long spring in sablet '24

PRIMARILY for my benefit, these notes: a record for the increasingly absent minded originator, you might say, if you were cruel-but-honest with it. Anyway, if you are perusing this post, you have no room for complacency – surely there are tasks crying out for your attention which, understandably or otherwise, you have put on hold, given your propensity for supporting the author – I thank you!

I’ve dealt with the wind and the rain aspects of The Longer Spring in Vaucluse ('24) in other posts, as well as the transfer from Devon to Vaucluse, so now here comes the sun… well mostly.

But I also want to record that Barbara and Pascal, our cherished ‘uphill’ neighbours, have gone and moved to St Just near St Etienne, taking ‘our’ feline associate Minouchette with them. Of course, not our cat but a cat with whom we’ve been passing the time of day and/or night since before we even bought 1rFB. With a kinked tail and particular manners (the feline that is). Fair enough though: Minouchette is now officially cared for, chipped and all that, so B&P done good to take her in. Not that M was ever a waif-&-stray: she was clearly doing B&P a favour by shacking up at theirs, and selflessly saw fit to widen her horizons by moving a bit up north with them, plus the dog Kenzo: change of scene, new challenges etc. I’m sure she’ll be sorted in St Just – just fine…

Also missing: the Danes. Sold up, gone, only returning to holiday, perhaps in September. Wretched! The Welsh Berkhampsteadians are also in the act of betrayal: their house up on the Rue de Barrys is being marketed. No takers at time of writing but it is a bit of a downer. Wish them well of course, but they have been very much part of our Sablet-Scene, so not best pleased at their restlessness.

Of course, we’ve contemplated similar. But this spring was so good we’ve deferred again, to the extent that we’ve contracted Mr Fernandes to fix for good the wonky ridge tiles (he and son Kevin report the task is now completed and monies have been forwarded) while Mr Boukersanna, he of the grey shutter paint job, has quoted to gloss paint inside and out all the abode’s fenêtres, in the ’24 autumn. Plus the entrance doors. Not for free you understand: so we continue to invest.

Flowers: as we were out at Sablet for longer and later this spring so it was that we got to appreciate the flora and fauna to a greater extent in 2024.

The iris show was full on, lengthy, rich in variety, abundant and much enjoyed. Even more spectacular, simply by mass and by being so widespread, vivid and unimpeded, your common field poppy. Brilliant, in tens and twenties or by the tens of thousands. Roadsides, whole fields, gardens, cracks and crevices. We never tired of them and their unaccountably spectacular crimson. Also drifts of very blue flowers, of several species, shapes and habits, colouring the fieldbanks, verges, copses. No bluebells here: instead these beauties, frustratingly not photographable I’m afraid (or at least not with the box brownie I sport) so you’ll have to take my word for it. 

One must not overlook the extensive banks of Spanish Broom either, vivid yellow, richly perfumed, everywhere. Oh, and roses, bags and bags of them, where do I stop? 

One does, therefore, too easily overlook the most persistent colour of all under the hopefully blue sky overall, which is the freshest set of delectable greens of new and renewing foliage: trees, vines, fields, gardens and roadsides. All this adds context to the abundant colour all around in this most favourite season, which it is. 

Big scenes: The clouds, my dear the clouds. I can’t remember such a protracted period of such sculptural towering cumulus varieties, mostly without accompanying precipitation (I do say mostly, please note). So some of the very familiar scenery was particularly well punctuated by these cloud capped towers. I like clouds, me. Have you ever thought how dull life would be without them? Or how very blue? 

Fauna: a lot of hares this time, particularly on the Plan de Dieu, always gives us pleasure. Add in the spectacular rollers (picture above, courtesy of the s&h) we encountered with increasing frequency on several occasions, not to mention hoopoes, bee eaters and the like. Buzzards, hawks, kestrels, vultures, kites et al as per. Herons and similar, the usual suspects. Most if not quite all fair game for our local starling to mimic (perhaps not the raptors) and fool us in the first days into rushing out to spot … er… resident starling taking the piss. Martins and swifts, not taken for granted either, much enjoyed and flying by at mach 2, the latter bringing on the next generation under our very eaves and across the road. And, as ever, the resident plastic-egg-box-scruncher (black redstart) first singer in the morning, long before sun up. Sparrows, natch. We saw no wolves, wild boar, coypu (living at any rate) foxes, pandas or panthers. Butterflies? of course. Cicadas? Not yet awhile. 

