La Drôme Entre Vercors et Provence | Massifs Alpins et Champs de Lavande | Trésors du Patrimoine

La Drôme Entre Vercors et Provence | Massifs Alpins et Champs de Lavande | Trésors du Patrimoine

With its 600 castles and hilltop villages,
the Drôme tells the story of these great families who have marked the destiny of France.
In the center of the department, the river that gave it its name irrigates a fertile valley, a
mecca of organic farming… To the south, the sun-drenched fields
display the air of Provence… A lesser-known aspect of the department
is its spectacular relief. Geologists from all over the world come to Drôme to study these astonishing landscapes.
Writer and geographer, Bernard Foray-Roux, knows these natural curiosities well…
So here we are turning, we are going to face the Vercors…
We are going to take a south-east direction. These tormented landscapes were formed while
the region was submerged under an immense ocean… You have to imagine that you are underwater, if you
go back 200 million years, you are flying over an immense ocean which goes as far as the
South Pacific, this is what we call the Tétis. Composed of soft rocks, the
limestone massifs were sculpted by water and wind. In some places, erosion has
even flattened the mountaintops. A little further on, it cut the
cliffs into a semicircle. On the southern slope of the Vercors,
here is the Archiane cirque. This Archiane cirque is one of the most beautiful in
France, and it is a place most visited by tourists throughout the year, because it has
this absolutely incredible horseshoe shape. What we observe very clearly is
that in fact, there is the cliff and that the river attacked the cliff, and
which made what we call a retreat…. The flight continues towards
the “Borne lollipops”… These vertical limestone blades form
a succession of natural sculptures. This is really unusual. You feel as if you
are surrounded by gigantic menhirs, you feel as if you are entering a
world that is an imaginary world, a magical world. We can see them very, very well
there on our right, they are magnificent, you can see these stone blades side by side, and
we can clearly see these spaces where the blades have been washed away which are between the tears of stone.
Legend has it that a little child in 1938, walking there with his father, said dad,
dad, look, they look like lollipops… the name stuck, Borne lollipops.
A little further west, our geographer takes us to discover the most astonishing natural phenomenon
in Drôme: the Saoû forest. This stone vessel emerged from the
earth about 85 million years ago. As the earth’s crust shook, it
took the form of an almost hermetic basin. Geologists call this type
of relief a “perched syncline.” So you see this almost perfect oval that
is surrounded by cliffs, they are cliffs of hard limestone. This particular shape
resembles a boat, it is not an image that comes from me, it actually dates back to Louis XV.
At the bow of the ship, “the Three Beaks”, emblematic peaks for all the people of Drôme.
They peak at almost 1600 meters in height. The ridges you see are very tapered,
you must have noticed, they are sometimes even called lips, they are so fine…
Ah it’s really incredible, what joy! Aroun Tazief, the great volcanologist, said of
the Saoû forest that it was one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, and I readily believe him,
because this closed syncline is truly unique in the world. It
is the end of summer, this man is preparing for an
extraordinary harvest in the heart of the Saoû forest. He will collect the seeds of these
giants. The Atlas cedars. Vincent Dousset is part of a
collective of tree climbing enthusiasts , “the treetop travelers”.
Well, you have to be careful to choose your branch carefully, find good support, find balance in the tree. It’s a bit of
a gesture. We are getting closer to dancing. An exotic species, the Atlas cedar was
planted in the Saoû forest at the end of the 19th century. It flowers in September in the form
of green cones. They reach maturity after three years. And that’s where
seed harvesters come in. There you have it, the whole future of the tree is in
a little cone like that, we will find the seeds with their wings which in the logic of
things will be disseminated by nature, so we come to collect them before they
fly away in the wind, to recover this little seed which in a few
years will give rise to trees as big as the one we are in.
The climbers are commissioned by the National Forestry Office.
These trees could reveal great genetic potential for future replantings.
Their seeds are now an object of study. The originality of this seed that we find here
in the Saoû forest is that it has a strong genetic potential for adaptability to the environment. This
means that it will be able to re-establish itself in very dry, very arid environments, but
also to withstand very low temperatures, down to -25° for example.
Vincent and Olivier spend the whole autumn like this, from branch to branch.
It’s a bit of an escape, it’s a place where we forget time somewhere, with my
colleagues we spend days in the trees, we don’t see time passing, we free ourselves from
weightlessness somewhere because we can walk, we are on our ends of branches even
if we have little apprehensions, it’s a bit of sensations that we have at ground level.
It’s always a great moment to arrive there, it’s magical… We often say it’s the
green lung of the Drôme, once again, from this Atlas cedar it’s confirmed with this
breathtaking view of the heart of the Saoû forest, we are very small…
It’s truly magical! A wild nature sanctuary, the
Saoû forest is protected by the department as a “Sensitive Natural Area”.
Emblem of the syncline, the chamois reigns over the rock faces.
With its unique shape, this basin shelters a mosaic of landscapes.
Between Mediterranean scrubland and Alpine meadows: four different environments coexist here!
Today it is a public domain, but for a long time the
Saoû forest was private property. At the beginning of the 20th century, Maurice Burrus, a
tobacco magnate, fell in love with the forest by chance, before buying it in
1924. A true visionary, he dreamed of making it a place for walking open to the public.
To accommodate his wealthiest guests, he built an inn that matched his ambitions…
Built in reinforced concrete, this building is a replica of the Petit Trianon at Versailles!
We are going to see the golden lounge. The Auberge des Dauphins was a place of
unique luxury in the region. It was renowned for its gourmet restaurant. This gem should
soon be restored by the department. So it’s a restaurant that still had 2
macaroons and 3 forks in the Michelin guide, 3 years in a row, so it’s still a cuisine
that was quite refined, quite sophisticated. There were 4 small lounges and
inside there were tables that were arranged, people could eat. And then at the back of
the room in the widest part, there was a piano that was set up there. People
still remember the concerts and music that were given on Sunday afternoons. It is
still a very, very moving memory for them. The atmosphere here must have been extraordinary,
it must have been really sumptuous, and with this setting with the forest through
the windows, it must have been magnificent. For around ten years, the Auberge
des Dauphins enjoyed a period of great prosperity. The entire
local bourgeoisie goes there by car on Sundays. Pétanque competitions are also organised there
and memorable balls are held on the roof terrace …
A sumptuous atmosphere which still permeates the place…
I am fascinated by this place, and I think it is a stroke of luck that it has
remained in its current state, as it was built in the 1930s, and now to be able to
enhance it, hoping to be able to keep this spirit, the spirit of the place, because there is really
something which emerges from this building, all this life which it had at the time, we hope to be able to
retranslate it for the opening of the Auberge. Abandoned after the death of Maurice Burrus in
1959, the building gradually deteriorated. Traces of its refined decorations
remain under the dust. Upstairs, there was a second
reception room for a less wealthy public… There were tables lined up
throughout the space, wooden tables , 1930s style, and a few chandeliers
hanging from the ceiling. What is interesting in this room are
the openings which give onto the outside with this alternation of windows, both with the
semicircular arch and then these ovoid windows which have a completely original shape. We hope to
restore them so that they can be preserved. Witness to one man’s dream, the building,
once restored, will be open to the public. To the east of the Saoû forest, the
Drôme valley crosses the Diois region. At the foot of the Vercors mountains, this
region extends around the town of Die. At the heart of this rural territory, the small village
of Sainte Croix, perched on its rocky spur. It houses an ancient monastery,
built in the early 12th century. The building was occupied for a long time by
the Antonines, an order of hospitaller monks. Is there any tea left? It’s necessary to
pump it, it’s like the shadocks… The building was taken over in 2011
by local residents, to make it a place to welcome groups.
