Happy Christmas from Les Bassacs

As elsewhere in Europe, we are having very mild weather so its hard to feel as though Christmas is just around the corner.  We went in to Apt yesterday evening to finish our Christmas shopping and the doors to the cathedral were open.  The cathedral is mostly Romanesque but parts are Roman and Baroque.  The lower crypt is part of the original 1st century Roman building. We visited it by torch-light which added to the drama. The upper crypt dates to the 11th century. The altar is a pre-Roman engraved table on top of a Roman funeral stele.

At Christmas churches house the "crèche". These elaborate nativity scenes are peopled by santons - little saints -  which are small clay figures in traditional Provencal dress. The Apt cathedral crèche is one of the best.

the vineyard

Programme of Workshops for the summer of 2017

The programme of workshops for 2017 is on the website now!
We are looking forward to welcoming you to another great summer at Les Bassacs.

Faire la Bise

Thursday market, Roussillon

When to faire la bise? In southern France you kiss people you know well, when you are invited to ("on se fait la bise?") and friends of friends in an informal setting like a dinner party.  How many kisses you give is determined by region.  Here in the Vaucluse we kiss three times and it is common for men to kiss their friends.  Have a look at this interactive map to see the regional variations!

Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness

I have news of a giant parsnip from our friends Will and Bea who live near Rustrel.  Apparently the mild autumn has produced bumper crops in some things - pears, pumpkins, parsnips and walnuts.

A neighbour generously dropped off a huge basket of fresh walnuts this morning. I have made a delicious light walnut cake for tea!

Walnut souffle cake

6 egg whites
200gr caster sugar
20g plain flour
200gr of walnuts finely chopped
knob of butter for greasing the tin

Heat the oven to 180 C
Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are stiff.
Fold in the flour and sugar and then the nuts.
Generously butter a 20cm cake tin.
Put the cake mix in the tin.
Bake for 30 minutes.

The cake rises but will shrink back as it cools giving it quite a rustic appearance!

No sign of autumn yet

Although there is a chill in the air, there is still no sign of autumn in the fields around Les Bassacs.

Usually the vine leaves would be bright red by now

Christabel's paintings

Christabel Forbes has been our artist in residence and general factotum since August.  She studied at Falmouth School of Art, (as did Mark Cazalet and Kieran Stiles) and then went on to do the drawing year at the Royal Drawing School.  She joined us in August and has been happily painting in the landscape since then.  She has produced an exuberant body of work using oils and oil pastels which very ably express her joy at the colours and light of Provence.

Christabel's painting of the woods at Les Bassacs

This last painting was done in situ on a huge board propped up against the trees and with a thunderstorm threatening - intrepid stuff!  She is now off to teach painting in India for three months, something we know she will enjoy greatly.  Christabel's website.

Double rainbow

Can you see the pot of gold?

Isabelle, our second architect!

The day that the United Kingdom voted to Brexit, our daughter Isabelle became an architecte diplomé d'Etat having graduated from L'Ecole Nationale Superior d'architecture de Paris Malaquais.  We are very proud parents.

Isabelle receiving her diploma and being teased about Brexit by the principal.

Last vernissage of the season

David and Christabel hanging the last vernissage

I know there has been nothing on the blog since June! Its been so hot from the middle of June to this last week, the heat has just been draining.  We've had no extra energy to devote to other things like the blog.  The kitchen was regularly at 31C in the evenings and its taken all our efforts to keep going! I've put together a selected highlights of the summer to give a flavour of how life has been at Les Bassacs.

The heat broke last week with some spectacular skies.

autumn equinox

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Morning stripes

With the lavender and the corn ripening in the fields, the countryside is revealed in all its beauty in contrasting strips of colour.  These fields are between St Saturnin and Rustrel.

Judy painting

David took his group to the basse fontaine area of Gordes to shelter from the mistral.  Its a beautiful little spot, quite secluded and surrounded by some spectacular terraced gardens.  A professional photographer passing by took this shot of Judy painting in the sunshine. He stopped to talk to David and promised to forward him the photo.  Here it is.  Many thanks to David Schmaus and his analogue Hasselblad!

Rebecca Hind's week with David

Unfortunately Rebecca was unable to teach her course this summer at Les Bassacs.  David stepped in to take the week which meant that he dusted off his watercolours and enjoyed the freedom to experiment in his sketch book.

Rustrel

St Saturnin les Apt

On picnic day in Lourmarin David sketched the chaotic jumble of buildings in the centre of the village and some comical donkeys in front of the chateau.

Opium Poppies in Les Bassacs

Papaver somniferum spotted in the Les Bassacs car park!

Chagall's Gordes

The mistral has been blowing hard this week which gives us clear skies and bright sunshine but also keeps the air temperature fresh! It is always a great trick to find painting sites that are out of its reach.  On Monday,  David took the group to the lower part of Gordes. It was here that Chagall lived during the war until 1941 when he was smuggled out of France and eventually to America.  Varian Fry who worked to save Chagall and his wife, visited the Chagall's at their home in Gordes.  He wrote of the visit in his diary.
 “Gordes is a charming, tumbled down old town on the edge of a vast and peaceful valley. I can see why they didn’t want to leave; it is an enchanted place."

In this part of Gordes there were a series of mills that were used in shoe manufacturing and Chagall's house is one of these, it is built over a stream which was originally a small river.

David noticed that the electricity counter still has Chagall's name on it!

 The area is quite secluded and there are many well preserved ruined buildings and cobbled streets which make good painting subjects.

