On the dry stone trail

Place : Pernes les Fontaines (Vaucluse)

Participants: Adults

Workcamp description:

Pernes les Fontaines has been investing for several years in the restoration of its rich architectural heritage in the heart of the village or in the natural area of the Gypières.

This year, the municipality wishes to put an ancient technique back at the heart of Pernois culture: the construction of dry stone walls. The cemetery wall is one of the last dry stone walls in the village. The old walls that lined the roads have often been replaced by other materials, so you can highlight this ancestral technique.

Workcamp programme:

• Dismantling unstable sections of wall
• Rebuilding the wall in dry stone

Building technique: Dry stone masonry

Special bonus: As this workcamp is at the entrance to the town, you’ll be able to share your knowledge with the local people who will be there to support you and lend a hand.

Accommodation: In tents or in a dormitory at the municipal sportsground, with access to toilets/showers and changing rooms. The sportsground is just 5 minutes by car from the workcamp.

Workcamp life: Help out, in turn, with daily tasks (cooking, cleaning).
Building work in the mornings, Mon-Fri. Free time in afternoons and weekends, with a choice of group excursions and activities.

Some ideas for excursions: Hikes in the Dentelles de Montmirail, Mont Ventoux and Monts de Vaucluse hills, swimming and kayaking along the Sorgue River.

Event during the workcamp: Font'Arts, the street arts festival, brings the historic centre of Pernes les Fontaines to life each year. About thirty companies perform here and there, in the squares and gardens, wandering through the streets to meet the public.

A bit of history:

This small town lies between Mont Ventoux and the Luberon Valley and has managed to keep its traditional appearance of a medieval fortified settlement, with the remains of its stone ramparts, cobblestone streets and shaded squares.

Pernes boasts an impressive abundance of heritage, with more than 22 sites that are either listed or classified as historic monuments. It has 40 public fountains (8 of which are listed) and about double that in private ownership, not to mention 13 chapels, 7 public gardens and 3 museums. The town was the capital of the Comtat Venaissin for two hundred years.

In 1720, Pernes, just like many other town in the area, helped build the “Mur de la Peste” (the Plague wall) to contain the spread of the Black Death.

The town also has a host of awards including  “Ville et Métiers d'Art”(applied arts), “Plus beaux détours de France”(France off the beaten track), “Ville fleurie 3 fleurs”(France in bloom, level 3), Ville et vélo touristique” (cycle-tourism) and APIcité 3 abeilles (bee-friendly, level 3).