It’s nice to bring a place steeped in history to life. The building dates back to 1104, so
a lot of things have happened here… and what’s more, we’re following in the footsteps of the monks who were
here at the time were hospital monks, they were already people who cared about
others, and about welcoming others… it’s going in the same direction.
After taking over the monastery, the new team decided to rehabilitate one
of its jewels: the old monks’ garden. They entrusted this task to
Grégori Lemoine, an ethnobotanist. Its objective: to make it a showcase
of the Antonins’ expertise in herbalism.
It was a challenge for me to decide which plant to choose to be able to show
to people, to transmit to people… with this constraint of trying to include plants from
the Middle Ages, which is a positive constraint. So it was a good exercise in
style for me, to do some library research on this and also on the order of the
Antonines and the medicinal plants that could be used at the time. A monastery
without a garden loses much of its meaning, it loses much of its interest.
The Antonines possessed a great deal of knowledge about the virtues of plants…
At Sainte Croix, they used these herbs to treat a very particular illness, “Saint Anthony’s fire
“, or ergotism, a recurring scourge in the Middle Ages. This condition was caused by the ingestion
of a fungus that infects rye. Like leprosy, it could cause
the limbs of the sick to fall off. Among these healing plants:
yarrow. In its name, we see “millefeuille
“, it has very cut, compound leaves, and Achille in reference to Achilles, the
Greek demigod who used it to heal his soldiers. And then it was used especially
in the gangrenous form of ergotism. The dosage was to make a decoction
of yarrow leaves which was mixed with barley or spelt flour to apply
as a plaster to aching limbs. This morning is interview day
with the association’s volunteers. Among them are residents of Sainte Croix,
who regularly come to lend a hand. The monastery garden has thus
become an important place of life in the village. You see the stems at the bottom at the limit you can
remove some to make it a little neater, but just the edge, to avoid it spreading
too much…so that it regains a little verticality. The ideal would be that
the people of Sainte Croix, the people of the Quint valley, could actually feel that
this garden is part of their heritage, without putting a capital P, in any case as a tool
that is at their disposal to walk around and see pretty flowers, but also to learn
about plants, that seems very important to me. As soon as the monastery reopened, the new
team also began restoration work on the building. Frédéric Sauvage,
one of the site managers, is supervising a first construction site in the basement of the building.
So there, we go down into the cellars of the monastery. These cellars were essentially
from the time of the Antonines, they were the cellars which served as accommodation for horses and
storage for plants and other materials, and so here we have a future performance hall.
The renovation work is carried out only with natural materials, such as these pigments.
We have natural Amber Earth, which is what it looks like, then we have yellow ochres, which we
find quite a lot in Provence. For the coatings, wood shavings, recovered
from a local sawmill. And clay, collected in the mountains of the region.
The objective is to minimize the impact of the construction site on the environment.
We are in a place where they already used materials from the earth and so I think we
must perpetuate this tradition, not do anything in terms of renovation. The earth
is there to provide things, so it makes sense for us and it makes sense for
future generations. For us it’s obvious! These natural coatings are worked
using ancestral methods. For the workforce, the monastery team
called on the local Greta, a structure that trains young adults in reintegration.
So here we are going to go to the monks’ garden, which is located on the south facade of the monastery.
So we called it the monks’ garden because it was probably a place that was used
by the Antonines, at the time probably for market gardening, it is a
hanging garden, which dominates the Drôme valley with the Drôme river which is below.
At the rear of the building, a second renovation project is underway.
The apprentices prepare the facade before coating it with lime.
The aim is to prevent water infiltration that could damage the 12th century stone vaults
, the oldest remains of the monastery. Our goal is for it to truly become
a territorial tool, for it to be full of life and dynamism. It would only be a hotel, it would be
something that we wouldn’t have much interest in, and there you go… seeing
that we say to ourselves we are participating in our small way in saving a building like
that which belongs to everyone, both to the inhabitants of the village and to the territory.
The next day, Frédéric Sauvage went on a tour of the monastery’s suppliers
to stock up on fresh produce. No need to go far:
the nearby Quint Valley is home to around twenty farms.
Most are organic or sustainably farmed. Like the Quint valley, an entire
department is showing its conversion to organic farming. Drôme
is today the national champion, with almost 17% of the area cultivated
organically, compared to 4% for the whole of France. Sainte Croix is ​​the entrance to the Quint valley,
which is the gateway to the Vercors park, and therefore it is a landlocked valley, a valley
which is around twenty km deep and which supplies 4 villages.
What attracts me is this natural side where there is no urban development or
large structures, we are still in a rural environment. As I often said to my children,
when we open the door to our house we are lucky to have a huge garden!
Frédéric knows this valley well; he decided to live there with his wife 20 years ago.
Like him, since the 1970s, around thirty families have chosen this
place to settle in the heart of nature, away from the city.
Frédéric finds his goat cheese producer. Jochen Haun, a
German, settled in the Quint Valley with his partner in the 1980s.
Two more please! For these “neo-rurals”, the development of
the valley rhymes with the defense of good food! The cereals that are stored up there
in three silos are cereals that we grow ourselves, in a rotation
with alfalfa and clover, and then the care of the goats is done based on homeopathy
or naturopathy. And it’s the same at the cheese dairy , there are specifications that
define all the products that can be used. It’s good to come and see firsthand the
work he does, with the products that Jochen puts on the tables of the monastery.
It’s direct. It’s 2-3 km of transport, it’s
a short circuit, it’s coherent. It shows the love he
has for his animals. Jochen produces organic Picodon, the
traditional goat’s cheese from Drôme. It’s about to become Picodon, but here
it’s only a week old, here it’s the same cheese but two and a half months later, so
here it’s blue, like a Picodon should be, and it’s aged for at least two weeks.
It’s a cheese that’s been very successful, because it’s good, it’s really known for being very,
very good, we see at the monastery, people love it. They see clearly that it is not an
industrial product, it is a local product. The arrival of these young farmers has helped to
slow the desertification of the Quint valley. Hit hard by the rural exodus, the
valley and its four villages are gradually coming back to life. In fact, when we arrived, many people
told us, oh really, you live in Saint Germain en Quint, but it’s a lost place at the end of the
world, you’re going to be bored. And little by little, the valley began to become more dynamic, there were
a lot of young people who settled there who came with children, the school when we
arrived, I think there were 5 or 6 children, there are about twenty I think now in
Saint Julien for example. So there you have it, it’s a renewal, and so there’s a permanent movement.
Every Thursday in summer, Sainte Croix is the meeting place for organic producers from Diois.
Around thirty of them come regularly to discuss their products.
At the origin of this market, two farmers from the Quint valley, who distill
essential oils, the old-fashioned way. Not only are we bringing together producers,
we are also going to bring together different people at the public level, people from the region,
locals, “neo” people, tourists, and we really wanted to be able to
take the time with the customer, to be able to tell not only what the product we sell
is but also how we work, and that was really important for us.
