Hidden St. Remy de Provence

St. Remy Nature Mid June 28.6.08

Many people visit St. Remy-de-Provence annually and when I see them checking their guide book, study the paintings for which the town is famous and swot up on the tourism map I want to take them by the hand and show them the Remy that I know. A Remy that is so delicate and subtle it is easily lost in the mix of shops, roman ruins, art, restaurants and café society.

Behind the St. Paul de Mausole Hospital is a field and beyond the tree line can be seen the Alpilles peaks that Van Gogh immortalised in his paintings. Take the well-worn track across the field towards the trees and stand there. The birds will welcome you with their song, a blackbird or a nightingale it doesn’t matter which. The olive grove beyond is overgrown and the trees are contorted with stunted growth. Between them you will see poppies, harebells, scabious, plants from the pea family, so numerous I can’t identify all of them. Probably nothing particularly rare but all growing in joyous profusion amongst the architectural grasses and the clinging vines that squabble for space against the black bark of ancient and bountiful trees. The sun is bright in the bleached sky as butterflies and moths run riot in the meadow flitting from one favoured spot to another. The field is a little gem of nature that is worth a pause in your itinary. You can say, “We did St. Remy-de-Provence” and know that you saw Nature at her best, chaotic, profuse and beautiful.