COVID-19 measures : The lavender fields are accessible every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., including public holidays. “We have established traffic lanes with entrances and exits for each area: perfumery, in-store picking, field tours, bistro. We provide visitors with sinks with warm water and soap in several locations as well as stations with our antibacterial gel. We limit the number of people in the store. Our employees wear visors at all times. The cash registers are placed behind transparent protective walls. Wearing a mask is mandatory for all visitors in the store.”

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How was Maison Lavande born?

During a trip to Provence, on the Valensole plateau where you can see lavender fields as far as the eye can see, Daniel (Joannette) said to me: why don't we grow lavender here? A 30-second conversation that changed our lives! Back here, Daniel did his research. There are about a hundred varieties, including some hardy ones that tolerate our climate well. He did some tests. When we saw that it survived and flowered, I said to Daniel: with the essential oil, I could make perfume products! – me, who had been a perfumer during my studies. And if we had a perfumery with the lavender fields on an agritourism site, then we would have a joint project! We were very happy in our respective TV journalistic careers, but we needed to find those little butterflies in our stomachs in the morning before going to work.

We never thought we would love entrepreneurship so much! When you are a journalist, you like to learn and share. Here, we do the same thing. We learn and share our passion for lavender. Over the years, our daughters Florence and Marjolaine have joined us in the company.

The perfumery is open year-round, but the fact remains that your business depends a lot on the good weather...

Lavender plants bloom in July. The flowering lasts six weeks, thanks to a variety that blooms later. This year, it is the first time that it has arrived so late with a ten-day delay. This is also part of the farmer's life. After a difficult winter and an almost non-existent spring, we have had losses.

The lavender field tour is our flagship product, it's what people want to see. We always say that we've added a little beauty to our beautiful region, it would be crazy not to share it. However, it comes with enormous pressure because if you open your fields, you have to have the facilities to welcome your people. So yes, it's huge, except that people respond so well that we can no longer back down and just harvest the flower to make essential oil.

You are in the happiness business…

What does peak season look like for you?

I think that's exactly what restaurateurs experience during the "rush," except that for us it lasts six weeks and we receive 55,000 and 60,000 visitors on a huge site. It's really a rolling fire with 40 employees on site at a time. We have teams at reception, parking, the bistro, the gourmet boutique and the perfume store. [In the context of COVID, we also have an express store for picking up orders.]

We work seven days a week. Daniel starts earlier, around 7am, with the farm workers. And it's rare that we leave before 6pm-7pm in the evening. It's a challenge to give.

And your low season?

Actually, there aren't any, because we're getting ready for Christmas, which is a big season for the parent company and the five boutiques in shopping centers. After the holidays, we start creating new products, new collections. We opened Maison Lavande ten years ago and last year, Daniel and I managed to take the month of January off for the first time. We can now afford to do so, because we have a great team in place.