On the country of Aigues by bike (East)

Easy to spot thanks to its intense blue color, it can be seen on utility poles. It enjoys this vantage point in an open and sunny area to locate and dive down on its prey (large insects and lizards). It nests in tree cavities and leaves to spend winter in Africa when prey becomes rare, before returning in the spring.

Between Pertuis and Peypin-d'Aigues, in several places, you can see an accumulation of pebbles, pieces of rock torn from the mountains and slowly worn, rounded by their transport in a stream, a river. These pebbles correspond to the former course of a stream, a paleo-Eze flowing there, parallel to the current Eze but shifted 3 km to the east. We can also notice this ancient fossil valley across the landscape forming hills.

For lovers of Provençal flavors: on this great place, the brand "Marché Paysan" has been deposited by the Luberon Regional Nature Park. The goat cheeses are local productions, the fruits and vegetables are from the field "next door" and the honey has just been harvested. In these exhilarating markets, merchants are exclusively producers of the Park selling their own products (St-Martin-de-la-Brasque market on Sundays from May to October).

The village was built in 1506, and like Peypin-d'Aigues, it originated from an agreement between the lords and about fifteen Vaudoise families who agreed to come and repopulate fallow lands. The two villages complement each other: Peypin having a surplus of forests, and Saint-Martin of cultivable lands. During the persecutions of 1545, the village was looted and burned. St. Martin was one of the towns mentioned in the Edict of Merindol of May 20, 1545: It was enough to be a native of it to be sent to the galleys.

This religious building was built between 1626 and 1929 to replace the old ruined church, dedicated to Saint-Martin-de-Tours. Its small size and its remoteness from the village can be explained by too few Catholic families. The majority of the population being from the Canton of Vaud. Inside, the altarpiece dates back to the 18th century. The pointed barrel vault nave, terminated by a semi dome apse, makes it a building of unique architecture.

This typical village perched 350 meters up a steep hill has developed thanks to several factors offering an advantageous position. At the crossroads of Pertuis-Forcalquier-axes and Lauris Manosque, on top of a hill to dominate the valley of Eze and that relates to the plateau of Saint-Léger, a very fertile territory, but extensive and varied, combining funds moist valleys to some well-exposed slopes and broad course of forest pastures.

The village of Grambois orchard is set at the foot of the village, a scenic grounds with a restored loft. It is maintained jointly by the municipality, and Gramboisiens Gramboisiennes and the Regional Park of Luberon. This orchard helps perpetuate the culture of old varieties of fruit and gather a collection of 91 traditional varieties of the Luberon and Provence. A beautiful fruit heritage conservation!

On the square ramparts coexist several monuments such as the castle (stately home of the sixteenth century.), Notre-Dame de Beauvoir eleventh century. and the Fountain of Bartavelles, a real movie set has selected Yves Robert for his films. The village also has two sources bucolic character: Fontsausse and Fontvérane. Formerly necessary for life in the village, the roads serving them have kept track of their importance by taking their names.

Unique among our European birds of prey, this forest nesting species hunts reptiles (snakes and large lizards) by sight in open environments (garrigues, stones, fields, vines). It is a great migrant and spends the winter in the South of the Sahara desert. 1.80 meters wingspan, white belly, brown chest and flying characteristic, the short-toed snake eagle is easily noticeable if you pay attention. Here from March to September, this original raptor is a key element of our natural heritage.

From the end of spring, the "harvest flowers", known as messicole plants, give these colors to the Provencal fields that captivated Van Gogh so much. But the evolution of agriculture has led to the scarcity of these plants, biologically adapted to the open and disturbed (but untreated) environments that are cultivated lands. Thanks to the maintenance of a quality agricultural soil, adonis, cornflowers and large Venus's-looking-glass survive on the territory of the Park, for your viewing pleasure.

In 1992, a fire devastated 1,800 ha of forest and garrigue from Grambois to Beaumont-de-Pertuis. This sad event had a rare positive effect: The reopening of environments in the heart of the massif. This allowed species such as wild rabbits or certain passerines to regain their rights. At the same time, in order to perpetuate a large cut within the massif, which is essential in the strategy of fighting fires, a vast area grazed by the sheep has been restored.

Au carrefour de la rue du 19 mars 1962 et du cours Emile Pardé, un lavoir orné d’un joli triton en fonte attire le regard. Il est décoré de mosaïques récentes, portant l’inscription "vall". Une petite placette avec des bancs permet de s’y arrêter pour l’admirer tranquillement.

Située cours Pardé, cette fontaine impose avec son rocher moussu. Un système de rigole maçonné derrière la paroi de celle-ci alimente le lavoir situé sous la voûte juste à proximité. Le lavoir est composé de deux bassins ovoïdes et de deux barres d’égouttage. Le bac du fond servait au rinçage.

The construction of this village seems simple, a hillock (where the old demolished castle was located until 1970) surrounded by three rings in the shape of an ellipse. But Beaumont has an important and extraordinary underground heritage, each house is built on basements from the 13th century, or before. Some of modest size were used for the preservation of cheese, but others were buried real "gothic cathedrals" (private domain, impossible to visit).

La place Farnese tient son nom du village italien de Farnese, jumelé avec Beaumont-de-Pertuis depuis 1993. Située derrière la mairie, cette petite place accueille une jolie fontaine, aujourd’hui malheureusement à sec. Parmi les activités qui symbolisent ce jumelage, on peut citer le rallye cyclotouriste Beaumont-Farnese, une aventure de 800 km reliant les deux villages.

Since the Middle Ages, Mirabeau has benefited from a strategic position, thanks to its clue, a privileged passage to cross the Durance, allowing inhabitants to control the flow of people and goods. In the 16th century, a ferry was installed with the instatement of a right of passage, which allowed the village to prosper around its castle built in the 17th century. In the 15th century, the Mirabeau bridge was built, destroyed four times by the Durance but always rebuilt for its lucrative advantage.

High and medium voltage lines create a real danger for birds’ due to collisions and electrocutions. For large soaring birds (eagles, vultures, storks), these infrastructures represent one of the main causes of human-induced mortality. Solutions exist: The burying of power lines, the installation of beacons improving the visibility of the cables, the renewal of the most dangerous pylons, the creation of perches on them or their better isolation.

Despite its pretty crest that can be fan-shaped, the hoopoe is more often heard than seen, thanks to its easily recognizable song "houp-houp-houp". This insectivorous species uses its long-curved beak to extract larvae and cocoons from the soil. It frequents cultivated areas, vineyards, orchards or olive groves. Protected in France since 1981, this great migrant spends winter in Africa. A legend tells that hearing its song would be a sign of good harvests!

Protected since 1909, the European beaver lives in the Eze river further downstream since several years. 80cm long and 20 to 30kg, this nocturnal and aquatic mammal is a lumberjack, carpenter, joiner, miner and vegetarian, all together! With the construction of dams in drought, it contributes to the maintenance of plant and animal species related to the presence of water.

From the 14th century. the castle transferred out of the medieval settlement on the present site. A castle was built in the 15th century around the first dungeon But during the 16th century, the castle and gardens were extensively reworked and expanded to become one of the finest Renaissance buildings in Provence. It was unfortunately looted and burned during the Revolution. The few remains were gradually restored since the 19th century, but nevertheless testify to this rich history.