Beaumont and it's monuments

This is the chapel of Sainte Sidoine. You can walk up to it,
 altitude 748m, from behind our house on the GR4.  It's
 not the smallest of the four chapels in the valley.

the smallest is Saint Roch, below.

and here's another view of Saint Sépulcre

And then we have the church, this is the Place de l'Eglise

and here is a view over the church, of the hamlets,
 Hameau de L'Eglise and Hameau les Cabanes

The old ruined castle was built 700 years ago.

As you can see not much is left but it's a significant landmark.

and here's another of my paintings

Autumn in the valley

The colours are so lovely, here are a few pics around the valley.

The commune of Beaumont du Ventoux is in a dead end valley, this is taken from what we call "le bout du monde" or worlds end.

 High up in the surrounding hills looking down on the house which is center right in the photo. You can see all of les Alazards.

and a longer view

The mushrooms are a bit late this year, but if you keep looking!

you can just catch a glimpse of the summit of Mt Ventoux here.

And here's my version

A bit of local interest

There has been farming activity in Beaumont for hundreds

 of years. In the surrounding hills can be seen traces of neolithic

 terrassing where perhaps olives and other cultures were grown.

 The building in this photo is called a bory and may have been

 a shepherd's shelter. It is built with dry stone. There are a few

 of them in the valley.

 This is the rear

The Romans were very active in the Vaucluse and the stone

 used to build Vaison la Romaine was quarried in Beaumont.

 You can still visit the Roman quarry, and even see the grooves

 in the stone from the chariot wheels. Here is a photo of the main

 quarry, although there are other traces of quarrying activities

 in the area.

Below is one of the four chapels, this one in St Marguerite

This next one is in les Valettes.This chapel, St Sepulcre, is 
romanesque. It has many interesting small carvings in the stone.
 A south facing window throws a shadow image of a dove
 onto the alter at the summer soltice.

To round off todays post, a photo of the autumn colours,

 looking down the valley towards Crestet in the distance,

 and the hamlet of les Valettes on the right. You can see the
 rock formation of "longue saffre", (a tall sandstone rock).

More of les Alazards

It's a lovely sunny day today and the colours are even more

 stunning. The house is looking brighter than yesterday.

this is the lavoir, (public wash place).

At the back of the house there is parking for three cars

and this is the view through the neighbours garden

looking down the valley from the neighbouring hamlet, 

St Marguerite, you can see Les Alazards in the distant right

You can't quite see the top of the Mt.Ventoux but it's 

under the cloud on the right of the photo

In this picture you can see the "Giant de Provence" and the
valley of Beaumont. The white tower is at the summit, which
seems low down because we are so near to the mountain. The
autumn colours are coming late this year, we have the yellows
just now, later we will get the golds and reds. The little lump of
rock on the hill, right, is the Chateau de Beaumont.

Les Alazards

Les Alazards is one of the nine hamlets that form 

Beaumont du Ventoux, the last one, sitting on the

 foothills of the famous Mt. Ventoux. Our house is

 through the village on the outskirts of the hamlet.

  

Here's the view from the back door, you can see the

 "lavoir", local public wash place in the middle distance.

 and this is our back door, an old stable door.

A bit of a grey day today, but the autumn colours are stunning. 

Here the path you can see is the start of the GR4 that climbs up 

the mountain, towards the chapel of Saint Sidoine

.

Beaumont has four small chapels and a church.

Back in the garden

Today you can look at a few more views of the

 garden and the pool

Most of the plants in the garden have been grown from
cuttings, this bright rose came from a garden in Leeds,

and this one from a friends garden near by.

The original site of the house was a cherry orchard, a
 couple of the trees remain and give shade for the hamac.

The pool has a border of sedums, so pretty against
 the marble surround and the blue water.

One side of the pool is raised above ground level.

By the pool is a gravel plage and it is either fenced
 or walled off on the three other sides.

All the plants are chosen for their resistance
 to the hot, dry climate.

These photos are from the summer of course.

More of the house

This is what the house looks like now.

From the south,

from the north

 

from the upper lawn, the entrance to the pool area is on the right.

Here are some photos of the covered terrasse, an impressive
 structure and a great place to sit and eat, or just lounge
 about out of the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a photo of the downstairs bedroom and adjacent

 shower room, all on the same level as the sitting room

 and kitchen. Useful for people with reduced mobility.

 

 

and we now have a big new table in the kitchen, plenty

 of room for 8 people to sit around. And the kitchen is

 really well equiped for the gourmet cooks who want to

 make the most of all the lovely fresh Provençal food

 available in the local markets!