We remain quite convinced that if we want to change things, if we want to imagine lives
differently, well, it’s up to several people. The more the merrier, that’s really it!
Having lived in the Quint valley for 5 years, Florence and Nathalie cultivate
their own aromatic and medicinal plants, using 100% natural methods.
We truly cultivate with respect for the land and the beings
who inhabit it. Already zero pesticides, zero chemicals, we treat
our plants with plants. I think that if we want the earth
to remain nourishing, it is important to continue to be with it and to continue to
nourish it too and then to be in this rightness. In the evening, the Sainte Croix market
transforms into an open-air canteen. On the menu: organic dishes prepared with
fresh produce from exhibitors. For us it’s a great time, it brings
the village square to life, for us it’s a success, and then we feel the people are happy,
content, and then the producers meet there, people come for that, they know they
find producers with quality products, I think everyone
wins and it’s a great atmosphere. On board this plane, Anne-Marie
Clappier, the architect who is responsible for the restoration of the Auberge des Dauphins.
We can clearly see the confluence of the Isère and the Rhône… At his side, Chrystèle Burgard,
chief curator of heritage in Drôme. On a mission for the department, they will fly over
the region’s emblematic castles. The flight starts about fifty
kilometers north of Valencia. This is the Albon Tower,
considered the cradle of Dauphiné. It was from this castle, built between the
10th and 13th centuries, that the lords of Albon established this powerful principality. At its
peak in the 15th century, it brought together parts of Drôme, Isère and Hautes Alpes.
Today it seems like a small site in terms of its size, you really have to
imagine that at the foot of the tower there was also a palace and a chapel…. There, we see her clearly
with her heart and then just at the foot of the tower, so this large rectangular building
which was a palace of these lords. Most of these castles date back to
the year 1000. At that time, the Drôme was attached to the Holy Roman Empire,
but power belonged to the local lords. The lords will take more and more
power in the face of the royal power which is rather deficient, and there is really an outbreak
of mottes-castles, dungeons, and more important castles. Today we can
inventory nearly 600 castles in the Drôme. We really feel that the Drôme was truly a
land of the emergence of some quite formidable castles. The flight continues to the south of the
department, in Drôme Provençale. Among the lords who fought over this territory
in the Middle Ages: the family of the princes of Orange. Their stronghold: the fortified castle of Suze la
Rousse, which they had built in the 12th century. Surrounded by forests, it overlooks
the small village of Suze. We really understand its position at the end of the
promontory, there too which dominates the small valley, and it is really at the very end of the Garenne,
this forest where the lords hunted rabbits. With its crenellated towers and
machicolations, the old medieval fortress is almost intact.
In the 16th century, it became a pleasure residence.
A courtyard of honor, typical of the French Renaissance, was
then built inside the castle. What is astonishing is this contrast
between a very fortified exterior and the interior of this very subtle courtyard,
truly with very fine architecture. A small detail that I find very
amusing is that in the castle, we still find the door of last resort,
which is located at the foot of one of the towers and through which the inhabitants
of the old village could enter if there was danger. They came to take refuge in the
castle tower… I find that very, very moving. Another family that has left its mark on the history
of Drôme Provençale: the Adhémars. One of the first castles they had
built was in Montélimar, on the left bank of the Rhône. A contraction
of “Mont des Adhémar”, the town developed at the foot of this medieval palace.
Protected by a fortified wall, it houses a stately home, a keep and a chapel.
We can clearly see the west facade of the main building , which is very interesting because there is a
monumental porch, which served to convey the importance of the Adhémar family. Facade
which is also decorated with colonnaded windows. It is a castle that has
not been redeveloped since, which has remained in its original state; it is truly
a testament to medieval architecture. In addition to the castle of Montélimar, the Adhémars
owned up to eleven strongholds in the Drôme. A few kilometers away, here is
another of their strongholds. Perched on its hill, old
Allan overlooks the Rhône valley. Founded in the 12th century, it existed for
700 years, before its inhabitants moved to the foot of the hill.
An association is now fighting to save the old village. It
has around twenty active members. And this morning is clearing day.
Since the departure of the last inhabitant in 1902, the site has been completely abandoned.
* Is this a ghost town? * It gives that impression, but
who knows how to lean over it and linger and who reads the walls, the walls are
real history books and will reveal to you the life that existed and after a
while you feel that, there is a soul, it is not a ghost town, at least not for me!
The village church is the last building to be relocated.
Engraved in the stone, traces of its former parishioners…
I found inscriptions there… lifting a stone, I see Chanon 1914 and even before
1890… when I told you that this village had a soul, you see!
They left their mark… Up to 700 people lived within these walls.
Among them were notables who guarded the stronghold on behalf of the Adhémar.
And this is probably their former home… It is thought that perhaps the
Allan family, who later gave their name to the village, lived here. We call it the
Knights’ House, but in fact it’s more of a bourgeois house. It is the only one that still has
an authentic window. Look up there! Like most of the volunteers, Martine
Blanc has ancestors who lived here… Here too, it’s funny, there’s the
alley that led to the bistro, the women went to church and the men
went to the bistro over there at the end of the alley! I will take you to where my ancestors lived
; So here, the houses were stuck against this rampart here and then here on this side. I
think I should make it my duty to clear the brush from my ancestral home, because
I see that it has grown well. I imagine one of my great-great-grandmothers
at this window looking at the landscape… I am always very moved here. I really have
respect for all the work. They suffered, they worked, they had
children, they lost children. I can’t help but think in these alleys of all
those who lived here in this old village. The association’s ambition is
not to completely rebuild the village, but to maintain and
consolidate the existing ruins… I fell in love with the village a
few years ago, coming with friends, as we say when I was young,… and when I saw that
I had a little more time, still as much in love with the village, well, I said to myself I’m
going to participate in the renovation. And then I love it, I like it, I live there, the stones speak,
when I am here, I am very very well! It’s great, I see that many people
are there, and then they themselves get into the game, I see that they discover a house, a window.
Obviously when you discover this, you discover life, it no longer has the same impact,
it is no longer a ruin, it is a place of life. See you all next time. And we raise our glasses
to the old village and to all our ancestors. (…Bravo Martine…)
On her way to the castle of Grignan, Chrystèle Burgard passes
at the foot of another Adhémar fiefdom. We pass through La Garde Adhémar, which is
a hilltop village and which therefore belonged to the Adhémar family and which has
a Renaissance period castle. The lords were trying to really
dominate the Rhone valley, and there was also a somewhat
defensive aspect to it, because they also had to protect themselves from the other lords of Drôme Provençale.
Grignan Castle is the jewel of the Adhémar family and is now the property of the department.
Masters of the place since the 12th century, these lords gradually transformed the old
military fortress into a ceremonial castle. In the 16th century, it was given a sumptuous
façade, typical of the French Renaissance. A century later, the Marquise de
Sévigné stayed there several times, when the castle was at its peak. Thanks to her, he still enjoys
great fame today. So here we are in the courtyard of the
well which bears witness to different periods of construction of the castle.
