Here in Provence lavender of course is found in many desserts such as ice-cream, pannacotta or creme brulee but why not add some sprigs to your barbecue marinade – it works wonderfully with chicken breasts for example.
Violet adds an amazing flavour to ice-cream – something I first tasted at Le Poeme in Grignan as an accompaniment to a chocoalte souffle – magic! In fact the flavour made such an impression that the car journey home was spent reminiscing about violet sweets we had when young and trying to remember their name.
Nasturtiums make a tasty addition to any salad and courgette flowers and wonderful stuffed or deep fried with a light batter.

What flowers do you use in cooking? Have you any favourite recipes with flowers?

go to the cinema – the local one in Nyons is reasonably priced and comfortable – you can challenge your language skills by going to a French film or cop out and watch a VO (version originale).

visit the beautiful chateau at Grignan or the Palais des papes at Avignon – you’ll be under cover from the rain

go wine tasting – if you visit enough places you won’t notice the rain (but please get someone else to drive!)

go shopping at the Centre Commercial at Le Pontet (just off the A6 at Avignon Nord) – there are loads of interesting megastores including Auchan where you could spend many happy hours browsing for bargains (and our friend, Brian, does – even going so far as to invent a new slogan for them – Auchan c’est la solution!!!) and a huge shoe emporium to name just two.

visit one of the local museums such as the Olive Museum at Nyons and while you’re there pop into the Cooperative to buy some oil and lots of other interesting goodies

visit La Scourtinerie on the outskirts of Nyons where they still make vibrantly coloured provencal mats originally used for the tradition method of olive oil extraction

and after all this activity treat yourself to a Shiatsu massage with Jo at les Pilles!

Here we often see the Le Colombier kitchen turned into a Masterchef laboratory. Different members of the house party group take it in turns to create their specialities, or try out new dishes. Hours are spent thumbing through the library of cookery books.

It can be Come Dine with Me every evening (the French version of which is Un Diner Presque Parfait, An Almost Perfect Dinner). Pick a prize in advance. Award the hosts marks out of 10 (a secret video diary would be a great souvenir for the cold winter nights back home). And reveal the  winner at the end of the week.

Set yourselves some new rules for self-catering success and see what happens:

• supermarkets are banned – you get extra marks if you’ve bought fresh from the market, the farm producer, or have fished the trout yourself
• no pre-packs, or fast-tracks, or processed food; fresh or nothing (hint – herbs and everlasting onions make great veggie stock!)
• 7 days = 7 new recipes to try out (or 21 if you include breakfast and lunch as well as dinner)
• let the kids invite you all to their kids meal – just see how talented junior chefs can be (especially with some compliant sous-chefs who can hold their tongue and do what they are told as kitchen helpers)
• the tiled floors mop easily, so let the flour fly as you make homemade pastas and pizzas
• let the kids (and the kids at heart) put on a talent show as the entertainment for the evening
• make a different ice-cream everyday (blue cheese and walnut icecream is an acquired taste!)
• have a lavender-themed meal … every dish has to contain lavender in some shape or form
• have a picnic in the garden
• create a tapas style wine-tasting menu: lots of mini dishes to complement the wines you want to taste
• think food miles – only use locally sourced ingredients and recipes
• try a new food each day
• pick flowers for the tables and herbs and veggies from the potager
• how about a themed murder mystery evening? You’ll find a couple of box games in the cupboard in the ground floor corridor – and or let your creativity flow and make up your own murder mystery game. We can provide a title: Passion in Provence, or Vengeance in the Vineyards, or even Killings in Condorcet … (and a couple of characters .. Zut Alors the racing car champion; Don Pico, the goats cheese farmer; Olive de Fougasse — you get the idea)
• and on the final night – make it all finger food and paper plates so there’s no washing up.

What would your new rules be? And we’ll give a special prize for the best video diary of the season.

Distillerie Bleu Provence in Nyons where they distill lavender and create loads of wonderful beauty products etc is running an ‘Atelier Savon’ where kids can make their very own soap. It’s for children from 6 to 12 years and costs 9 euros per child. It will run every Wednesday morning (reservations required) at 10 o’clock during high season (July 1st to August 31st) and is also available on request/reservation from April 15th to June 30th and September 1st to December 31st.

Sounds great fun. More details on Pays de Nyons tourism site.

