If you go upstream in the valleys of the Issole and the Encure, you'll reach Lambruisse. It is in this preserved mountain vale that Cecile and Philippe Chailan will welcome you, and introduce you to their beekeeping.

On your way to the beehives, settled in the Jas du Brusc, you'll discover a number of nectar plants and the role and importance of bees in the nature, but also the names of places, often due to generations of human activities. This green landscape is an open book for Philippe and for whoever can read it : fields, cisterns, old hives, cabins, streams...

And here is the apiary : looking like a row of small workers houses at the edge of the wood ... Just like professional beekeepers, everyone puts a cloak on. Then Philippe opens the hives and leads you into this fascinating world of honeycombs and pollen-gathering workers... After this visit, the life of the honeybee will have no secret for you.

Back to the honey house, you discover the techniques of honey extracting and potting, before ending the visit with a refreshing aperitif during which you'll taste the different products of the beehive.

Philippe and Cécile offer direct sale of :

•  their several variety of honey : red-labelled lavender, all flowers, red-labelled Provence, heath honey,

•  pollen

•  mead

•  lavender essential oil

You'll find them on the markets

in St André les Alpes, on Wednesday and Saturday mornings.