On a hot July afternoon, Sault is the best place in Provence to understand why people write poems about lavender. The village sits on a rocky spur at about 750 metres, on the edge of the great plateau that runs between Mont Ventoux and the Luberon hills, and in the weeks of the bloom, from late June to late July, the fields around it turn violet in long, curved lines up to the horizon. The smell is overwhelming on warm days, sweet, resinous and slightly medicinal, and bees fill the air. The villagers hold a lavender festival every year on 15 August, with processions, markets and music.
The village itself is small, just over twelve hundred people, with a main street of stone houses, a church, a bakery and a few cafés looking out over the plain. It is known for its nougat, made with lavender honey and almonds, and for spelt, an ancient grain grown on the plateau and used in soups and bread. Mont Ventoux rises behind it to the north, a bald white summit of 1,912 metres, and the climb from Sault is the gentlest of the three classic routes to the top, through forest and then an open, moonlike slope.
The road to the west, the D942 through the Gorges de la Nesque, is one of the best in Provence. It winds along the edge of a deep limestone canyon, with tunnels, overhangs and balconies cut into the rock, and a lookout point over a tall cliff, and it ends at Villes-sur-Auzon in the plain. The surface is good and the bends are smooth, but traffic can be heavy in summer, and there are cyclists on every climb. Early morning is the best time, when the light is soft and the air cool.
The plateau is exposed and the wind can be fierce, especially the mistral. Spring and early autumn are quieter, with fewer crowds, though the lavender is then out of season. Come in July for the colour and early in the morning for the road.