The Path Between the Lavender Rows

In 1987, Marcel Dupont inherited forty acres of lavender fields outside Valensole, in southern Provence. His grandmother, Colette, had walked those rows every morning for fifty years — pruning, weeding, turning the soil by hand. When Marcel took over, he loved the land deeply but decided the daily walking was unnecessary. He installed automated irrigation, hired seasonal crews, and managed the farm from his kitchen table.…