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'What images does France conjure up for you?
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'Now, for me, there are beautiful houses and gardens of all kinds,
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'but also glorious markets, street cafes
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'and some very formative experiences.'
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When I was 19, I came to the south of France
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and lived in Aix en Provence for six months and
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ever since then, I've loved France and everything to do with it.
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And I want to share that passion for the country with you
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through its gardens.
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'I'll discover what their gardens reveal about French history,
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'their love of food, the soil and the arts,
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'and why they value order and structure so highly.
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'I'll be travelling the byways of the French countryside...'
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This is what a 2CV was made for.
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'..meeting local gardeners...'
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Bonjour! Je m'appelle Monty.
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Bonjour. Enchante.
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'..tasting the very best of their harvest...'
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Sometimes this job is really good.
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'..getting to turn on huge fountains...'
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I can hear the water.
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'..and trying to find out what makes French gardens,
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'and indeed the French, unique.
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'Today, I'm looking into how the famous French love of food
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'translates into their kitchen gardens.
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'It's a busy weekday market in Aix en Provence.
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'Beneath the shade of the plane trees, the stalls are rich with
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'delicious-looking fruit and vegetables.'
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Ooh, I'd love a cherry.
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Bonjour. Des cerises, c'est combien?
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24.9.
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'This is not just for the tourists.'
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Merci.
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'Unlike the UK, where we buy more of our food from supermarkets,
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'about a third of French people still buy their fruit
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'and veg from markets like these.
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'The displays are all part of the shopping experience.'
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Look at that.
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That's just beautiful.
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Well, wouldn't you just want to have that at home?
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'40 years ago, when I first came here,
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'it was completely transforming.
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'I'd grown up in a Britain where the food was remorselessly dreary,
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'regarded as a bodily function rather than
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'one of life's great pleasures.'
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So to come here and be exposed to the market
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and all these incredible vegetables, and taste, and the smell of it all.
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And to eat food that I'd only heard about
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and then to connect that with the vegetables that
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I was already growing at home and realise that
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perhaps I could grow these, too.
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And the connection between what I was doing with my hands
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in the soil and what I was eating was life-changing.
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'Now, all these years later,
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'I want to see how these fabulous fruit and vegetables are grown.
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'The story of the French kitchen garden begins in
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'mediaeval monasteries and unfolds via the decadent vegetable gardens
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'of the grand chateau to modern-day rural smallholdings.
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'One in two French people regularly buy local produce, because the
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'attachment to the particular region and its soil still has real meaning.
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'I'm getting around in a little 2CV.
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'Of course, it's fun to drive
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'but, in fact, a 2CV is exactly the right car for the job.'
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They were developed before the last war as an agricultural vehicle.
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They were designed to take a farmer and his family,
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with a load of eggs, to market,
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across roughly ploughed ground without damaging the produce.
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That was the important thing. They had to be reliable and tough.
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And so it is the ideal car to drive around France
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looking for that connection between growing and gardens,
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food and the land.
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'My first port of call is in the rugged landscape of the Cevennes.
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'It's a remote and largely impoverished area
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'and many years ago, I made a long walk right across it.
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'But today, I'm here to visit a nunnery,
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'the Monastere de Sona, which is a first for me.'
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The reason I wanted to come to a monastery was because the root
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of vegetable-growing started in the monastic tradition,
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where nuns and monks would grow vegetables and herbs
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for the kitchen, and also for medicine,
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and also the process of doing it was a kind of prayer.
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It was a devotion.
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So that tradition actually continues through to the present day,
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but it starts, or started, in the monasteries.
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It's very difficult to contact them, they don't speak,
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you can only ring them once a week, so I hope to God they're there.
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I must remember not to blaspheme.
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Mustn't say "hope to God", or stuff like that.
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Can I hear footsteps?
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- Bonjour.
- Bonjour.
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- Je suis Monty.
- Pardon?
- Je m'appelle Monty.
- Bonjour.
- Bonjour.
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'Today is one of the rare days
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'when they break their silence to receive visitors.
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'There's been a monastery on this site since 1300
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'and the mother superior, who spoke perfect English, showed me around.'
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Our vegetable garden is very - how can we say that? - modest.
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And you can't say that it's exemplary from the aesthetic point of view.
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Excuse me. I'll just grab the hat.
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So how many of you work in this vegetable garden?
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'There are 16 nuns living here
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'and as well as a rigorous regime of prayer, they run a winery.
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'And they still manage to be almost entirely self sufficient.'
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You say it's modest - it's a big area. It's a big vegetable garden.
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- It is, it is.
- Lots of work.
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It is a lot of work but we are a lot of people eating here.
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A lot of people eating is one thing,
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you have to have a lot of people working.
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- As well.
- Yes.
- That's true.
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And these are courgettes, squashes or pumpkins?
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Yes, pumpkins, and courgettes. We have two kinds.
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Everything is sort of, like, mixed up.
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You've got lots.
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- We have about one ton production...
- One ton?
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- ..of pumpkins per year.
- What do you do with them?
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- We eat them through the whole winter.
- OK.
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'Ask a silly question.'
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I love all vegetables. I'm not bored, I'll look at anything.
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You'll look at anything?
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Here we have our cucumbers.
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So cucumbers, you see, growing so lushly and so well outside.
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We struggle to grow cucumbers outside.
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Would it be very rude if I cut one and tasted it?
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Oh, not at all.
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Oh, I'm dropping my phone, and my glasses.
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Everything always drops out of my pocket.
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I do it at home the whole time. So...
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It looks nice. Ah, it... Smell that.
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- Mmm. Refreshing.
- All cucumber freshness.
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So this...
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It's good, it's not quite ripe, but it's good. Want some?
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Yes, I would. Thanks a lot.
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Not quite ready, a little bit bitter.
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I'm afraid I've wasted it.
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It should have been in the soil a little bit longer.
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Don't worry.