Rather too many dogs, if truth be told.

Ventoux: Le Géant is ever with us except when it isn’t because of cloud obscuration. This year we make up for only walking up it in March '22 (with the redoubtable Dr G) by taking the son-&-heir back up there to check out the Family Seat (q.v.). We start up from Malaucène for a change (conveniently linking in with our market shop) and after a summit mooch, drop down to Chalet Reynard then tour round to Sault and back on the Drôme side of the hill, taking lunch as we do at Montbrun-les-Bains, just for the record, this is not a travelogue. Back on Ventoux the family seat is still extant. I thought I'd place Adam on the summit marker for this snap, you've seen enough of that antique bench I'll warrant. He claims that this was only his fifth visit to the summit, which surprises me. 

I have a picture of the s&h standing in the same spot when he was eight; and here it is. We were holidaying in Le Barroux then. We went to the Vallabrègues Basket Makers Festival from there as well, back in '99

Another day (before Ventoux chronologically, as if it mattered) we motor out to Beaucaire, lunch rather well – then briefly pause at Tarascon, en route noting the Rhône-side warnings about water pick ups by canadairs (fire fighting aircraft)… just across the river from Vallabrègues – so keep your pedalos out of the way if you please this summer. More wild fires seem to be expected.

Visitors: Honourable (I hope) mention has been made of Anne’s visit (very cold and very windy) and Wendy’s visit (very wet, often overcast but mostly mild). The son-&-heir, obvs, he travels back with us as you will divine if you read the post covering our return, as and when I have penned it, which isn’t right now, do stop hassling me: so obviously he counts as a visitor (and part owner, he likes to think… yeah, right). Professor Hickman came and went – he gets his own post!

Our usually absent Canadian neighbours Pearl and Robert weren’t in as usual to start with, but Robert zipped in for a week or so with his daughter Zoë; she en route to making her mark photographically in Paris – so we got an apéro invite which was interesting and illuminating.

We apéroed too with our Welsh associates from Berkhampsted plus The Kaisers from Horben at the house the Welsh are now selling. Both Kaisers and the Roberts left for their northern estates before we did. The Irish jetted off to Singapore and Aussie to see family fairly early on, now that Poncho has slipped his collar and freed them up to go places – so we only saw them briefly in Gigondas. 

Sorties: we did the Rasteau circuit, with variants, on every Sunday morning excepting one (there was something kicking off in Rasteau square where we expect to refresh untroubled by hordes, so we ducked out) when we substituted a shorter but glorious Rabais Sud perambulation. We popped up to St Hilaire early in the stay, and later in the time allotted to us returned to the upper Durban domaine for another favourite vineyard walk (the masthead snap) before taking a plat at Beaumes-de-Venise. Rabais Sud hosted another great ramble when Adam was in residence, right to the top of the ridge where a track runs east-west and where we have wandered a few years previously. In the image below, Mme Melling may be discerned going off back down the way we've come, back to the motor that I had to park further up than our normal spot, some damned Fr car having thoughtlessly occupied our spot fgs!

While in residence we dined regularly and happily at both Roaix and Villedieu favourites to name but two. We shopped, as is our wont, at Malaucène and St Cécile markets to great effect, feasting on strawberries and asparagus as if our lives depended on it. Even got some early cherries and apricots! Not a lot of cooking done chez-nous you see, although I did grill some lamb. 

Cometh the end of the month, Mme Melling reconfigured our planned return (as seen on my revised route posting) to Blightey and we sorrowfully took our leave of Sabbers. There will be a brief report on that journey, following this but just now I need to watch a bit of telly……