1st weekend – Buis-les-Baronnies, Mollans and Propiac

My first weekend away and I was treated to my first pain au chocolat and pain au raisin since I arrived in France, thanks to Alistair’s early morning foray to the boulangerie. A very chilled out morning enjoying the views of Mont Ventoux – I have to admit to being quite enthralled with this mountain; maybe it’s because wherever I seem to go, it’s always there smiling in the sunlight and then at night, the backdrop to the concert of stars.



Saturday lunch was out in one of the cafés in Buis – good food with good company..... Buis is a charming village – everything you need, but compact.

Once again, I marvelled at the fresh produce on offer in the market, but also the very chic clothes on display on the stalls – Mags bought a beautiful suede bag in hues of moss green – I was quite envious, but with packing at a premium, I must curtail my natural shopping instincts!


After lunch, we explored Buis a little further, including the (literally) sensational herb garden, the Ursuline convent (now fallen into disrepair) – it’s definitely a village to visit if you’re in the area!

So home, a shower and change, and out to the neighbouring village of Mollans for a “Soupe au Pistou” evening – this is a bean soup served with a dish of pesto and cheese, which you add to your taste. The 3 of us went along with a new permanent resident of Mollans, Nick – a very good friend of Mags and Alistair, who regaled us with tales of his navy career and flights in some very cool planes – sorry, those of you who know me, know how impressed I am with people who can fly! We had a lovely evening with the villagers of Mollans and made friends with Remy and Inès – Remy treats people with magnetism and Inès is a translator – handy when we were struggling with more sophisticated French conversation...... or was it just the volume of local rosé and rouge consumed that affected our ability to parler français?


There were other courses, I should add – skewers of meat and sausages, then melon, then cheese. As a veggie, I skipped the meat course, but am reliably informed it was delicious.


Home for 1 and I saw a shooting star before bed – nobody else did!


Sunday morning..... and once again, Alistair treated us to delicious pastries for breakfast.... A lazy morning reading the Sunday papers, lunch and then off to the Montée Historique au Col de Propiac – a timed race of classic cars climbing a zigzag route up the hill at the neighbouring village of Propiac. We cycled the 6km to Propiac and watched on one of the first corners as these beauties of automobile engineering roared past.

There was even a token go-kart – sorry Corinne, it was the last one to be timed so missed its ascent, but caught it on the way down.


Back home and dinner in the benevolent view of Mont Ventoux!