Southern comfort

The procession shuffled slowly through the Great Chapel. Men, women and children gazed in awe at the vaulted arches that soared 20 metres up into The Heavens. Light filtered through the stained glass windows, throwing kaleidoscopic shapes onto the rectangular stone floor.

In The Stag Room, where hunters chasing their prey had been frozen in time, the vivid blues, greens, reds and golds looked as fresh as when they were painted in the 14th century by the finest Italian artists.

Along with dozens of other tourists, I was enjoying an audio-guided visit of Avignon’s Palais des Papes: the palace-fortress that was home to the Popes in the 1300s and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Admiring the enduring handiwork of artists and craftsmen in Europe’s largest Gothic palace – the size of four cathedrals – was a good place to start a tour of Provence’s traditional arts and crafts.

Earlier, after my TGV had glided into the high-tech station on the outskirts of town, I caught the shuttle bus into the city centre where I checked into the Ibis Centre Gare, whose top-floor rooms give uninterrupted views over the ramparts and across the city. It was here the following day that I was picked up by David, the driver-guide from Provence Panorama Tours, who had tailor-made my weekend trip.

The comfortable black minivan soon left the urban sprawl, where ancient stone buildings made way for new apartment blocks, and headed east into the Luberon National Park. Covering 408,000 acres, with 155,000 inhabitants in 71 communes, The Luberon is Hollywood’s perfect image of Provence – perched villages, straight roads bordered by tall poplar tress and rows of vines, all against a backdrop of blue skies and scorching sun – as portrayed in the film version of Peter Mayle’s book ‘A Good Year’.

Soon, the ground turned from parched yellow into blood red and David told me that we’d entered ‘Colorado Provençal’: the world’s biggest and best vein of ochre. In front of us, clinging to the southern edge of the Monts de Vaucluse, the rust-hued village of Roussillon, classified as one of the most beautiful villages in France, shone in a patchwork of shades under the morning sun.

Ochre is a non-toxic natural dye that is one of the earliest known colorants and was mined here for worldwide export until the 1960s. A short walk from the village is the Sentier des Ocres (Ochre Path), in the old quarry, where visitors can follow a 40-minute trail through a moon-like, Tangoed landscape punctuated with jutting, jagged rock pillars.

Keen to preserve its heritage, the region has set up a conservatory, called Okhra, in a disused factory on the edge of town where professional and amateur artists of all ages can attend workshops to learn different ways of using this earthy dust.

We followed the old Via Domitia, the Roman road that linked Italy with Spain via southern France, to Apt. This workaday town was once an important Roman colony: the Pont Julien, a well-preserved 2000-year-old bridge whose three arches span the river Calavon, is a visual reminder of the Empire’s skilled engineers and stonemasons. These days Apt is best known for its marbled faience (glazed pottery), its crystallised fruit and its Saturday-morning market.

A jazz band played while locals and tourists sipped coffee and chatted at tables on café terraces in the square. Wandering around some of the 300 stalls piled with the likes of rustic loaves, goats’ cheese wrapped in chestnut leaves, an apparent 70 varieties of tomatoes and racks of clothes made by local designers, Peter Mayle’s influence couldn’t be denied – American and British accents drowned out the regional nasal twang.

Due to the good quality clay in the surrounding hills (the iron in ochre makes it strong), pottery has been made here since Roman times. Faience production took off in the 18th century when the Moulin brothers first fired up their kilns; one of the family later took his expertise to Minton in Staffordshire. In the early 19th century, 13 factories and nearly 200 craftsmen exported all over Europe. Now, there are just two potters in Apt making the famous marbled faience: Atelier du Vieil Apt and Atelier Rigo.

Alain Rigo, a self-taught potter, said: “We’ve been making faience for 26 years but we’ve only been making marbled faience, which involves mixing different coloured clays, for three years – it took us a long time to learn how to do it! There was no one left to teach us so we did our own research in museums and then it was a case of trial and error.”

Looking at the earth-toned, delicate pieces all around the shop, their antecedents would have been proud. The family’s work is displayed, along with faience makers from across France, at a fair in Apt town hall each July.

Walking down Rue des Marchands, my attention turned to a window display where hills of clementines, cherries, pineapple rings and melons looked like jellied versions of their normal selves.

Crystallised fruit has been made in Apt since the Middle Ages as a means of preserving the seasonal produce – Vaucluse is known as the ‘fruit and vegetable basket of France’ since it is the country’s main growing area. In the 19th century, half of the people in the town worked in this industry, whose success was mainly due to an Englishman, Matthew Wood. He visited the area in 1868 and began to export the treats to the UK.

