For the love of lavender

Every summer the plateaus and hills of Provence are coloured in blue and purple by fields of lavender.

The lavender in the Lubéron blooms from around the last week of June to the beginning of August when it is harvested. It is usually at its peak in early July, but this depends on rainfall.

Collected by hand in the past, the harvest of lavender is now completely mechanised. Dried for a few days, the flowers then leave for the distillery where the essential oil is extracted. Around 120kg of flowers makes 1kg of essential oil. (The lavandin plant, a hybrid of lavender, is becoming more and more popular because it produces twice as much oil.)

Lavender is said to heal insect bites and burns as well as repel insects. It can soothe headaches if you apply it to your temples and it helps you sleep if you have the flowers by your pillow. Dried lavender is used to repel moths in clothes closets.

How to find lavender fields

You can enjoy the lavender fields by car, bicycle or on foot. Perhaps the most iconic lavender image in Provence is of the field in front of Senanque Abbey near Gordes. It is almost impossible not to get a memorable photo here.

You may also find lavender fields that contain a stone borie, which makes a more interesting photo than just the lavender. On the way to Sault you will pass the village of Simiane la Rotonde, which is a picture-perfect, perched village with fields of lavender at its base – an ideal spot to photograph the swathes of colour.

The map below indicates where in the Lubéron you will find concentrations of lavender fields:

• on the high plateaux around Sault
• at the foot of the Mont Ventoux
• around Apt and Gordes

Visit routes-lavande.com for more info.