino’ – I would highly recommend it!

Villages of Vaucluse and the Sweet Scent of Lavender. Friday 4th September 2009.

I had a 10.30 interview and photo shoot booked with Distillerie Bleu Provence to watch one of the final distillings of lavender for the season. We were given access to the entire distillery and Clement, who was looking after us, was a wealth of knowledge and pretty easy on the eye too. We watched the entire process of how to extract the oil from lavendin, the farmer arrived with his truck laden with long, flower tipped stalks which were forked into the vases ready for steam to be forced through them alowing their precious oil to be extracted. It was a great visit and I learned so much. The things we are seeing behind the scenes of this year are amazing and I am so thankful.

I would recommend anyone visiting Provence to spend an afternoon discovering the secrets of Vaison la Romaine, It is a delightful town with a village like atmosphere, and there is something for everyone. We chose not to visit the Roman ruins; we refer to them now as ‘ABR’, another bloody ruin which makes us all laugh. If this is your thing you will be well satisfied in Vaison la Romaine.

We walked around without a map and discovered whatever we passed. The Roman Bridge was great to see, it is the link from the new town to the old medieval town and is just gorgeous. From the bridge you ascend the hill to the ramparts of the old city; this is the spot for exploring. The upper town is full of enchanting Provencal squares with pretty fountains. We came across a local couple doing handcrafts and selling home grown Muscat grapes of which we bought a bunch and ate while wandering. At the height of the hill there is an old feudal castle which offers an incredible panoramic view of the town. We were relaxed and unhurried today and it was nice to explore this way and to have time to breathe.

A few kilometres up the road is Seguret, again perched hillside and pretty as a picture with fountains and small chapel. There are beautiful views over the plains from the village square, it is a nice place to contemplate Provence.

Another short distance along is Sablet, cute and cobbled it is, but nothing out of the ordinary, if you can call hill side Provencal villages ordinary. I don’t know why, but Sablet pales into insignificance compared to the others. We had a few interesting encounters here though. I heard a woman saying ‘no worries’ as she helped a passerby with a question. She was an Aussie, her daughter lived in the village with her family and she lived with them for half of the year. A little later, AJ and I got talking to another Aussie couple who had been staying in the village and were leaving tomorrow, they, like me, had fallen in love with Provence.

We had packed a picnic to take today and had planned to enjoy it for dinner. As Sablet didn’t enchant us, we decided to drive home and enjoy the picnic on our terrace. It sounded great in theory but when we arrived home the Mistral wind had arrived with us, forcing us indoors to the dining table where we enjoyed our first ever kitchen picnic.

A Day In Nyons. Thursday 3rd September, 2009.

We took some time to discover the charms of the Nyons market this morning, one of the best in the region with approximately 300 stalls. The market umbrellas took over the whole town, it was a thriving metropolis. Many of the stalls specialised in regional specialties of olives, oil, wines, ceramics and all kinds of lavender products. The market stalls snaked along the narrow roads into the old town; it was such a pretty setting. A trout specialist sold live trout he scooped from a tank to order. He bagged them and gave them to their new owners after a sharp knock on the head, after which there were no signs of life.

We had a quick lunch at home before returning to Nyons to see what had been advertised in the tourist brochures as ‘Concentration de vehicles’, just in case it was going to be interesting for AJ we didn’t want to miss it so we made sure we were in town for 3pm. The only concentration of vehicles was the usual mass in the car park, other than that there was nothing out of the ordinary. We asked at the tourist office. They pointed us to the square in front of the Mairie and assured us there would be a meeting of old vehicles at 3. There was still nothing to be seen. The office staff at the Mairie feigned ignorance but there was a section of the car park that had been cordoned off. The staff suggested we check back at 4, there was still no action. We are yet to find out what happened to the event but we are told there is another one scheduled for next Wednesday at 8pm.

We wandered up and down the steep, cobbled lanes of the old town. It ascended the hills that look over Nyons. We explored the Roman Bridge and the uniquely coloured river that runs under it, there was a lone fisherman casting a line into the tealy water.

It was quite a long walk through Nyons to the Co-operative but certainly worth it. They sell everything imaginable as long as it is produced by local farmers. They run education courses on wine, olives, tapenades etc, I was lucky to try the later and discovered a lovely new taste – tapenade made from the local Nyons olives mixed with local honey, it was so lovely, a great combination. The boys wandered ahead to check out the Citroen dealer in town while I chatted to the people at the co-op. JR ventured out later to catch the magic of the day through his lens and later we all snuggled up in the lounge room to watch Starsky and Hutch on DVD.