You make even silence feel full of love

Gordes catches the last sun on its stone while the whole valley goes quiet, and you find you don't need to talk.

Our hour there

We took the table at the terrace edge, the village across the valley. I was sure the sun would go down behind it, like in the drawing, and pointed there for ten minutes. It went down behind us instead, and the village caught the whole of it. You laughed, I spilled my rosé, and then neither of us said anything for a long time. Gordes turned gold, then dark against the sky, the church and the château at the top the last to let go. Cicadas kept on somewhere below. The wine tasted cold and a little of stone. You make even silence feel full of love, and that evening I understood it.

You two will want the roadside platform at dawn, when the sun comes up just behind the village and its houses stack up the hill against a pale sky. Come back an hour before sunset and stay through the blue hour after it: the stone is lit from the side then, warm and clean, until the village lights come on. The lavender is a short drive away, in front of Sénanque Abbey, where monks still live, so you find yourselves whispering without deciding to.

One honest thing: the lavender and the village are two places, not one field below the hill, and the field is usually cut around mid-July. Go late June or early July, and not on a Sunday morning, when the abbey is closed. The car park at the roadside viewpoint is small, so get there early.

♡ At Sénanque we held a whispering contest to see who could say the most ridiculous thing without making the other laugh, and we both lost by the second row of lavender.