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'I suspect that this monastic scene has changed little
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'since its mediaeval inception.
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'It has the same workmanlike mixture - fruit, vegetables and
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'medicinal herbs that set the model for all
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'subsequent French kitchen gardens.'
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This is for real.
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They do not grow vegetables because they like the experience or
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because it peps up their diet.
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They grow vegetables because that is what they eat,
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and if they don't grow them, they don't eat,
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and their choice of vegetables is influenced by that.
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There's an awful lot of things that will store well,
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a lot of things that grow well here.
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They can't afford to play at it in any sense of the word.
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So there is an edge to this,
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a kind of really deep survival seriousness,
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which they seem to go through with extraordinary grace.
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But these are very hard-working, efficient, busy people.
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BELL RINGS
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'A bell marks the start of the brief 20-minute break
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'allocated for dinner, and I join the nuns to share their home-grown meal.
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'The food is simple but good.
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'Though alas, it's not a saint's day, so no wine.
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'And everyone tucks in with gusto, accompanied by devotional reading.
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'The highly practical mediaeval monastic gardens led to
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'the development of the potager -
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'the French style of kitchen gardening
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'where looks matter as much as the quality or quantity
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'of food that's grown.
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'And I'm visiting a beautiful example in the Luberon,
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'a couple of hours east of the Cevennes.
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'After the un-manicured harshness of the Cevennes,
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'the Luberon seems more affluent.
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'The sun is still scorching.
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'My little car isn't made for long, hot journeys.'
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GEARS GRIND
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A classic 2CV experience, caught between two gears.
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'I've come to the vineyard of Val Joanis,
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'near Pertuis, to visit its ornate potager...
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'..where flowers elegantly combine with fruit and vegetables.'
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That is a healthy, happy hollyhock.
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Just shows you what they like -
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lots and lots of sunshine.
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'The word "potager" comes from the French "potage", meaning soup,
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'and originally referred to the patch where the ingredients were
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'grown for the bowl of soup that was the mainstay
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'of most people's midday meal.
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'But this has evolved to become something much more elaborate,
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'and as meticulously controlled as the vines that grow
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'all around the garden here at Val Joanis.'
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All the skills and discipline of growing
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and training vines can be seen in this garden.
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They have oak trees trained and growing as
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very tight strict triangles.
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In fact, there's some oak trees over there,
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which are just thin little columns
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with finials on top and joining in lattice work.
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And the whole thing, the whole garden, is a display,
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an expression of the skills of man in controlling plants.
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And that, really, is the root of the French potager.
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It's controlling food production so not only it looks good,
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but it does what it's told.
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'So this garden takes the idea of a monastic garden
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'and then turns it on its head.
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'Rather than existing to grow enough food to see you through winter,
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'it is an ostentatious demonstration of wealth, power and taste.
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'This style of gardening began in the north of France,
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'but before I head off that way, I want to try
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'and get to grips with the French love of soil.'
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OK, let's have a look.
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'My guide is Arnaud, Val Joanis' wine-maker, or vigneron.'
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Very dry.
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This year is very dry.
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'The key to this respect for the soil is the word "terroir",
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'which is an almost mystical combination of soil and place.
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'It gives every wine its distinct local character.'
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The soil here is very dry, bone dry.
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- Clay?
- Clay.
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- Any lime?
- Lime.
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And how important is it?
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- You must know the soil, you must know the climate.
- Yeah.
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And is that something you have to grow up with,
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or can you learn it from a book?
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No. You can't.... It's the...
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- The feeling?
- ..The feeling.
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'So how does this alchemy of soil, sun and the vine
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'distil itself into a glass?'
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Mmm. Gosh!
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So here we are, in Provence, beautiful day, a fine wine, cheers.
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Cheers.
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'Terroir is an elusive concept
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'but it is at the heart of the French relationship with their food.
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'We'll see how it applies to growing vegetables and other fruit later.'
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- Your soil is so stony.
- Yes, we have a lot of stones.
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- You have masses!
- Yes, but it's very good.
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'But now it's time to leave the sunshine for a while,
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'head north and visit the most famous potager in the world.
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'This is the Chateau of Villandry in the Loire Valley -
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'500 miles away from Provence and another climate entirely.
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'This garden, which looks very old, was in fact only created just
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'over 100 years ago, based on the notion of what the kitchen garden
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'might have been like when the chateau was in
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'its Renaissance heyday in the 16th century.
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'On my way to find the head gardener, I get distracted
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'and bedazzled by the sheer number of celery seedlings.'
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39, 40.
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So there are 40 times four trays, that's 160 trays,
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and each tray takes 20.
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So that's 3,200 pots. How about that?
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'I find Laurent in the lovely 18th-century greenhouse,
246
00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,680
'shaped like an upturned boat, potting up peppers.'
247
00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:37,560
So how many plants do you raise here for the potager?
248
00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:44,320
70,000.
249
00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:57,640
Of the 140,000 plants, how much is eaten?
250
00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:59,400
How much is grown to eat?
251
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:43,800
'The produce from this potager is not destined for potage,
252
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,200
'or any other kind of meal. Everything here is for show.
253
00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,520
'In fact, Laurent told me that the vast majority of vegetables
254
00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:53,520
'end up on the compost heap,
255
00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:56,200
'including no less than 30,000 lettuces.
256
00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:02,200
'It's been suggested that, in the 16th century, it was intended
257
00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:07,240
'as a display of the exotic plants newly arrived from the Americas.
258
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:09,760
'A kind of edible cabinet of curiosities
259
00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,680
'to be proudly displayed to visitors,
260
00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,200
'which is exactly what it is today.'
261
00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,080
Of course, Villandry has always been popular and very well known,
262
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:24,400
but it became especially popular in Britain in the 1980s, I think,
263
00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:29,920
because up until then, the model for aspiring vegetable growers
264
00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:33,840
and social climbers was the Victorian walled garden,
265
00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:38,120
and inside that walled garden you had your vegetables in long rows.
