Senanque Abbey

Senanque was founded in 1148 and built to the Cistercian rule: no sculpture, no colour, no stained glass, the effect coming from proportion and light on bare stone. The church is unusually oriented north because the valley left no other option. Monks live here still, which is why visits are guided and timed around the offices. The lavender in front of the church, planted and harvested by the community, is the most photographed field in Provence and flowers roughly from the last week of June to mid-July, when the narrow approach road jams with cars. Outside those three weeks the field is cut stubble or bare rows.

What you actually see

• The bare Cistercian church - proportion and light without decoration.
• The cloister and dormitory - twelfth-century monastic buildings.
• The lavender field - the famous foreground, in flower for about three weeks.
• The valley setting - a fold of hills with almost nothing else in it.

When to go

Late June to mid-July for lavender in flower; harvest usually falls in mid-July and the field is cut immediately. Outside that window the abbey is quiet and the visit better.

Honest expectations

Most visitors arrive for the lavender and find it either not yet out or already cut, since the window is short and shifts each year. Entry is by guided tour only, booked ahead, and walking into the field is prohibited.

Nearby

Gordes lies south over the hill; Roussillon is east.