Halloween at the Lavender Museum in Coustellet

During the autumn half-term holidays, the Luberon Lavender Museum in Coustellet blends its Provençal heritage with the mysteries of Halloween. Fine lavender becomes a material for creating, a plant to explore and the common thread running through some surprising stories.

Children can make their own magical lavender sachet, while guided tours explore ancient beliefs, epidemics, distillation and unusual objects preserved in the Museum’s collections.

Several special events punctuate the programme, including scented watercolour workshops, Halloween-themed guided tours and, on 30 October, a full day of activities for families.

On Friday 30 October, the programme becomes even more festive with an afternoon specially designed for little witches and wizards and their families.

On the programme:

• a mischievous frog hunt;
• making witches’ potions;
• creating magical lavender sachets;
• temporary tattoos;
• games and little surprises;
• a mysterious gift hidden in the witches’ treasure chest.

A Halloween snack is served from 2 pm to 5 pm. Witches, ghosts, vampires and other fantastic creatures are welcome, and fancy dress is highly recommended.

The Halloween guided tours draw on the real history of lavender to explore uses and beliefs that can seem surprising today. Visitors discover stories linked to the plague, miasmas and the famous Four Thieves Vinegar.

The tour also highlights some of the more unusual objects in the Museum’s collections and reveals how lavender was once harvested, distilled and used in Provence.

Behind the witches and potions, the Halloween programme is also an opportunity to learn more about fine lavender from Provence and the traditional skills associated with it.

Botany, cultivation, harvesting, distillation, films about the Domaine du Château du Bois and a collection of traditional stills trace the story of this emblematic plant and help visitors understand its place in Provençal heritage.