The restored cabin on the slopes of the Saint Ferréol hill is a testimony to the rural heritage of Lorgues. These “cabanon” provided temporary accommodation away from the main farm and were places to store farm equipment. The Saint-Ferreol cabanon has an water tank which overflows into a pool below, a fireplace and a separate small bedroom. Pens for animals and a small semi-circular threshing floor are to be found next to it. The building was restored in 2014-15 by the ASFVL with the help of the municipality.
The project “Papis Vignerons“
The aim of the project (“Grandfather Winegrowers”) by the development of terraces (restanques in Provencal) is to allow a young public to be made aware of the importance of natural or cultivated areas and to help them discover a rural way of life that is now a thing of the past.
The project seeks to closely involve a primary school class throughout the year in a “green class” project: the work of cultivating the vine in its main stages from planting to bottling the grapes (maintenance, pruning, debudding, harvesting, pressing, discovering the aromas…).
This initiation of the children to working in the vineyard is being carried out as part of a trans-generational operation, with the voluntary participation of three retired winegrowers – the Papis Vignerons – who know the profession perfectly and wish to pass on to the pupils their know-how and enthusiasm for a job well done.
It was decided to plant this 50-foot mini-vineyard of “cinsault” in two linear rows of 30m, on the restanque adjoining the access road to the cabin’s threshing floor. The “gobelet” method of cultivation, traditional in the 19th century, was chosen as a way of training the vines.
Finally, an educational trail from the National Forestry Office (ONF) starts its at the foot of the hill, in front of the cabin. It leads the visitor to the chapel at the top of the hill (flyer available from the Tourist Office).