266
00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:43,400
And then in the 1980s, Rosemary Verey made the potager really popular,
267
00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:48,320
and that word entered into gardening fashionable talk.
268
00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:51,440
"How's your potager?" they would say in Hackney and Islington.
269
00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,840
And the difference was that you chose your vegetables
270
00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,240
and you laid them out for decorative purposes.
271
00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,040
You still ate them, and you still wanted to grow them well,
272
00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:05,040
but decoration and little box hedges became part of the scene.
273
00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:10,840
And, of course, the model of all that, the big daddy of all potagers, was here at Villandry.
274
00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:18,760
'The potager is only part of a much bigger and wonderful garden at
275
00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:21,920
'Villandry, but its ornamental rigour sets the tone
276
00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:24,200
'for the whole place.'
277
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:26,240
Here, the herb garden,
278
00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:29,800
and even plants like horseradish has
279
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:35,440
had its leaves trimmed off, all uniform size and length.
280
00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,960
And lovage, which in my garden is an explosion of a plant,
281
00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,240
six foot tall and bursting out all over the place,
282
00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:46,280
is marshalled into a sort of tight, orderly battalion.
283
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,440
There's no question, to my mind,
284
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:59,200
that Villandry is one of the great gardens of the world.
285
00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,360
And if you're in France and if you have any interest in gardens,
286
00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:04,160
come here.
287
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:08,560
But I find the potager disappointing.
288
00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:10,720
It leaves me unsettled.
289
00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:15,520
And I think that's because function and form have grown too far apart.
290
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,480
Where vegetables are not grown to eat at all,
291
00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:22,120
something really essential is lost.
292
00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:25,360
There's no sense of becoming, of growing, of evolving.
293
00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:29,080
And then, of course, the pleasure and excitement of harvest.
294
00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:32,800
And if it's all just grown to be a static picture,
295
00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,800
it's just not enough, and of course it needn't be vegetables.
296
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,280
It could be coloured glass or waxworks,
297
00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,520
and that would give exactly the same effect.
298
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,360
'Nevertheless, with its box-hedged beds containing uniform ranks
299
00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:49,240
'of ornamental vegetables, there are a thousand gardens
300
00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:51,840
'around the world, including my own,
301
00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,440
'that owe a direct debt to Villandry.'
302
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,560
That's it, we're cresting the wave, will I get to the top?
303
00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:07,000
- We're just about to do it/ Yes!
- GEARS CREAK
304
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:08,640
Ooh, Gawd! Broken.
305
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:11,800
There we are.
306
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:13,600
There are 15 cars behind me.
307
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:15,000
HE LAUGHS
308
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:20,320
'I'm on my way to a potager near Paris that grows and sells a huge
309
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,520
'amount of produce and, I think, should be much better than known.
310
00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:29,680
'Every year, hundreds of thousands of tours flock to Versailles,
311
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,760
'home of France's most flamboyant ruler, Louis XIV.
312
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:37,160
'He commissioned the magnificent gardens here,
313
00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:38,800
'which we saw last week.
314
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:42,280
'But hardly any of these visitors go just round the corner
315
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:44,600
'from the palace to another of these creations,
316
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,480
'which, in its own way, is just as extravagant.
317
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:52,440
This is the potager du roi at Versailles,
318
00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,280
made for the Sun King, Louis XIV, in the 17th century,
319
00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:58,920
and they've been growing fruit and vegetables here ever since.
320
00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:07,160
'The place is just huge, covering over 23 acres of walled garden,
321
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,200
'created to supply the King with fruit and vegetables that he adored.
322
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:17,400
'I met up with Antoine Jacobsen, who is the current head gardener.'
323
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,080
- How many people work here?
- There are ten permanent gardeners.
324
00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:25,360
- Oh. So not that many.
- No, not enough.
325
00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:27,120
THEY LAUGH
326
00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:30,840
'The potager du roi is a superb demonstration of one of France's
327
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:35,120
'great contributions to horticulture - elaborate pruning -
328
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:39,640
'which is based upon the principle of restricting growth while keeping
329
00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:44,600
'as much fruit as possible, and making it look as good as possible.'
330
00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:47,520
Most of the trees that we have in this garden are 19th century.
331
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,160
There's one just over there that is late 18th century.
332
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,240
- Which one? Show me.
- Right here.
333
00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:58,240
- Oh, this one.
- Yes. This one here.
334
00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:03,400
- Which you never see in Britain.
- In this case, for this shape,
335
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,920
the idea is to have as much light get into the tree as possible,
336
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:10,120
so that we have fruit along all the branches.
337
00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:14,600
If you want this branch to have some light, we have to take this one off
338
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,800
and leave this one, so that the top one can continue to be vigorous.
339
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:24,760
Every branch, every stem needs consideration?
340
00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:29,640
Each tree gets individual attention. Each tree has to be understood.
341
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,520
''Until the end of the 18th century, all pruning was limited
342
00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,000
'by what could be achieved with a single bladed,
343
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,760
'curved pruning knife, a serpette.
344
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:44,280
'But then the secateurs were invented, by a Frenchman of course.'
345
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:48,360
It was the curved blade and the fact you could use just one hand
346
00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:51,640
meant you could put your hand in, holding a pair of secateurs,
347
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,360
and make a very precise cut on quite floppy material.
348
00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:00,040
And that had the effect of refining pruning
349
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,840
and changing the shapes that were produced.
350
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:05,080
So, by the mid-19th century,
351
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:09,080
people were pruning their fruit into much more ornate
352
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:14,520
and sometimes really fantastical shapes, all because they could.
353
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:20,320
'This potager works for me in a way that Villandry doesn't,
354
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:24,440
'and this is precisely because it IS a working garden.
355
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:26,120
'Form and function meet.
356
00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:28,640
'And nowadays, when the fruit is harvested,
357
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,000
'it's sold at the garden gates to passers-by.