In this part we were really in the oldest part, we must imagine
in the 12th century in any case a fortified castle with dungeons, very defensive, and little by little the lords
will enlarge, modernize the castle, in particular this beautiful Renaissance gallery, to
really create a more comfortable habitable dwelling. After the Revolution, the castle
gradually fell into ruin. Successive looting
then destroyed its splendor. At the beginning of the 20th century, the building
was saved by Marie Fontaine, a wealthy widow from the Parisian upper middle class
. This is the beginning of a new era. When Marie Fontaine bought the castle in
1912, one must imagine the courtyard of the well in ruins, at least for the
upper third. The roof was dismantled, as well as the upper level
of this facade. So Marie Fontaine’s big project will be to rebuild these
facades, from the remains still in place. A woman of defiance, Marie Fontaine decided to devote
her entire fortune to the reconstruction of the castle. The work began in 1913 and lasted 12 years.
Overshadowed by the fame of the Marquise de Sévigné, this providential woman was
long forgotten. Today we are rediscovering his colossal work, to which
the curators want to pay homage. We would have the bed in the center, so the
crucifix above. We also see… Thanks to photos taken in the
1920s, they try to reconstruct Marie Fontaine’s private apartments.
They could very well be restored after restoration.
Chrystèle Burgard So this one would rather come in the corner…
The walls and the trumeau from the period have already been restored.
Marie Fontaine eminently wanted a fairly light decor for her room, a
neo-classical style, rather feminine. The use she has of it, it must be understood, is a
use linked to relaxation since she arranges part of her room into a small living room, there you have it, it is
an apartment in which beyond the night, she will spend time for herself.
We feel that she really wants to be in line with the spirit of the castle, and that speaks to
the tastes of a society and especially of the upper middle class who have more of a look towards the past,
rather than saying to themselves that they are in the 20th century. Neo-Gothic motifs, neo-Renaissance ceilings,
monumental fireplaces: Marie Fontaine called upon local artisans to decorate
the château. In the Galerie des Adhémar, she had a sumptuous walnut paneling carved.
So, here we enter Marie Fontaine’s living room , a living room that opens onto the landscape,
and we have to imagine the French window that opens onto the balcony and the terraces of the castle… The
main challenge already taken up by the curators : reconstructing the wallpaper of the period.
To do this, we worked with an artisan, who reprints using
old 18th century techniques, from wallpaper to board. And this is the
slightly crazy project that was carried out here, that is to say that from these photos, he was
able to reconstruct the patterns of the wallpaper. We are like friends of Marie Fontaine,
we imagine how she lived. It’s also important to immerse yourself. And it’s
quite exciting to project and try to give this way of life back to the public.
At the foot of the castle, the village of Grignan. Taking advantage of the prosperity of the Adhémar, it was
built all around the old stronghold. To enhance the medieval village, an
extraordinary collection of old roses has been planted. In total, 400 rose bushes of more than
150 varieties adorn its stone walls. They are maintained by an
association of village residents. It’s a living picture in every place, for
me it’s really the vegetation that goes best with the ramparts, with the stones…
It’s a beautiful marriage all the same, eh? Most of these roses are
pre-20th century varieties. Like this one, which was part of the collection of
Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais. These are rose bushes that were created
before 1914. In fact, after 1914, there were many rose bushes that disappeared,
because during the Great War, unfortunately, the breeders also disappeared, a bit like
other people, and there were many rose growers who died, and therefore rose bushes that were
lost, collections not maintained… The collection of old roses from
Grignan extends to the foot of the castle. Rose bushes with very particular shapes.
When you buy a bouquet of roses, the flower is straight on a
well-erect stem with a pointed bud, whereas in the old rose you have a bud that is
going to be round, and a drooping shape, and that is what gives it all its grace, all its voluptuousness,
all its qualities that we love, I think. The Grignan collection includes
a new species of rose, recently planted by the association.
This is the rosebush we named last week, it was dedicated to Marie Fontaine.
It’s called “For the Love of a Castle”, because to buy a castle at the age of 57, in 1912,
as a woman, oh well, forgive me, you had to have a lot of courage! So I think we
owed him a rose anyway! Come on, look carefully, the emotions
start now! Here we go! Krystell Michel, engineer, takes off
for an inspection mission above the Drôme River.
Is it all good for you? Yes, I’m fine!
Its objective: to check the good ecological state of the watercourse. Do
you see the confluence of the two rivers? We’re heading straight for it…
Before flowing into the Rhône, the Drôme River runs for around a hundred kilometers from east to west
. Its route practically cuts the department in two halves.
So here we are in the alluvial plain of the Drôme, so we left from the confluence with the
Rhône and there we go back up towards the east…. And there we actually arrive at an emblematic site
of the Drôme river, which is the Ramières nature reserve , it is one of the 20
river nature reserves in France. The Ramières reserve was created in 1987.
It stretches for nearly 10 kilometers along the river.
We are still on this remarkable site with a relatively large alluvial forest.
It is completely preserved, which is not the case further upstream, as we will see.
Wow, things are moving! The Drôme is one of the last
rivers in Europe without a dam. It is also one of the last so-called “
braided”. These watercourses are characterized by an interlacing of channels,
separated by pebble banks. In recent years, the river bed has
tended to sink and narrow, leading to the disappearance of these famous “braids”.
It’s true that here we see the braided river disappearing in favor of a
straight section, we lose a little of the diversity of the river landscapes that we love in Drôme!
The causes of this phenomenon are numerous. In particular, there is the extraction of materials for
individual construction and for public works. There is also the stabilization
of the banks, particularly in places where man is very present with an
aging forest, so this has quite harmful consequences, particularly for certain populations.
Fewer spawning grounds for fish, trees that can no longer hydrate themselves, bridges
that are becoming fragile. The damage is dramatic. To slow this movement, scientists
carried out an experiment on a section of the river, upstream, in the Diois region.
*Do you feel the air much fresher there? We are at 3500 feet!
* Yes… We are really in a pre-alpine area… superb!
The study site was located just downstream of the “Claps jump”, a
spectacular rockfall that occurred in 1442. An entire section of the mountainside
then fell away and landed in the river. Gigantic blocks of stone blocked the
stream until 1804, when a tunnel was dug to allow the water to flow out.
Thanks to this ULM, Krystell Michel takes a series of photographs of the
site set up by the scientists every year. I’m going to start shooting
On this 400 meter stretch, they had the idea of ​​reinjecting
pebbles along the banks of the river. As soon as there is a major flood,
which we have been expecting since 2005, everything will clear quite quickly.
Thanks to this contribution of pebbles, scientists hope to slow the subsidence of the
Drôme so that it retains its unique morphology. A typical river of the pre-Alps, it has
its source in the south of the Vercors massif. At the beginning of its course, in the Diois,
it still has a wild character… It is a torrential river, fed by
mountains all around us in the cirque, it is clear that there is some broth, as they say,
that is what is funny… The pleasure is when it moves a little, when there are some
eddies, like there, we are going to turn around. Jérôme Vincent is a winegrower in Barsac,
a small town on the banks of the Drôme. This local boy knows the river
by heart. It’s the atmosphere, the scenery, the swimming, the freshness,
and then it’s peaceful, I love it. This morning, he is taking friends to
explore this waterway, which is canoeable almost all year round
and almost entirely. In front of us we have the small mountain of
Papichon as we call it at home, it is the large bank that the Drôme river makes going
up this valley, and there we are at the place where the Drôme hits the rock, we
see it has been crumbling for thousands of years, and there we are going to find ourselves at 90 degrees to take
the axis with new views of the mountains. In Diois, the Drôme river is bordered
by fields of vines as far as the eye can see. This is the kingdom of Clairette de Die.
