Monday is market day in Bedoin and already it’s noticeably busier with tourists. Certainly lyrca is de rigeur with the number of cyclists in the village though numbers-wise locals tell us we ain’t seen nothing yet! Now is the season of the famous Carpentras strawberry, white asparagus, fresh violet garlic and the homegrown local cherries, and all were in abundance at the market today. Signs for the annual Fete de la cerise taking place in Venasque on 4th June were postered around the village so cherry juice will quench our thirst on those early summer hot June days. We’ve discovered that every village has its fruit or vegetable Fete – a chance for folk to get together, celebrate local produce and go home with bags of it whether it be strawberries from Velleron, cherries from Venasque, figs from Caromb, asparagus from Mormoiron and on it goes, such is the wonderful array of seasonal food to celebrate close to our hamlet of Les Baux. Of course the saucisson, honey, olives and cheese stalls are bountiful too and we were hard-pressed to decide on what to buy today. A persuasive cheese monsieur had us tasting all kinds of goats cheeses till we settled on a favourite but next week there will be the others to sample instead and we can easily try a different one every week for the next ten years!

The food is one of the reasons to come and visit – the people are so passionate about what they grow and produce and it’s all so tasty! Tonight for dinner it’s Ratatouille followed by strawberries with perhaps a dollop of ice-cream! Bon appetit!