358
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,200
'That's what a revolution can do for you.
359
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:40,280
'The decorative potager is France's most famous kitchen garden tradition,
360
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,280
'but the urge to grow one's food is deep in the French psyche.'
361
00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:50,320
INDISTINCT SPEECH
362
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,200
'These are the jardins ouvriers, or worker's gardens,
363
00:24:57,200 --> 00:24:59,560
'in one of the poorest districts of Paris.
364
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,120
'Over 40% of those out of work or retired
365
00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:03,920
'grow some produce for their table.
366
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:07,720
'As in Britain, the allotment movement followed
367
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,080
'the drift of workers coming from the country to the city,
368
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,760
'bringing with them the skills and experience of growing food.
369
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,880
'Eliane D'aviot has had her plot longer than most,
370
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:21,160
'and I'm paying her a visit.'
371
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:22,320
Bonjour.
372
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,200
THEY LAUGH
373
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:35,800
Je m'appelle Monty.
374
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,680
OK, I won't slip, don't worry.
375
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:40,840
Bonjour monsieur. Vous allez bien?
376
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,680
Je crois que vous jardiner ici pour 40 ans.
377
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,880
C'est formidable. Et vous avez des fleurs?
378
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,080
- THEY LAUGH
- You share it.
379
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,040
'It strikes me that Eliane's allotment shares as much
380
00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:26,480
'with its British counterpart as it does with the French potager.'
381
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,040
Ohh, merci!
382
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:38,920
THEY LAUGH
383
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,680
Merci, madame. Vous etes tres gentille.
384
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:49,480
- Au revoir!
- Au revoir. Et merci beaucoup!
- Merci a vous!
385
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:52,880
Au revoir!
386
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:54,120
SHE LAUGHS
387
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,840
Oh, that feels like a jar.
388
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:05,840
A-ha!
389
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:08,880
So nice of her.
390
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,720
Chutney...I think.
391
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,880
Prunes. 2011.
392
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,640
Prune...actually jam, it looks like.
393
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:26,080
There is something about the freemasonry of gardeners,
394
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:30,360
and particularly of allotmenteers, that transcends nation and age
395
00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:36,800
and circumstance, and it's just filled with a kind of benign,
396
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,320
easy generosity.
397
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,640
And, of course, it makes me feel like a bit of a heel.
398
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:44,800
Let's see what else I've got.
399
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,800
Turning up and taking gifts, not leaving anything in return,
400
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,400
but actually, it sows the seed of something good.
401
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:55,520
There's other pots of jam in there, there's all kinds of things.
402
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:56,840
And me a stranger.
403
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,800
And actually, the goodwill that produces does ripple through
404
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:05,960
and, you know, there's something about allotments
405
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,920
and places that is a sort of lingua franca.
406
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,400
It's different. All the flowers and trees are different to any allotment
407
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:15,320
I've seen in England.
408
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,480
But you know where you are, you feel at home.
409
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,440
'Like most of her fellow allotmenteers,
410
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,600
'Eliane was not born in Paris.
411
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:28,600
'The allotments are the urban version of a tradition that
412
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,240
'comes from the deep rural heart of France, which is nowadays
413
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:36,520
'found most readily here, back down in the south.
414
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:55,200
'It's easy to underestimate how very different these two cultures are.
415
00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,320
'If the classic kitchen garden of the north is
416
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,520
'a rich man's decorative potager, then the south has
417
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,640
'the productive plot of the paysan to support his family
418
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:07,600
'off their small piece of land.
419
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:14,080
'I've come back to the Cervennes to visit a couple I got to know,
420
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:18,240
'who have a 21st-century version of the paysan way of life.'
421
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,240
One of the things that fascinates me
422
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,320
is that paysan, or peasant,
423
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,760
is an honourable state in France, whereas if you call someone
424
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,640
a peasant in England, you're not really being flattering.
425
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:39,520
The peasant culture was very simply living off the land.
426
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,960
The peasants were people who fed themselves
427
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,840
and fertilised their fields and looked after their animals
428
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:49,680
off the land they had.
429
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,360
It might have been very small indeed.
430
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,360
Now, do I go left or right? I think I go left.
431
00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:02,040
And that still remains something that the French practise and,
432
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,760
more importantly, respect.
433
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:10,480
And all their food culture stems from that.
434
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,280
That you grow your food on the patch of land you have.
435
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:21,280
'This is le jardin des Sambucs, hewn by Nicolas and Agnes Bruckin
436
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:25,800
'out of rocky land, which was once her grandmother's chicken run.
437
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:27,480
'They have a small cafe here
438
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,840
'and grow almost all the food for it themselves.'
439
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,080
Here we are, this is where I'm supposed to go.
440
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,240
CAR HORN BEEPS
441
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:38,640
I think I'm blocking the road. OK.
442
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,040
Pardon!
443
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,280
Here we are. Gosh, it's grown.
444
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,200
- Nicolas!
- Monty! How are you?
445
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:58,040
I'm very well. Very nice to see you. You've got your tooth as well.
446
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,840
Yes! Took a long time. I have it now.
447
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,640
- You look very handsome.
- Ah, you remember that.
448
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,640
When I came here last time, Nicolas was missing one front tooth,
449
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,360
and he looked very dashing and dramatic.
450
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,080
- I was looking like a pirate.
- You were!
451
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,040
How are you, Monty?
452
00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:24,320
- Tres bien! It's very nice to see you.
- Not too hot?
- It is hot.
453
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:27,040
- It's going to be very hot.
- Is it, is it?
454
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:32,960
'The Cervennes has long attracted an alternative lifestyle,
455
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:38,520
'and the garden does have a touch of the hippy about it.
456
00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:42,480
'But there's a real charm in the stone paths that corkscrew
457
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:46,200
'round the slopes and the loose, untrammelled planting.