This sparkling white wine is the local flagship. Culminating at an altitude of 700 meters, its
vineyard is one of the highest in France. In Jérôme’s family, we have been
producing clairette from father to son. Here we typically find the
hillside vines of Clairette de Die, with the Muscat grape variety in particular which expresses itself well
in this type of terroir. Here we are on sandstone, in particular. We are at the heart of the appellation.
Economically, it is one of the lungs of our valley, that’s for sure… for the jobs it
provides and the farms it supports. According to legend, this wine has been
cultivated in the region for 2000 years. In Roman times,
a jar filled with muscat grapes was found in a stream in winter , and
after several months of fermentation they found a slightly sparkling wine, and this
legend gave rise to the Clairette de Die. At the end of the day, Jérôme takes his
friends to one of the streams that feed the Drôme… A place known only to those in the know.
Here we are at the Pontaix waterfalls, it’s not very well known, that’s what’s nice too, we are a
few hundred meters from the Drôme river, everyone passes by, it’s one of the
little curiosities of our region, we love it! The next day,
our winemaker takes his friends to the heart of his estate. Around ten hectares of vines, on
hillsides, on the banks of the Drôme. There we arrive at a plot which is behind
me, which represents 3 hectares of vines, so there we have 2 hectares of muscat grape variety on
this right side, and all around the cabin, we have the clairette grape variety, a complementary grape variety
for the production of clairette de Die. It’s pride, and above all it’s because we’ve
managed to be here three generations later, the estate is in place, it’s working, we’re living
off our production and we have hope for the future…everything’s going well.
In the middle of the estate, a vineyard shed, inherited from the grandfather.
This shelter was used for resting the draft horses and for the workers to eat.
It is all built with local materials. The stones you see are
stream stones that are found on either side of my plot. They came there to
spend the day and maybe sleep there and be there on the spot, even stay one or two
days of work. It was optimized. In the Diois region, this heritage has been
particularly well preserved: there are more than 300
vineyard huts in the canton of Die alone! Jérôme Vincent’s remained as is.
Here we will see the main room of the cabin… where the farmers who
came to work came to eat… there you see, it’s a cramped room, it’s true, but you have to imagine
that it’s cold then, in winter, especially, for the size. We have just enough space
to eat the snack. The window… well, if you want, take a look at the view we have
from this little cabin… we have the three spouts, and the Drôme flowing below, with the estate
that we can just make out in the corner over there and it’s always a great moment here.
Hop! This is 100% muscat, we’re going to enjoy a little cake
Cheers, cheers, cheers… Fabien Lombard has also been a producer of
clairette for several generations. I like to have traces of the past that
remind us of the hard work of our ancestors. But ultimately we are perpetuating the tradition
and we are still here in this vineyard and Jérôme proves to us with this wine that he has not
lost his touch and it produces very good wines. Gateway to the Drôme Valley, the town
of Crest is famous for its medieval tower. Culminating at 52 meters, it is
the highest dungeon in France! A symbol of the country’s history, the
Crest Tower served as a prison for the Huguenots during the Wars of Religion.
To climb the tower, there is a staircase carved into the rock.
It is a large 12th century staircase, with 125 steps, 95 of which are carved directly into the limestone ridge.
It should be noted that Crest was built on a limestone ridge, hence its name. The handrail
is also cut directly from the block. Johannes Melsen, passionate about the history of the
Huguenots of the Drôme, takes us to discover what is nicknamed “the Bastille of the south”…
Here, one of the darkest pages in the history of the region took place for a century. It
all began at the end of the 16th century. Following the development of the Reformation in France, the Edict
of Nantes granted the right of worship to Protestants in 1598. But a century later,
Louis XIV revoked this edict of tolerance. This is the beginning of the persecutions against the Huguenots.
Protestants no longer had the right to anything and only had to abjure and become Catholics. Those
who didn’t want that, they left. We are talking about a range between 200,000 and 300,000
people for the whole of France, and between 25,000 and 30,000 for Dauphiné, the region we are talking about here.
Those who leave or those who continue to practice their religion risk death
or being sent to the galleys. A number of them are being held here, in the
Crest Tower, awaiting trial… The walls of the dungeon have kept
traces of the passage of these prisoners… Like these “graffiti” recalling
the persecutions inflicted by the king’s soldiers. Or the surnames
of incarcerated Protestants. To commemorate this history, a
hiking trail was created 5 years ago. It follows the path of exile taken in the 17th
century by the Huguenots of Dauphiné, fleeing to Germany or Switzerland. This trail starts here, in
Poët-Laval, in Drôme Provençale. Perched on its promontory, the fortified city
was won over to the reform in the 16th century. At that time, it was one of the high
places of Protestantism in Drôme. Johannes Melsen is in charge of the
French part of the trail. In the heart of the old medieval town, it
takes us to one of the rare temples from this period to have escaped destruction.
After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, most of the Protestant buildings were dismantled
by the soldiers of Louis XIV. This one was spared because it was also the village’s common house.
Like most Protestant churches, it is designed so that the congregation is
arranged in a semicircle around the pulpit. Everywhere, there is a great simplicity.
J It was the very basis of this new approach
to Protestantism, to remain sober and to leave behind all this wealth and all
these frills which belonged to the popes, which belonged to Avignon, so suddenly, the
most sober thing was the only one which could be done, which could be envisaged.
In the temple, objects recall the so-called “desert” period, in reference
to the Hebrews’ crossing of the desert. At that time, services had to be held
clandestinely, away from the cities. It is done at night, a number of things are
important, we know that the small bibles, which we call bun bibles, because
the ladies hid them in their buns and that allowed them to have them with them without taking too much
risk of being caught by the authorities. Afterwards, the cups are also
cut into three pieces and three different people bring the cup to the
place of worship. As it is night, small lamps that allow you to see without being seen…
The fortified village of Poët Laval developed around its commandery,
built by the hospitaller monks of the order of Saint John of Jerusalem.
Today, it has around twenty residents, who keep the memory of the place alive.
You have a dungeon which dates from the end of the 12th century, beginning of the 13th century, as well as the chapel
which is in front of you, which dates from this period, and in the 16th century a main building was built.
So we enter the chapel which is dedicated to Saint John. I would say that the roof collapsed
in the 1930s. It’s a bit of a magical place for us… we decided to leave it
as it was, not to have rebuilt the roof, which gives it a certain allure…
You have a door above, which was the commander’s access door;
in case of danger, he could quickly return and take refuge inside the ramparts.
The old commandery was restored in 1996. At the summit, an unusual place, which has remained
unchanged since the 16th century. This is one of the most beautiful dovecotes in
Provence, I would even say the most beautiful. And here you have around 800 pigeon nests.
800 pigeons is also pigeon droppings, and it was the only fertilizer at the time, and we
know that with 800 pigeons, I calculated roughly what it fed in terms of arable land area
, it feeds practically 300 hectares, so we assume that the Hospitallers
owned 300 hectares, so that also measured the wealth of the Hospitallers.