Sun-dried Tomato, Olive and Basil Bread
(source – the lady, July 2009 from Lazy Days and Beach Blankets, Ryland Peters and Small)

SUN-DRIED TOMATO, OLIVE AND BASIL BREAD

SERVES 6

6oz (175g) plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 large eggs
3½ floz (100ml) olive oil
3½ oz (100ml) milk
3½ oz (100g) mature Gruyere cheese, grated
3½ oz (100g) sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and roughly chopped
2½ oz (60g) stoned black olives marinated with herbs, roughly chopped
a small handful of basil leaves, roughly sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

You will also need:
a 8¼ inch (21cm) x 4¼ inch (11cm) non-stick loaf tin, lightly greased and floured

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350˚F or Gas 4.
2. Sift the flour with the baking powder and season well with salt and black pepper. Whisk the eggs and whisk in the milk and oil. Tip two-thirds of the liquid into the flour, beat well then add remaining liquid.
3. Mix in the Gruyère, tomatoes, olives and basil, then tip into the loaf tin. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
4. Leave to cool, remove from the tin and wrap in aluminium foil. Keep in the fridge.
5. Serve at room temperature, sliced and cut into halves or squares. You could also serve a plate of chunky, handcut slices of salami to eat with your fingers.

Lavender Shortbread
(source – the Lady, July 2009)

75g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
175 g butter
1 tblspoon fresh chopped lavender flowers
175g plain flor
75g cornflour, ground rice or fine semolina
shallow backing tin 27 x 18 cm

Preheat oven to 150C/300F/gas 2
Food process sugar and butter till light and fluffy
Add lavender flowers and whizz again
Add half flour and pulse to incorporate, then add rest of flour and pulse again
Add cornflour and pulse (cornflour = smoother; groun rice or semolina = more crumbly and rustic)
Bring together with hands
Sparek onto baking tin, mark it with shortknife into 18 squares and prick lightly with fork
Bake 40 to 45 mins till pale gold; sprinkle with caster sugar, and cooke for another 5 mins
Remove from oven, cool for 10 mins in tin; cut into pieces, remove from tin with palette knife onto rack to cool.
Store in air-tight tin

Rich Fruit Loaf

This recipe comes from my classic Cooking in Colour by Marguerite Pattern. First published 1960 – my copy is the fourth edition published 1974. Recipe number 811

The published recipe calls for candied peel – we used chopped dried prunes (we had them in the cave). I’m never afraid to substitute ingredients (within reason). And on second or third baking will start to play around with spices and flavourings.

100g butter
1kg plain flour (we used an organic wheat flour type 110 – it was almost a very fine brown flour)
pinch salt
125 g currants
125 g sultanas
75 g prunes (we probably used more)
50 – 75 g sugar
really good 25g of fresh yeast (and yes, we found fresh yeast at the boulangerie)
2 eggs
425 ml tepid milk or milk and water
2 tablespoons sugar and water to glaze

Rub butter into sieved flour and salt. Add fruit and all but 1 teaspoon sugar.
Cream yeast with teaspoon of sugar, add to the beaten egs and warm milk and leave for 10 minutes in warm place till frothy
Add to the rest of the ingredients and mix to a dough
Knead on floured board
Leave to rise till doubled in size
Put into 2 large load tins (actually we used 2 x sprung bottom round cake tins)
Leave to prove 20 mins
Bake in centre of hot oven 425 – 450 F, 220 – 230 C, gas 6 – 7, reducing the heat after first 10 mins to 375F/190C/Gas 5, for 40 – 50 mins.
Brush with glaze made with sugar and water as soon as the loaves come of the oven.
Cool on wire tray.

There are also plenty of small museums that attest to the industrial heritage of the area – for example the Silk museum at Taulignan (www.musee-soie.fr), and the botanical museum at Buis les Baronnies which has an informative chronology of the developments of lavender and tilleul (linden flower) production (www.maisondesplantes.com).

Nyons has its own working lavender distillerie and shop (Distillerie Bleu Provence). And also in Nyons you can visit La Scourtinerie – hand crafted provencal rugs and baskets made from sisal / coir,

If you’ve got a sweet tooth – check out the Nougat at Montelimar – and its museum www.nougatsoubeyran.com. And Haribo has its factory – with visits – close to the Pont due Gard