458
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,480
'The garden nestles into the wild landscape that surrounds it
459
00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:00,920
'and provides precious shade in the searing sun,
460
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,920
'but unlike the elaborate decorative potagers of the north,
461
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,080
'the vegetables are grown separately, on a plot down the road.
462
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:15,840
'It's 40 degrees today and yet, last winter, it went down to minus 17.'
463
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:20,280
Voila, little bit of air.
464
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:22,760
- There is a breeze.
- A little bit.
465
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:26,920
'And yet Nicolas manages to grow all the fruit and vegetables
466
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,680
'for their family and for their small cafe.
467
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,680
'I want to see how he goes about it.'
468
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:36,840
Strawberries.
469
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:38,720
Have they been good this year?
470
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:43,640
Yeah. Perfect, perfect. Strawberries like a cold winter.
471
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,280
- Cold winter, hot summer.
- Yes.
472
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:49,240
- And water.
- And water.
473
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,000
What variety is this?
474
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,800
That's "Mara du Bois".
475
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,720
"Mara du Bois"? Very good. I grow "Mara du Bois".
476
00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:58,680
My "Mara du Bois" not as good.
477
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:05,880
Slightly perfumed.
478
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:11,360
Mm, lovely.
479
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:15,360
Look, your soil is so stony.
480
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:18,560
- Yes, we get a lot of stones.
- Masses of stones.
481
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:20,440
But that's very good.
482
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:22,280
Because it heats.
483
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,240
- The stone heats up?
- Heats up the earth.
484
00:34:25,240 --> 00:34:26,960
And it keeps the water, also.
485
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:32,280
We have a natural mulch. Stones are very good for mulching.
486
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,360
But quite hard work.
487
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:39,800
Yes, it's not an easy soil, yes.
488
00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:45,080
They used to say, where I live, they say,
489
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:46,920
"Your soil will break your back,
490
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:51,080
"maybe break your heart, but never break your bank balance."
491
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,800
Ah, very nice.
492
00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:56,960
I like your tools.
493
00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,440
- Yes.
- What do you call this?
494
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,040
This is a sappe.
495
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:06,040
We say mattock. Where I come from, it's called a stocker.
496
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:07,880
And what do you do with that?
497
00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:09,440
You chop weeds.
498
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,000
Ah, the weeds. It must be more sharp.
499
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:15,520
Yeah, like that, or you turn the soil over.
500
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,840
- OK,
- OK. Like that.
501
00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:21,600
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
- It digs, it's good.
502
00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:26,960
But here we have this one. This is a special one.
503
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:28,600
That's good, that's heavy.
504
00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:33,400
- It's called a bigot.
- A bigot?
- A bigot. Here, everybody has one.
505
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:35,360
Everyone has one?
506
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:38,760
In England, you'd very rarely see that. Nice.
507
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:43,160
- Typical for here.
- It's heavy.
- Yes.
- Hard work.
- Yes.
508
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:49,480
Hard work, it's quite a hard land, so it goes together.
509
00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,080
This goes very well. This is a broken one.
510
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,080
Like that.
511
00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,120
'Nicolas doesn't just grow strawberries.
512
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,640
'He cultivates everything, from potatoes to aubergines,
513
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,280
'via 15 different varieties of tomatoes, and it's all organic.'
514
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:10,000
Do you grow all the vegetables or do you buy some in?
515
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,160
We buy some in at the beginning of the season,
516
00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:16,360
because we grow most of ours, but at the beginning of the season
517
00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,320
we had to buy a few because we don't have any plastic tunnels.
518
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:24,400
What about in winter, when you have very cold, harsh weather?
519
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:27,120
Do you have enough vegetables for yourselves?
520
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:32,520
Oh, yes, we have our potatoes, our poireaux, to make soup.
521
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:36,680
Soup every day. Midday and in the evening.
522
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,080
It makes me hungry to think about it.
523
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:42,560
And then we eat a little more meat in winter
524
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,440
to get a bit fatter, to pass the winter.
525
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,880
'The way that Nicolas coaxes so much from this difficult soil
526
00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:53,200
'and climate is truly impressive.
527
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:57,640
'It seems to me to be the embodiment of modern paysan self-sufficiency.
528
00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:03,120
'And then Agnes transforms it all into a pretty plateful.'
529
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,000
Oh, that looks so beautiful.
530
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:12,080
Let's have a small meal after this walk in the gardens.
531
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:13,520
Let's!
532
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:18,040
These are goat's cheese,
533
00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:20,560
rolled in menthe.
534
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:22,480
- And those lovely flowers.
- Voila.
535
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,400
- Very good.
- OK.
- Good.
536
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:44,720
'The trend here, as in the UK, is for merging smaller farms to
537
00:37:44,720 --> 00:37:48,080
'create larger ones, although more than a quarter of French farmers
538
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,640
'still own less than 15 acres.
539
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,600
'Most of Nicolas's neighbours grow just one thing,
540
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,280
the speciality of the region.
541
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,360
'I've come to the other side of the valley to meet his friend Bruno
542
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:01,000
'to take a look.'
543
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:57,480
Oui!
544
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:14,680
Au revoir.
545
00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:22,040
'Bruno harvests his entire crop of onions by hand in August
546
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:25,560
'and sells them via a small local co-operative.'
547
00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:27,560
Interesting what Bruno was saying,
548
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:32,240
because he's the fifth generation of his family to grow onions here.
549
00:39:32,240 --> 00:39:35,000
- And also what I find amazing...
- BELL RINGS
550
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,200
- That's nice, to hear a bell.
- BELL RINGS
551
00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:50,560
That's the 6.05 bell.
552
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:58,360
What I find amazing is that not only are onions produced in this
553
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,560
very specific region that are acknowledged to be
554
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:06,440
the finest in France, but also, they have no rotation.
555
00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:09,520
There have been onions on these terraces continuously
556
00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:11,480
for over 100 years.
557
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:13,880
And they still grow wonderfully well.
