On Sunday afternoon I drove back to Bonnieux for the night. Our friend Pierre, owner of Le Clos du Buis, had invited us to a big party, and we were actually very honored to be included. The party was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Le Clos du Buis, which is one of the B&Bs we use for our Luberon Experience weeks and a very special place. We like Pierre and his assistant Sophie very much, and since I was not too far away in Aix, Charley and I thought I should make a special effort to attend. Sophie is a neighbor of the friends we housesit for. They were also invited to the party and invited me to spend the night.
The Clos du Buis in Bonnieux
I left Aix about 2:30 pm for the beautiful drive to Bonnieux. As usual, I took the back route described by the Winns in their Provence Byways book. It was absolutely peaceful and beautiful, especially the section through the vineyards near Rognes.
Bonnieux seemed packed with people, especially in the lower part of the village. There was a “vide grenier” in progress in the parking lot of the new church… in fact, all around the church. I parked by the school and walked over to see if I could find any bargains. I had expected kind of a community garage sale of local residents, but it seemed that most of these people were regular vide grenier sellers. There were a few nice things, but mostly junk. But then, perhaps the best stuff was all sold early.
On the way to our friends, I stopped to take a photo of this beautiful field of lavender:
Lavender field just below Bonnieux
I really enjoyed visiting with our friends, though it was definitely different to be there without Charley in Kelly. In two weeks we’ll be together at this house, settling in for a leisurely five weeks stay. Everything was extremely green, and some of the cherry trees were still loaded with fruit. We sat by the pool and caught up on the last month and my experiences at the school.
I drove up to the village with our friends, feeling a bit like a visiting aunt. The party was very nice... clearly a very special occasion. I think there must have been about 200 people! The beautiful garden of Le Clos du Buis was a perfect place for the celebration. They served wine and passed trays of hors d’oeurves, cheese and sausages. And there was a band... sort of a Dixieland band of four pieces that moved around the yard and played from various places.
I saw several village friends: the boulanger Henri and his wife Rosa; the couples that run the other two boulangeries; the doctor; the potter Christine Denniel and her very nice husband; the couple that own another local B&B—Les Trois Sources; our friends from Le Terrail, Michel and Patricke; Nicholas who owns Le Tinel; and Rachel who owns an antique shop. Several of the year-round expatriates were also there, and I talked with Magadelena (a woman from Spain who lives near the Foret de Cedres with her husband and three young children) about possibly taking French lessons with her group when I’m there this summer. I did speak more French than usual to our French-speaking friends, and hope I’m able to be much more conversant a few weeks from now.
A man gave a speech about the history of Le Clos du Buis, and read a lengthy section of a book about the history of the buis (hedge) and also the cypress tree. Pierre’s wife spoke, and everyone acknowledged Pierre and Sophie. (I didn’t understand all the speeches, but did pick up much more than I would have a week ago.) Many people brought flowers and other gifts, and I felt good about my gift of calissons, a type of candy that is a specialty of Aix. The band played, a few people danced, children played on the grass, and everyone ate and drank.
We decided the party might be going on for a much longer time, and slipped out before the cake was served. We went back to the house and sat outside as the lights of Bonnieux came on. We could see the colored lights in the garden of Le Clos du Buis and imagined we could even hear the music still playing. Our friend and his son disappeared with two baskets and came back with luscious cherries. We ate the cherries and licked the red juice off our fingers, and then I went to sleep in the rustic guest room. It will be good to be back with Charley and Kelly in two weeks. I wish they had been here tonight.
