France - Lavender - Flower Between Heaven And Hell (16/151)

France - Lavender - Flower Between Heaven And Hell (16/151)

"The deep purple of the lavender bushes covers the undulating dunes of the soil. Honey trickles beneath the humming of the bees. Peace descends upon the plains. Arcadia is happy." After wandering through the lavender fields Jean Giono, poet and pacifist, used these words to describe his homeland, Provence. It is the world's most important lavender producer - and roaming through its fragrant landscapes is always a delight. Wild lavender grew so profusely on the mountain slopes of Haute-Provence that up to the 19th century it was reaped by peasants and shepherds with sickles in the open countryside and processed there with the aid of portable distilling devices, "alambics", into lavender oil, the "huile essentielle", coveted by perfume industries all over the world. But who knows that originally it was Great Britain that boasted the largest lavender plantations in the world, while for a long time Provence had none at all? Here the first step was made by Protestant families from Haute Provence, from Diosis, who had emigrated to France in the 16th century to escape religious persecution in England. They brought their lavender shoots with them and planted the first fields. The entire southern area of London, now the built-up districts of Sutton, Mitcham and Carshalton were once covered by lavender fields. English lavender oils were once the best in the world.