558
00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:22,160
'I love the idea of terroir. That specific combination of place,
559
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:26,280
'soil and climate, which means that one location can produce onions
560
00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:30,320
'distinct from anywhere else and, of course, it's not just onions.'
561
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:33,560
This is really interesting.
562
00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:38,080
Here you've got strawberries from Carpentras and from the Ardeche
563
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:40,760
and then a different variety there.
564
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:44,160
Now, the English gardener is really familiar with growing
565
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:48,000
different varieties of strawberry and choosing which one they want.
566
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,920
But the English shopper tends to just buy strawberries.
567
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:56,120
And the real difference with France is that the housewives, the chefs,
568
00:40:56,120 --> 00:41:00,640
the consumer, will very deliberately select the variety, or the region
569
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:04,960
the food comes from, with the same care that we grow it in England.
570
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,320
- Deux euro?
- Deux euro.
571
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:19,520
- Merci beaucoup.
- Merci.
572
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:24,480
They're said to be exceptionally fragrant and they really are.
573
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:32,600
You know how, with a strawberry, there's that moment of bliss
574
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,600
when you realise it's not just as good as you thought it was
575
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:37,600
going to be, but a lot better?
576
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:53,000
'This love of provenance and terroir is still alive in modern France.
577
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:56,880
'26% of farms have disappeared in the last ten years,
578
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,480
'mostly smallholdings being absorbed by larger farms
579
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:03,640
'and for these small farms, it can prove a lifeline.
580
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:07,280
'The Dordogne, for example, used to be a major tobacco-growing area
581
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,120
'but now farmers have had to adapt.
582
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:15,840
'The Boyer family in Carsac-Aillac,
583
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:19,560
'like many others, are using the land for a regional speciality.
584
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,120
'I've come to see Thierry Boyer
585
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:26,440
'in the old tobacco fields by the river.'
586
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:28,000
- Bonjour.
- Bonjour.
587
00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:09,920
HE LAUGHS
588
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:28,560
Oui, c'est vrais.
589
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:35,440
- A vous.
- Merci.
590
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:38,960
Go in underneath, on the side.
591
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:41,120
Until I feel it.
592
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:43,600
There it is. I missed.
593
00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:49,400
- Voila!
- Good!
594
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:53,440
I'm going to have another go now.
595
00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:56,160
'These white asparagus are more expensive than
596
00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:57,760
'our own green asparagus.'
597
00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:01,040
OK, in here.
598
00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:04,240
'The French love them and will pay accordingly.'
599
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:19,840
Tres bon.
600
00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:24,280
Light, drains well, rich...
601
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,520
'But what's also interesting about these asparagus
602
00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:35,280
'is that they are organic.
603
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,120
' "Bio", as the French call it.
604
00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:39,440
'And the amount of bio production has more than
605
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:41,520
'doubled in the last ten years.'
606
00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:45,000
That's probably a one-way road. Who cares?
607
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:50,000
'There's one statistic that I find truly ambitious.
608
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:52,520
'The French spend more time eating
609
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:55,800
'and drinking than anyone else in the Western world.
610
00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:01,000
'So I want to see what happens when you marry the traditional values
611
00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:04,480
'of self-sufficiency and respect for local varieties
612
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:08,320
'with modern organic production in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
613
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:12,160
'There is, however, a minor hitch.
614
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,760
'I've run out of cash to pay the ferry man.'
615
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:16,480
Pardon!
616
00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:24,480
There is something about going by ferry,
617
00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:27,080
even if you're just going across a little waterway,
618
00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:31,040
a river. It's exciting. It's an unmodern thing to do.
619
00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:32,720
It's an adventure.
620
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:37,080
I don't know what you expect to happen at the other end
621
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:38,440
but it's different.
622
00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:41,560
Life is going to change somehow. And it's so short.
623
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,520
I've got to get back in the car or I'll be left stranded here.
624
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:46,480
That was fun. That was good.
625
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,320
'Although I couldn't pay the fare,
626
00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:57,240
'I was allowed across the River Rhone on my way to the Camargue.
627
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:05,160
'This is the dead-flat, marshy stretch of land that merges
628
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:07,320
'into the Mediterranean,
629
00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:10,960
'famous for its wild rice and white horses,
630
00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:13,360
'and I've come here to visit a restaurant with
631
00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:16,920
'an unusually intimate relationship with its kitchen garden.'
632
00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:21,320
Now, this is the reason that I've come to the Camargue,
633
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:25,600
because this restaurant, La Chassagnette, is bio,
634
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:28,560
meaning it's organic. It grows all its own veg,
635
00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:32,120
and was one of the first organic restaurants to get a Michelin star.
636
00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:39,720
'As the guests eat, they look out onto a garden that not only provides
637
00:46:39,720 --> 00:46:42,760
'most of the ingredients for their meal, but is also lovely.'
638
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:46,480
Nice to see the cosmos. This is cosmos "Dazzler".
639
00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:50,280
Actually, funnily enough, just before coming out here,
640
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:53,040
I planted mine out back home, they're nothing like as big.
641
00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:57,560
But look at the way the new flower is that very rich reddy colour,
642
00:46:57,560 --> 00:47:01,160
almost plum, and it fades to a pink.
643
00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:04,400
It looks lovely just scattered through the vegetables.
644
00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:17,160
I'm looking for Claude, the gardener.
645
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:19,200
Claude!
646
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:23,680
- Bonjour.
- Bonjour!
- Ca va?
- Ca va! Et tois?
- Oui, tres bien.
647
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,160
- Oui.
- CLAUDE LAUGHS
648
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:31,560
- Ca va bien?
- Ca va.
649
00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:33,680
Voila! Des tomates.
650
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:43,320
Wow!
651
00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:45,480
Tu vois, regarde des tomates.
652
00:48:08,880 --> 00:48:15,800
What that has, it has a tenderness to touch
653
00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:19,160
that you never get in an English tomato
654
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:21,640
because they never get that ripe.
655
00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:24,400
English tomatoes tend to be much firmer.