After several centuries of slow decline, the old town fell into ruin.
It was gradually rebuilt in the 1960s, at the initiative of passionate residents.
Today, it is one of the 100 most beautiful villages in France.
What I liked about this village is that it is very present in the mineral,
in the very restored mineral, that there are always little corners of disorder, and that
the vegetation is very present. The stone is not necessarily stacked according to the rules of the game, because otherwise
we would end up in a museum village. Here in this village there is a museum and then there is the
village. And then the village lives, with a small number of inhabitants, but it really lives!
After Poët Laval, the Huguenot trail passes through the region of Bourdeaux,
still in Drôme Provençale. Another of the high places of Protestantism in Drôme.
This morning, some locals decided to hike this path with donkeys.
At the head of the small troop, Edith Maurin. This mountain guide has developed a
passion for the history of the Huguenots, which she now shares with hikers
following in the footsteps of these exiles. We can easily imagine that the Protestants
in exile travelled exactly like us, except that they did not want to be
seen, so we can easily imagine that they travelled at night,
and that they just had a bundle and their pilgrim’s staff, obviously.
We’re going to tie up the donkeys, yes… First stop at the “cow wood”.
Here “desert cults” were held. These clandestine services could bring together
up to several hundred people. This is where the preaching was done, this is where
the preachers stood, and when you are here, it is still grandiose… add to that… if
you put yourself in the shoes of a Protestant, it is secret, it is night, and deep down a
single voice that carries and goes to the ears of the donkeys… and the Huguenots. It seems
almost like a temple made by nature, without
the hand of man, made for that purpose. I find this
somewhat collective feeling of finding ourselves hidden together extremely moving… I have the impression when I
am in places like these, of putting my little feet in those of the
big ones, in the footsteps of the Huguenots… in the footsteps, yes, that’s exactly it!
The Huguenot Trail connects Drôme to northern Germany, passing through Switzerland.
A route 1,800 kilometers long. He feels there’s chocolate
waiting for him, it’s his dessert for him… don’t you feel like we’re going to eat there!
The opportunity to enjoy the panorama, while walking on the peddlers’ paths, the old
Roman roads, or the transhumance paths. Landscapes where
traces of Protestant history can be seen. When you look at the landscape, you see that
it is pleated in all directions. We are here in a landscape, tormented and tortuous,
where it is easy to go and hide, to find sufficiently isolated places,
and we can completely understand that the reform has made its nest here, thanks to this
terrain, this geology, which has favored it. New stop at Saint-André Castle.
Built at the end of the 15th century, it belonged to a Protestant lord. At the beginning of
the Wars of Religion, Calvin stopped here. Calvin came here in 1562-63. Calvin
who was the bearer of the ideas of the Reformation, of Protestant ideas.
He came here to calm things down between Protestants and Catholics, there had already been many
deaths, it was quite bloody, and he would have celebrated the Last Supper inside the castle.
The hike ends in the village of Bourdeaux. At the summit, the ruins of its two
castles, dating from the 14th century. At their feet, “la viale”, the
medieval quarter, with its small stone streets. We’ll try to go unnoticed… Magnificent…
there’s even one who asked me to accompany the bride to the church!
Bordeaux is a former Protestant village. In the 16th century, 300 families
lived here. Of the 300 families, only three or four are Catholic.
Like many villages in the area. What I like about this village is these small
streets, everything is still almost in good condition; You can’t see that it’s been renovated, it’s still accessible
to everyone, and it’s very little known. When the Edict of Nantes was revoked, some of
the Protestants of Bordeaux left the village. Here and there, there are still traces
of their presence, such as this house, which belonged to a Protestant lord of the region…
It is the history of the people and it is timeless. Almost everyone has someone in their family who
arrived here after exile. This is the case with me. Not necessarily for
religious reasons, but it is still something that affects many people, being
forced to leave and adapt to something else. This is deep human history.
There we are, at the top of the village or almost at the top with a great view, still the
three peaks, the Veillou over there, Couspeau, the whole Couspeau chain and even Angels which
comes out and the whole village of Bourdeaux. I find the landscape truly magnificent,
it’s magnificent… it combines this harshness, the slightly stony side and then the side where we can still see
the mark of man, the fields, the crops… To the east of the Drôme
stands the Vercors massif. Climatic border between the
northern Alps and the southern Alps, the Col de Rousset constitutes one of the
rare accesses to this limestone fortress. To get there, a spectacular winding road
was dug in the 19th century. We are on the road that will lead to the Col de
Rousset, which starts from Die, 400m altitude to arrive at 1200 meters altitude at the Col
de Rousset, so 800 meters of altitude difference in an absolutely magnificent setting, with the
cliffs of Vercors overlooking us. Alain Lecoq is passionate about motorcycles.  A
former director of the Vercors resorts, he knows this legendary route by heart. He
travels it regularly with his wife. This road was built in 1866. At
the time, the project was to open up the Vercors, of course, but it was also to
encourage trade between Diois, with agricultural products, particularly wine,
and then Royan with wood and other products. It has allowed for a fabulous economic boom
, it has been absolutely beneficial. Here it is… this is the moment when we start to
have even more views of the valley, and the spectacle will be even more magnificent.
This dizzying route was designed in a
natural gap in the Vercors massif. It partly follows the old
muleteer path which for centuries linked the plateau to the Drôme valley. With its
hairpin bends and twists, this road is a paradise for
two-wheel enthusiasts and thrill seekers. There are flip flaps as we say on a
motorbike, right to left, right to left,… Come on, a flip flap there, come on!
Turning on a motorbike is absolute pleasure, at least as far as I’m concerned, you play with
your body, and it’s a feeling of freedom. There we are, here we arrive at the viewpoint, THE
viewpoint, where everyone stops… That’s the reward there, there’s everything…
the viewpoint, the contrasts… There we dominate the whole Drôme valley, we can
clearly see this valley which has been dug out over the years, and in Diois there are always
these little hillocks which are always very wooded. What I love is this space and the sun and
the blue sky and the mountain, summer, we make the most of it. Everything is good!
Yes, it was love at first sight, but it was permanent love at first sight for us!
This calm, this immensity, there are wonderful sensations here.
More than 60% of the Vercors is covered by forest.
Green gold for the inhabitants of the plateau. Thanks to the opening up of the massif, the wood
could be brought down in better conditions. The entire economy of the country has benefited
from this boom… as evidenced by the Faravellon family’s hotel-restaurant.
A local institution, dating back to 1848. The history of the inn is intertwined with that of the
roads which transformed the destiny of the Vercors. At the helm, Jackie Faravellon… It all
began when his ancestors bought an old farm to accommodate those
who brought down the logs. This is the photo that comes after,
with the wood heating method, after the facades have been made. And
then it was probably July 14, 1914. My grandmother used to
put up the flags and display the flags. There you have a bit of the country’s economy in this
photo: you have tourism starting up, and you have the wood carts going down.