Abandoned troglodyte dwelling at Oppède le Vieux

During John Raynes watercolour week the group painted at Oppède le Vieux. Its an exciting place to explore as much of the village is still in its abandoned state.

David stumbled upon the lower floor of an abandoned troglodyte dwelling with an elaborate vaulted ceiling and these beautiful mullioned windows.

The Les Bassacs Team part 1

Liz, Anna and David (photo courtesy of Carol Gillot)

Terry Thompson's week 30th April 2016

Terry's week started bright but suddenly very cold.  We had to put the heating on for a few days.  Then the wind dropped and the sun shone . . .

(Photos courtesy of Terry Thompson)

All set for the start of the season

We have sunny skies with a strong mistral for the first few days of the season.  It has been exceptionally dry here but the warmth of the sun has brought on the lilacs, poppies and iris.  In the fields there are heavily scented mounds of thyme.  I have been out today,  picking bunches to use in our kitchen this summer.

Cherry Blossom

The valley is peppered with cherry orchards in full blossom. This year all the trees have flowered  together which makes for a spectacular display. 

There is great variation in the way the cherry trees are pruned which in turn determines the density of the blossom as well as the harvest.  The air is sweet with pollen and it is only six weeks to the cherry harvest!

I am starting researching new recipes for the summer, and today tried this cherry cake recipe from Sweeter Off the Vine by Yossy Arefi.

 Cherry Streusel Cake
Can be made with fresh or frozen cherries

Streusel

35g flour
2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
2 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon or cardamom
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature

 

Cake

210g flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
150g granulated sugar
grated zest of 2 large lemons
125ml neutral vegetable oil
3 large eggs
225g plain whole milk yogurt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
210g pitted cherries, sweet or sour (fresh or frozen)

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Butter a 9-inch (23cm) loaf pan, dust with flour, and tap out any excess.

2. Make the streusel by mixing the 35g flour, oats, brown sugar, poppy seeds, cinnamon or cardamom and salt in a small bowl. Add the butter and use your fingers to break the butter into small pieces, until the streusel is in small bits. Set aside.

3. To make the cake, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.

4. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together very well with your fingers, encouraging the lemon oil to saturate the sugar. Whisk in the oil, eggs, yogurt and lemon juice. Add the flour mixture all at once, stirring with a rubber spatula until it’s almost completely incorporated. Fold in half of the cherries and scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
5. Dot the remaining cherries over the top and sprinkle with streusel. Bake the cake until golden

on top and it feels set in the center, about 40 to 50 minutes. (You can insert a toothpick in the center to check for doneness as well. When it comes out clean of crumbs, the cake is done.)

6. Let the cake cool on a wire rack. When cool, run a knife along the outside of the cake to help it release from the pan and tip the cake out of the pan.

Storage: The cake will keep for up to three days at room temperature, if well wrapped. You can freeze it for up to two months.

 I had to bake mine for 90 minutes and it didn't rise as well as it should have.  The frozen cherries probably made for a denser cake, but with a delicious, subtle lemony flavour.

Happy Easter from all of us at Les Bassacs

Lucien Freud had a lifelong love of animals and loved to draw them in all their states including dead and stuffed.  He drew this rabbit in April 1944, perhaps at Easter? I like to think that the rabbit is asleep on the chair. It is a beautiful rendering of his subject in pencil and crayon.

Keep your bristles soft with Savon de Marseille

 There is always a nice big block of Savon de Marseille next to the sink in the studio. David keeps his oil painting brushes supple by cleaning them thoroughly at the end of each day by rubbing them on the block.
 

The production of this soap is a traditional Provencal industry, dating back to the early middle ages.  Pliny credits the ancient Gauls with the invention of soap which they made with beech ash and goats grease. Thankfully they later moved on to using the abundant olive crop as the source of the grease in the soap!

Savon de Marseille makers used the natural resources of the Carmargue to manufacture their soap - olive oil, sea salt and seepweed from which they extracted soda.  By the Middle Ages Marseille was at the centre of a growing soap industry.  In 1688 Colbert issued a decree that Marseille was to uphold the highest standards in soap manufacture and that the oils used in Savon de Marseille were to be only pure olive oil.

By 1786 there were 48 soap factories many of which were still in operation up until the beginning of the second world war.  Now there are three families still producing the soap in the traditional way : Boetto, Rampal and Marius Fabre.  Only the heat source for the melting process has changed from wood fire to electricity, otherwise the soap is produced in exactly the same way as it has always been. 

The soaps are cut into big blocks which are then air-dried on racks for three months following which the soap is cut into blocks and stamped with its distinctive lettering. 

Remember Savon de Marseille when you are at the market at L'Isle sur la Sorgue.  It is easy to slip in your suitcase and can also be used to wash your laundry, to remove stubborn stains, keep moths out of your clothes and even to bring you good luck!

If we are painting shutters it must be spring!

There are just 8 weeks to go before the start of the first course here in Les Bassacs.  We have been taking advantage of the dry sunny February to start work on the houses.  There are over 50 shutters that have to be kept painted. David has spent a lot of time at the end of this ladder.  We have already done the light blue ones, now we have transferred to doing the mink colour on the big house.

Early Spring?

We have had virtually no cold weather this winter, maybe two small frosts in December, but otherwise it's been mild and warm.  The proof can be found in the countryside.  David and I spotted this almond tree in full blossom at Saignon yesterday,

and this lone Iris blooming a full three months too soon.

Happy New Year from Les Bassacs!

Hoping that 2016 is a great painting year for you and

wishing you health and happiness in the coming year

with love from

Liz and David at Les Bassacs