656
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:29,440
And although it may look less than perfect, I can tell you,
657
00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:32,920
I just want to bite into that and the taste is fantastic.
658
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:34,680
This is enormous!
659
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:41,600
That is a whopper.
660
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:45,240
It's the size of a great big baking apple, or small melon.
661
00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:51,160
And of course, what you have is the warmth of the sun.
662
00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:58,440
A cold tomato has far less taste, and this smells of days of sunshine.
663
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:02,120
La chair de la tomate.
664
00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:04,800
The flesh.
665
00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:08,640
The flesh here is really solid.
666
00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:12,000
There's no sort of wet pippy section.
667
00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:13,480
THEY LAUGH
668
00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:17,840
It's got body. This is a muscular tomato.
669
00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:20,080
This has been in the weights room,
670
00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:24,480
pumping iron, and the result, it's like a watermelon in scale.
671
00:49:28,720 --> 00:49:32,160
It's got a different texture. It's very, very nice. Lovely.
672
00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:38,480
'These tomatoes go from the vine to the kitchen in minutes.
673
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:39,920
'No food could be fresher.'
674
00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:46,400
Hello, Armand? Bonjour. How are you?
675
00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:48,240
Very good.
676
00:49:48,240 --> 00:49:50,400
So, what are you cooking today?
677
00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:53,280
Today, we have fish with tomatoes.
678
00:49:54,600 --> 00:50:00,560
So we have these tomatoes in olive oil.
679
00:50:00,560 --> 00:50:05,000
- So that's just olive oil?
- Olive oil and basil.
680
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:08,920
- And the basil is from the garden?
- Yes.
681
00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:11,840
- Go ahead.
- Really? OK.
682
00:50:19,080 --> 00:50:20,440
Superb.
683
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:24,440
Just put the fish in the olive oil, like this.
684
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:29,920
This tomato will now be used as a seasoning.
685
00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:33,480
Does it matter which variety you use for this?
686
00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:36,720
Today it's "Noire de Crimee" we're using.
687
00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:39,920
Because we want not too acid... but concentrated,
688
00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:42,400
a lot of density in the tomatoes.
689
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,920
- So you choose your variety for the dish?
- Of course.
690
00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:48,560
I also prepared some onions.
691
00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:51,960
And that is, so far, all from the garden?
692
00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:54,280
Everything's from the garden.
693
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:59,160
So, when you organise your menu, do you see what's in the garden?
694
00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:00,840
Exactly.
695
00:51:02,720 --> 00:51:06,080
We can say it's the garden who detects...
696
00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:08,600
what's going to be in the menu.
697
00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:15,360
The idea is to have a restaurant who helps the garden,
698
00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:19,520
- and not the garden for the restaurant.
- That's unusual, isn't it?
699
00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:23,280
- Yes.
- As a gardener, someone who grows food, that is wonderful,
700
00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:26,800
because when you're cooking at home, you're going into the garden,
701
00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:30,440
you see what's good. You gather it and you cook it.
702
00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:34,280
It's the garden that decides what's it's going to be for you.
703
00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:38,920
At home, did your parents grow vegetables?
704
00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:43,800
No, but my grandparents used to sell vegetables in the market.
705
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:47,000
- So vegetables are always part of my life.
- Very good.
706
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:49,760
I'll let you get on, I know you're going to be very busy,
707
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:52,560
- but thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- Fascinating.
708
00:51:55,720 --> 00:51:59,640
'This place is a perfect example of how the directness of
709
00:51:59,640 --> 00:52:03,640
'paysan culture can be maintained and celebrated
710
00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:07,600
'without compromising the highest culinary standards.
711
00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:15,400
'It's been a fascinating journey, from the self-sufficiency
712
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:19,800
'of the nuns to the embellishment of Val Joanis
713
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:22,320
'to the uncomplicated flavours of the Cevennes.'
714
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:25,720
Lovely.
715
00:52:25,720 --> 00:52:30,200
'And I've seen how the French love of order and control turns
716
00:52:30,200 --> 00:52:35,320
'pruning into a fine art, vegetables into formal bedding.
717
00:52:35,320 --> 00:52:38,440
'And there's no doubt that the French passion for food
718
00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:41,800
'goes hand in hand with a pride in terrior,
719
00:52:41,800 --> 00:52:45,680
'and an appreciation that choosing the particular and specific
720
00:52:45,680 --> 00:52:49,360
'will always translate into the best you can eat.'
721
00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:51,000
C'est bon.
722
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:55,480
'But it's time to pay a visit to the French kitchen garden that I think
723
00:52:55,480 --> 00:52:59,920
'combines all these qualities into one triumphant performance.
724
00:52:59,920 --> 00:53:03,320
'It is in Berry, which is in la France profonde,
725
00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:05,120
'right in the middle of the country.
726
00:53:08,240 --> 00:53:11,480
'I think this place succeeds in marrying the virtues of
727
00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:15,600
'a high level of productivity, theatrical and playful display
728
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:20,720
'and the French delight in their food, all in one glorious garden.
729
00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:29,240
'The potager at the ancient monastery of
730
00:53:29,240 --> 00:53:33,320
'Priorie Notre-Dame d'Orsan is only 20 years old,
731
00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:37,240
'but it takes its inspiration from the site,
732
00:53:37,240 --> 00:53:40,480
'and the tenets of mediaeval monastic gardens
733
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:43,640
'where everything should be both useful and beautiful.'
734
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:51,160
This is a block of wheat growing in the lawn.
735
00:53:51,160 --> 00:53:56,400
You might think that that is quirky, fun, a little bit eccentric,
736
00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:58,400
but actually it's very, very practical.
737
00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:01,400
Like everything else in this garden, it's grown to eat.
738
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:04,960
It'll be harvested, and the grains will be ground and made into bread.
739
00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:09,960
And there's no reason why you can't grow anything edible in a garden.
