The Village des Bories, huts and farming life in Gordes

Beyond the hamlet, nearly four hundred dry-stone structures dot the countryside around Gordes. Standing alone or in groups, these huts bear witness to farming on the hillsides.

Clearing the fields to build walls and huts

In the 17th and 18th centuries, bringing new plots into cultivation meant removing large quantities of stone from the soil to sow wheat and plant olive trees or vines. The limestone blocks remained on site: farmers piled them into heaps or reused them to build walls, enclosures and huts.

The blocks are assembled without mortar, selected and fitted so that their own weight keeps the structure stable. To form the vault, each course projects slightly further inwards than the one below. This corbelling narrows the opening at the top, which is closed with large slabs.

In the roofs, the stones slope slightly to shed water outwards. Some walls are topped with slabs set on edge: their weight helps hold the masonry in place and makes it harder for animals to enter the cultivated plots.

Living and working in the huts of Les Savournins

With no church or cemetery, the hamlet was associated with seasonal farm work. Farmers of modest means, some from neighbouring villages, found shelter here near the land they worked. They grew cereals, vines and olive trees.

Five groups of buildings surround small paved courtyards, enclosed to shelter them from the mistral. The living quarters have a hearth and a stone-paved floor, close to storerooms and animal shelters. Two bread ovens, two wheat-threshing floors and two wine vats complete these working spaces.

To supplement their income from crops, families raised livestock, gathered honey or wild plants and sometimes worked for craftspeople. Numerous leather soles found on the site reveal a less expected activity: some farmers made shoes on a piecework basis for the village shoemakers.

The hamlet began to be gradually abandoned in the mid-19th century as farming declined. Brambles and scrub overran the buildings. Some huts were then used as hunting hides, while stones were taken for other buildings.

Pierre Viala, eight years to restore the hamlet

At Easter 1956, Pierre Viala discovered Gordes and its countryside, scarred by the winter’s severe frost. A writer, actor and traveller, he became fascinated by the huts he found on former farmland, now overgrown. In 1968, he learnt that the land was for sale. He sold his house to buy the site and begin saving it.

With masons from Gordes, he devoted eight years to restoring the hamlet. They cleared the buildings, rebuilt collapsed sections and uncovered passageways beneath the vegetation.

In 1977, the Village des Bories was listed as a Historic Monument. That same year, the Académie d’architecture recognised the restoration. The municipality of Gordes became the owner of the site in 1984.

Continue towards Gordes and the Luberon

In Gordes, narrow streets climb towards the castle and the church of the hilltop village. Further north, the road descends into the valley of Sénanque Abbey, bordered by lavender fields.

On the northern slopes of the Luberon, Vieil-Oppède extends the walk along the cobbled lanes of a medieval village beneath the ruins of its castle. On the same side of the Petit Luberon, Ménerbes stretches along a spur above the vineyards of the Calavon valley.