For half a century, dozens of men took turns building these
access roads to the Vercors. There you have almost all the
technical means of the time: that is to say you have the men of course, the
block wheelbarrow, the backfill wheelbarrow… Here you have the hole drillers in the rock with the
crowbar. Here is one too, there is a passage with two planks because there are no
retaining walls yet. The security conditions, you see, were relatively
simple, but anyway, it was done. They were brave, they were content with
little, and I think their physical health must have taken a hit.
Because handling blocks like that, no crane, nothing at all…cement, the
guys couldn’t have gotten very old. It is also the ingenuity of these people of the time
who, with rudimentary means compared to what we have today, managed to
do this! Just the idea, where are we going to go? They were in front of some
cliffs. They knew the starting point, they knew the finishing point and they had to
make history… For me, it’s fabulous. Come on, let’s go. See you
soon, thank you very much. At the foot of the inn, Alain Lecoq
introduces us to another of his classics. The road to Combe Laval, which leads to the
Royan valley, on the other side of the Vercors. Opened in 1894, it is renowned for its
daring layout, carved into the cliffside. It’s extremely spectacular, there
are sheer cliffs, I think there ‘s 600 or 700m of drop there below our feet. You
have to keep your eyes open and not get upset because you really feel like you
‘re above the void the whole time. From the moment they were built, these “vertigo roads
” became tourist attractions. On Sundays, the bourgeoisie on a spree
enjoy the thrill of walking these few kilometers.
Even today, people come to marvel at the
prowess of yesterday’s builders. This part of Combe Laval is the most
spectacular, it is a succession of rocks, overhangs, small tunnels, it is
really the most spectacular portion where everyone stops, where everyone
takes photos. One can imagine the difficulty of the construction. There are still a few
passages where you go through the rocks, it was done by hand and with dynamite,
it’s absolutely fabulous. It’s truly a great emotion to travel on these roads.
Look at this, if it’s beautiful, it’s magnificent! Despite the prowess of the men who built these
roads, some have not resisted the ravages of time. Near La Chapelle-en-Vercors, part
of the “grands goulets” had to be closed in 2004, before being replaced by a tunnel.
This state-of-the-art underground passage has been equipped with innovative safety systems, such as
these fire escape galleries. Here we are in the heart of the tunnel, below
us, there are about 300 meters of rock, we are right under the mountain.
It took 4 years to build. It is the largest public works project ever
carried out in France on a departmental road. There we are, we arrive on the historic road,
this road is used for emergency services, and there we are right on the historic road, which was
closed in 2004 and closed to the public since. This ghost road has attracted
lovers of great landscapes for over a century… An exceptional viewpoint
now reserved for professionals only. We come here often, every time we come,
it’s true it’s magnificent for us, it’s very beautiful, there’s greenery, there are
impressive cliffs which must be 300-400m. We are going to the most splendid place on the
Grands Goulets road, we are going to have a series of waterfalls. In my personal opinion, this is the
most beautiful place on the Grands Goulets road. Now connected to the outside world by
an ultra-modern road, the Vercors is counting on tourism to develop.
The opportunity for a second wind for this territory with incomparable natural riches. To the south of the Drôme, here is the town of Nyons, gateway to the Provençal Baronnies. A
former stronghold of the Princes of Orange, it has retained its magnificent Romanesque bridge from this period
, built in the 14th century. In the historic center is one of the oldest
aromatic plant distilleries in the region… It is the middle of summer, and
business is in full swing… This distillery was built in 1939, and
my wife and I took it over in 1994, about twenty years ago now.
Little by little it has been completely renovated, but the soul of the profession remains the same.
In these large vats, the essential oil from the lavender flowers is extracted
using steam. A traditional method. To obtain raw materials,
Philippe Soguel crisscrosses the roads of the Provençal Baronnies. A rural region, a
land of choice for aromatic plants. We have a patchwork of agricultural production, which
is also representative and characteristic of the agricultural economy of the baronies,
and this diversity of production also gives diversity to the landscape, the colors.
For me, this is really one of the strong points and the charm of this territory.
Another characteristic of the landscape of the Provençal baronies: its hilltop villages,
scattered in the valleys or on the hillsides. Our distiller has an appointment
with a first producer, who harvests lavender on the mountain
pastures of the Lance mountain. Let’s go for 40 minutes of track!
The Lance massif peaks at 1,330 meters. At this altitude, it is the
reign of wild lavender…. The Chastan family has a farm
at the foot of the mountain. Three weeks a year, in August, everyone is requisitioned
to participate in the harvest… At first, we say to ourselves we will never
manage it, given the number of hectares there are, and then we get into the game… It’s a rhythm
that we adopt, a harmony with nature too, it’s pleasant.
she’s good! A niche market, wild lavender is
sought after by connoisseurs for its very high quality essential oil.
Wild lavender is what we call “true” lavender, with a
narrow leaf, and then a single sprig, and also this shape of the floral stem, so
the flowers are actually placed like that in layers, and it has a truly very delicate
and extremely pleasant fragrance, which we never tire of. Jean-Marie Chastan has been picking in the
Lance massif since his childhood. He experienced the golden age of wild lavender.
It then covered the entire mountain. My grandfather was a maniac,
if he saw ears of corn lying around like that, we would get told off, it had to be
spotless… On his farm, they managed to make 200 kilos of oil, it was enormous, now to
make them it’s impossible. A long time ago, there were 6 or 7 farms going up the
mountain in this area alone… They lived only from wild gathering. Even a
mountain farm brought in more money than a lowland farm. Abandoned in the 1960s, these vast
pastures were gradually covered by forest. Thanks to their herd of
cows and deforestation operations, these farmers have allowed lavender
to return to its natural environment. Every summer, the family obtains on average, after
distillation, 15 kilos of essential oil. On the way, Philippe took the opportunity to show us
around an unusual place in the Baronnies… The small village of Pierrelongue is
famous for its chapel, perched on a 25-metre-high rocky peak!
An association is responsible for safeguarding the monument. At its head, Christian Collas.
And there, here is the forecourt of our chapel, our chapel built by Father Pascaly…
The chapel of Pierrelongue was built on the ruins of an old medieval keep,
belonging to the Adhémar family. The construction site began in 1896 and lasted 10 years.
At the origin of this somewhat crazy project: Father Joseph Pascaly, a whimsical clergyman,
who fought to build this chapel. When he arrived by road, he saw a
rock with a small ruin. Instantly, he said there I will build my chapel. He
then spent time raising funds, and finding sponsors of the time…
So he finished his chapel in 1906, and he saw it because after he died in 1910.
Inside, the chapel remained as it was when he died…
Despite the fragility of its position, it resisted an earthquake in 1950!
Today, it is maintained by village volunteers.
When you pass through Pierrelongue you have to see it. You can’t help but notice it.
It’s true that it’s the only chapel I know of built like that on a rock… We can
easily understand a man’s dream, a crazy dream! I think it’s a very human achievement.
And then from here I can see the lavender fields, so from here I’m happy!
The producers’ tour continues south of the Provençal Baronnies. Symbols of the country,
lavender fields are omnipresent. I often say that you can’t escape your childhood.
I was perhaps lucky enough to grow up next to a distillery, and to appreciate
all the aromas of these plants from a very young age. Today, I am only a modest
distiller but I have the opportunity to often be in the field, in the fields
and these are products that we breathe, and the first determination to have is
really to keep this link with the plant. Representing the distillers of Drôme,
Philippe wants to anchor his sector in today’s economy. His credo: innovation.
