France
Plateau de Valensole
Lavender to the horizon in purple rows humming with bees, on a balcony above the Durance.
The lavender starts at the road edge and does not stop — purple rows running out to the horizon in parallel lines, the air heavy with scent, the bees working the flowers in a hum that rises as the heat builds. The Plateau de Valensole is the lavender heartland of France's Provence, a high tableland where the colour arrives in late June and saturates everything until the harvest cuts it short in July.
The plateau is a vast sunny balcony above the Durance valley, a few minutes from Moustiers and the Verdon, and most of the lavender fields of Provence are here — mostly lavandin, the hybrid grown for its oil, which blooms from mid-June and is cut through July, the flowers steamed in the distilleries to draw off the essence. The plateau changes with the season: snow on the peaks behind and almond blossom white across the fields in March, the changing mauve of the lavender in July, and after the harvest the bare rows and the wheat stubble. Hives stand at the field edges and the honey tastes of the flowers; the village of Valensole at the centre has the distilleries, the lavender shops and a bee museum. The bloom peaks around the turn of June into July; the fields are private, so photograph from the edge.
Couple
The fields at golden hour — the purple deepening, the bees settling, the scent thickening as the air cools — is Provence in concentrate. The Verdon a few minutes south adds turquoise to the purple if the day needs contrast.
Family
Children walk the field edges between the rows, visit the bee museum and taste lavender ice cream in the village. The almond blossom in March is a reason to come back — the plateau rewards two seasons.
- In late June and July the whole plateau turns purple — lavender fields run to the horizon in mathematical rows.
- Hives at the field edges make a lavender honey that tastes floral and heady — the bees are audible from the road.
- The plateau is a balcony above the Durance a few minutes from the Verdon — turquoise gorge water below, purple fields above.
- Almond orchards flower white in March before the lavender arrives — the plateau has two bloom seasons.
Lavender honey from hives on the plateau — floral, heady — spooned over fresh goat's cheese.
Almond biscuits and lavender ice cream at the village cafés along the plateau edge.
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