740
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:12,880
There isn't an area that's suitable for farming
741
00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:15,160
and an area that's suitable for gardening.
742
00:54:15,160 --> 00:54:16,880
The two can come together.
743
00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:19,720
And I think that gives an energy to a garden.
744
00:54:19,720 --> 00:54:21,400
If you're really going to use it,
745
00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:24,160
you're really going to grow it as well as you can.
746
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:26,800
But here, whether it's eaten or not,
747
00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:30,400
everything down to the protection around the crop,
748
00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:35,280
down to the little snails on top of the bamboo, must look good.
749
00:54:40,240 --> 00:54:42,200
'The owner, Patrice Taravella,
750
00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:44,520
'is an architect turned garden designer.
751
00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:46,160
'And he's asked me to lunch.'
752
00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:51,680
- Lovely, that looks very good.
- I hope you like the vegetables.
753
00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:53,760
I love vegetables.
754
00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:55,680
All these from the garden?
755
00:54:55,680 --> 00:54:57,680
All is from the garden, yes.
756
00:54:58,960 --> 00:55:02,440
How did you begin the garden here?
757
00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:05,560
Perhaps, WHY did you begin the garden here?
758
00:55:05,560 --> 00:55:10,360
The first summer, it was so warm, so hot,
759
00:55:10,360 --> 00:55:13,720
that I felt we had to plant a tree because we need shade.
760
00:55:15,240 --> 00:55:18,480
It was...everywhere was rain, we had no roof,
761
00:55:18,480 --> 00:55:20,800
no shade everywhere, and we want shade.
762
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:25,160
And one tree, two trees, three trees and then...
763
00:55:25,160 --> 00:55:28,760
SNAPS FINGERS If we make a garden. Just like that.
764
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:32,080
- And you'd never made a garden before?
- No, never. Never, never.
765
00:55:32,080 --> 00:55:33,720
My first garden.
766
00:55:33,720 --> 00:55:35,320
HE CHUCKLES
767
00:55:35,320 --> 00:55:40,200
So why did you want to make a garden that included food?
768
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:41,880
Vegetables and fruit?
769
00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:45,240
Because for me, a flower, I like the flowers and the trees,
770
00:55:45,240 --> 00:55:47,520
because there is a fruit after.
771
00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:50,720
Not the flower to cut to put on the table.
772
00:55:50,720 --> 00:55:53,440
I can do, but it is not my interest.
773
00:56:01,520 --> 00:56:05,200
'Patrice now runs the converted monastery as a small hotel.
774
00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:08,760
'Everything that is grown in the garden is served to
775
00:56:08,760 --> 00:56:11,120
'the guests as it comes into season.'
776
00:56:13,720 --> 00:56:16,960
There isn't a garden that doesn't use support of some kind,
777
00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:23,160
but I've never seen a garden where the support system looks so good.
778
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:26,520
Not particularly original, but the way that it's all put together,
779
00:56:26,520 --> 00:56:29,440
actually, is really inspiring and exciting.
780
00:56:29,440 --> 00:56:32,560
This is obviously for the tomatoes, and there are wigwams.
781
00:56:32,560 --> 00:56:36,320
There's a nice sort of tent-like structure, which I'm going to copy.
782
00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:41,320
A roller coaster lattice work there, all to support tomatoes.
783
00:56:41,320 --> 00:56:44,160
There's a playfulness about it that I like, because it's all
784
00:56:44,160 --> 00:56:47,480
practical, all standard stuff, but there's a little spark to it.
785
00:56:50,120 --> 00:56:52,800
'Although the garden is not particularly big,
786
00:56:52,800 --> 00:56:57,000
'it feels big because it's subdivided into dozens of compartments.
787
00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:00,640
'It's easy to get lost, with peepholes and views
788
00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:03,000
'and a maze of hedge-lined paths.
789
00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:06,280
'There's a reference to mediaeval symbolism in all this,
790
00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:09,040
'following the tortuous road to salvation,
791
00:57:09,040 --> 00:57:12,480
'but it is, above all, a brilliant manipulation of space.'
792
00:57:14,720 --> 00:57:17,400
The space is constricted, expanded,
793
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:20,440
you're led down certain alleys that lead nowhere,
794
00:57:20,440 --> 00:57:22,840
there are dead ends, you have to retrace your steps.
795
00:57:22,840 --> 00:57:25,280
There are little windows, there are doors.
796
00:57:25,280 --> 00:57:28,360
All this makes it very lively and energetic.
797
00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:31,960
Very exciting, because you don't know what's round the corner.
798
00:57:34,160 --> 00:57:38,920
I think this garden weaves together its strands brilliantly.
799
00:57:38,920 --> 00:57:44,960
You've got the monastic element, where monks grow food with devotion.
800
00:57:44,960 --> 00:57:48,800
You've got serious food production, which is served to paying
801
00:57:48,800 --> 00:57:52,360
members of the public to a very high standard.
802
00:57:52,360 --> 00:57:55,840
And you've got a garden that purely sets out to look beautiful.
803
00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:59,440
And they all come together. I love the way nothing's wasted.
804
00:57:59,440 --> 00:58:02,400
Everything, be it a rose or a cabbage,
805
00:58:02,400 --> 00:58:04,600
is grown with great seriousness.
806
00:58:04,600 --> 00:58:07,960
But the tone, and the way the garden looks and feels,
807
00:58:07,960 --> 00:58:10,240
has a real playful element.
808
00:58:10,240 --> 00:58:12,640
It's elegant and it's useful.
809
00:58:12,640 --> 00:58:16,600
Now, surely, that's the definition of a potager.
810
00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:23,520
'Next time, I'll be looking at gardens of great French artists
811
00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:27,480
'and considering the question of whether a garden can be
812
00:58:27,480 --> 00:58:29,560
'a work of art in itself.'
813
00:58:29,560 --> 00:58:31,600
My goodness!
814
00:58:50,200 --> 00:58:53,240
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