One of his projects is to develop this new type of harvester.
* What have you done so far? One hectare, one and a half hectares?
* Yes, a good hectare and a half, it worked well… This ecological machine allows you to harvest
only the lavender flowers, without the stems! It is a machine that is actually
good for the environment because we will save on volume, on
transported weight, we will save on the steam that we will have to spend in large quantities to
extract the essential oils from this plant. I have a fairly contemporary and modern vision
of lavender. I think we need to find a way to bring it with us into the
future so that in a few years, Provence is not just a museum that people
come to visit, but that this territory remains in its real economy. We absolutely must preserve
all of this and take it with us into the future. The next day, Philippe goes to
the suburbs of Nyons. Recently, he has been experimenting with a new method of extracting
lavender aromas using CO2. Used as a solvent, this gas will allow
gentle treatment of the plant. The operation, which is non-toxic and non-polluting,
takes place on an ultra-modern platform. Here we go!
This process will allow the distiller to develop outlets in
a new field, that of food… As we work between 40° and
50°, we will better preserve the smell and perfumes of the original plant.
The fact of always moving towards research, always moving forward, allows a
small sector like the plant sector in France to remain a leader. In my opinion,
this is what makes a region dynamic, and it also allows production to be maintained in
these areas. Two hours later, the
extraction process is complete… It is the liquid form of the field that we saw
together and on which we worked yesterday with the new machine. It’s a smell really
close to that of the fresh plant, we are faithful to what we have in the
field and that’s what’s interesting. To test this new type of lavender extract in the kitchen
, head to Valence… Baptiste Poinot, a young chef originally from Drôme,
opened his restaurant in 2006 in the historic center of the city. Three years later, he
received his first Michelin star. Hello table 4, two broths
and two line-caught sea breams… Creative, this thirty-year-old from Valence is attached
to the products that he rigorously selects, but also to the aesthetics of
his dishes and desserts. Philippe met Baptiste a few
months ago. Together they decided to test the lavender extract obtained using CO2.
The characteristic of the product is that we really have a delicacy and a sweetness that we would
not have in another extraction method, that is what made it fall in love
in fact when I met Philippe, because I found this side
completely astonishing and innovative. To test this sample, the chef
chose to cook a sea bream. The oven is at 57°, is that okay?
Lavender is incorporated into the sauce that will accompany the dish.
So there we have our base ready, I’m going to take a little bit of
lavender absolute, so it’s two drops! When we work with lavender, we are used
to infusing it ourselves, making our own extraction, and here we have a product with such
freshness and such respect for the plant itself… a few drops. It’s a
new way of cooking, it’s a new way of approaching the product.
There it is a small candied broth; We’re going to add some crunchy elements, we
have small artichokes like this that we fried at 140°, and
then I finish with my famous cloud, it will give the final tone to the dish, we’re
just going to caress the products like that, it has to remain subtle. There you go, we can enjoy!
The lavender really finishes the palate, you have this little note that I know
well, that I often encounter, and that I really enjoy finding
in this wonderful dish, it’s really… Back to the Provençal Baronnies…
A regional natural park should soon see the light of day here…
And at the heart of this future park, the village of Buis les Baronnies, surrounded by limestone cliffs.
Standing overlooking the village, the Saint Julien rock is the
emblematic site for climbing enthusiasts. It is also a place that attracts botanists
: On these large limestone walls, an astonishing plant has managed to develop…
To protect it, climbers and botanists join hands.
You’re going to have a little passage where you have to find a small hold with your left hand…then there’s
a flake at the very bottom of the crack… This morning, it’s Franck, an
experienced mountaineer, who is accompanying Sylvain, a botanist. They take the via ferrata built
in 2014 on the north face of Saint Julien. There, look, we arrive at a beautiful
natural crack, that’s typical of Saint Julien, it’s these little flakes you see where
you can easily put your hand in, so we’ve cleared the moss a little, you see we
have some nice holds… it’s quite nice to be in contact with the rock like that…
Made up of limestone rocks, Saint Julien is renowned for its stability.
When you touch the rock, you feel that you are on a very solid mass. When we
find a hold, we will immediately have confidence. That’s what makes it fun
and what makes climbing here sublime! * Do you like it?
* Yes, it’s very nice, and then you become one with the rock,
it’s really very pleasant to be in somewhat vertical environments like that…
* If you like vertical, you’ll be served because here we’re going to go back to the compact slab!
During the construction of the via ferrata, specialists warned of the presence
of a rare species: the mountain cabbage. It was therefore necessary to identify it in order to
protect it, with the help of climbers. There’s a huge cabbage there, it’s
the first one we met here, after that you’ll find some higher up.
Today, botanists continue to study this plant, which is capable of growing on rock!
It is a plant of the brassicaceae family, it is a cabbage. They have the particularity of having
slightly rubbery leaves like rapeseed… and elongated fruits in the shape
of upright beans. This species is particularly adapted to limestone rocks.
There we see, the foot is really very robust, and the root too, it is a taproot,
which will sink deep into the cracks of the rocks to recover the
nutrients and water that are at the bottom of the rocks. Saint Julien is the only place in
Rhône-Alpes where mountain cabbage grows. Are you the one with the covers?
Franck, the mountain guide, often takes part in various operations.
Sylvain harvests cabbage seeds for future planting.
Sonore Sylvain In fact, it is thanks to this partnership (with
the climbers) that we were able to better understand the mountain cabbage on the rock of Buis
les Baronnies and realize that it was less rare than we thought.
There are up to 1000 individuals. Not bad for the only resort in Rhône-Alpes.
This proves that we can very well reconcile the protection of a species with
economic activities, particularly in the great outdoors. After two hours of climbing, the climbers
arrive at the summit of Saint Julien.… Here we are, we’ve arrived…
Oh great!… We can see Mont Ventoux. It’s pretty, isn’t it?
Look at that, we have all the Provençal baronies in front of us, Buis les
Baronnies at the foot, in front of us the Rhône valley, far away, and then it goes back up towards Orange and
Montélimar which is right in the back there. Gorgeous !

Rencontres avec des hommes et des femmes qui luttent pour la préservation de la rivière Drôme. 🪻⛰️

Amoureux de la France et du patrimoine, ses trésors n’auront plus de secrets pour vous 👉https://bit.ly/4dnI1h1

Bernard Foray-Roux, écrivain et géographe, fait découvrir les reliefs spectaculaires de la Drôme vue du ciel. Dans le Diois, des habitants se battent pour sauver l’ancien monastère de Sainte-Croix, érigé au XIIe siècle. Quant à Chrystèle Burgard, conservateur en chef de la Drôme, elle protège les châteaux du département. Vigneron, Jérôme Vincent invite à observer les beautés de la rivière et à déguster la Clairette de Die, un vin pétillant. Enfin, dans le Vercors, rencontre avec Alain Lecoq, un passionné de moto, qui sillonne les célèbres «routes du vertige», suspendues au-dessus du vide.

“La drôme entre Vercors et Provence ”
Un documentaire de la collection Des Racines et des Ailes, écrit et réalisé par Myriam Elhadad.
© ECLECTIC PRODUCTION
Tout droits réservés – AMP
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