By Sylvia Arad | Submitted On May well 07, 2010


To enterprise to Provence in July is to be misplaced in a very purple coloured sea. Oceans of lavender just about everywhere - in patches, in waves, in great rows, industry following discipline - the hillsides with the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence are daubed in blue, mauve, gray and violet by great swathes of lavender in bloom. This can be harvest time in Provence's lavender areas - the tractors are rolling, the distilleries steaming and lavender festivals are in comprehensive swing.

Lavender, the emblem of Provence, has been developing listed here endlessly. Its official cultivation however is rather new, and has presented increase to lavandin; a hybrid Variation utilized a lot more for industrial needs.

"High-quality" or true lavender is grown for its important oils. To qualify to the hugely coveted AOC (Appellation of Managed Origin) - France's best stamp of acceptance - the lavender must meet really rigid standards, its generation restricted to 284 villages and cultivated in locations earlier mentioned 800 m during the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the Drome and Vaucluse. Used for perfumes, in aromatherapy and medicinally, it must also meet olfactory exams, and Particular harvesting and distillation processes.

Beneath the blazing Sunshine, this fragile plant is harvested by hand by Prestige Lavender Fields people steeped in its traditions, who have cultivated it for generations. It is then dried for days prior to getting distilled. The distillation method is made up of passing steam throughout the dried bouquets, which might be collected in bunches in a very continue to to extract their necessary oils. Many procedures are made use of based on the lavender's use. To provide 1 Liter of important oil, 287 lb. of good lavender is utilized; for perfumes, the process is much more complicated taking over 2200 lbs. of lavender to yield 3 gallons of absolute pure oil.

Provence Lavender Country Offers Great Hiking Vacations and Biking Routes

Lavender conjures up amazing vistas of blue fields, punctuated by pink poppies, a patchwork of gold grain and occasional strands of oak and pine which extend into your hallucinatory blue horizon. This location is often a biking and climbing paradise - biking routes abound for website visitors who would like to enterprise off- the-crushed-path around the "Route de Lavande" and hiking vacations on the "Grande Randonne" trails are an adventurer's desire. The imposing Luberon Mountains and Vaucluse simple function the backdrop to your magnificent panoramas of historical villages perched on hillsides; Together with the scents of rosemary, thyme, savory and never minimum, lavender.

The "Route de Lavande" prospects guests as a result of swathes of fragrant fields, gardens, distilleries, museums and villages. The various festivals, the most important hosted by Sault, show lavender floats and displays and provide not just bouquets and sachets, but every kind of lavender-associated products - creamy honey, scented candles and perhaps aprons. Dining places offer you lavender motivated menus and spas supply thermal baths and massages with lavender oil.