Now, only two crystallised fruit factories still exists and in one, Kerry Aptunion, visitors can enjoy free guided tours and tastings. The history of Apt and its arts and crafts can be explored in the town’s fascinating Industrial Museum.

Lunch was a tasty pork casserole accompanied by a vegetable gratin and a baked potato laced with tapenade (olive paste) at Intramuros, a restaurant decorated with pre-war memorabilia collected from flea markets.

Afterwards, we headed north-west in the shadow of Mont Ventoux – the region’s largest mountain – to Pernes-les-Fontaines. The town is best known for its 40 fountains which date back to the 18th century – the ‘Cormorant Fountain’ is a classified historic monument.

Walking along the narrow streets, past crumbling buildings and through sleepy squares to a soundtrack of running water, we arrived at the workshop of Nadine Rogeret. Nadine is one of France’s leading boutis makers – a boutis being a traditional Provençal quilt.

She explained: “Unlike a quilt a boutis is transparent when you hold it up to the light – all you can see are the designs made by the cotton thread. It’s a real labour of love – it can take about three months to design one and up to three years to make a bedspread. The cost reflects this – prices range from €3,000-15,000. The pieces are normally given as wedding presents or for the birth of a baby.”

The art arrived in Provence from Italy in the 16th century and the country’s influence can still be felt as the needles are named after three types of pasta – spaghetti (long), ravioli (square) and vermicelli (curved). Visitors to Nadine’s studio-gallery can learn about the boutis’ history and try sewing one for themselves at one of her workshops, which she gives in English and French.

After a busy day, we headed south to our stop for the night – La Maison sur la Sorgue in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it puce façade on an unremarkable narrow street belies an interior straight out of an upmarket glossy magazine. Owners Marie-Claude and Frédéric have turned an 18th-century townhouse into a stylish b&b, adding modern touches to original features.

Frédéric explained: “The stairway was meticulously restored by specialist stonemasons, Opus Patrimonio. The original staircase handle remains as does the 17th-century blown-glass window with lead inserts and we’ve restored and reused all the original doors.

“We wanted to showcase contemporary arts and crafts here so we’ve put up some colourful hand-made Vernin tiles from nearby Bonnieux, often used in the restoration of historical buildings including the Palais des Papes, in the open-plan kitchen and we occasionally host exhibitions by local artists whose works we sell in our adjoining gallery-shop.”

After a very comfortable night in my king-size four-poster bed, I immersed myself chin-deep in water in the roll-top bath before heading out to the renowned Sunday-morning market. The town, whose industries were once based around Cray fishing, silk and paper, thanks to the River Sorgue, is now France’s second largest antiques centre.

Pushing my way through the hordes, across canals and past now-defunct water wheels, I wandered through the ‘car-boot’ canal-side market before entering the ‘serious’ antiques villages housing more than 300 dealers: African masks, Picasso prints and stone garden statues all had prices to match their reputation.

We had lunch on the shady terrace of Café Fleurs – a melt-in-the-mouth filet mignon of pork on a pillow of bean mash followed by a dessert intriguingly called 3C: layers of white, milk and dark chocolate mousse drizzled with a redcurrant coulis. The contented sighs and quiet ruminating confirmed to me that of all the artists and craftsmen in Provence, the chefs are up there with the best.

ENDS

FACT FILE

GETTING THERE

Rail Europe
Tel: 0844 848 4070
www.raileurope.co.uk

GETTING AROUND

Provence Panorama Tours
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 29 76 05
www.provence-panorama.com

TOURIST INFO

www.provenceguide.com

WHERE TO STAY AND EAT

Ibis Avignon Centre Gare
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 85 38 38
www.ibishotel.com

La Maison sur la Sorgue
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 20 74 86
www.lamaisonsurlasorgue.com

Intramuros
120 rue de la République, Apt
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 06 18 87

Le Café Fleurs
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 20 66 94
www.cafefleurs.com

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Okhra
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 05 66 69
www.okhra.com

Atelier Rigo
98 rue de la République, Apt
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 04 74 66

Kerry Aptunion
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 76 31 31
www.kerryaptunion.com

Nadine Rogeret
Courtepointe
7 place Portalet
Pernes-les-Fontaines
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 20 16 94

Vernin Tiles
Tel: 00 33 (0)4 90 04 63 04
www.carreauxdapt.com

ENDS//