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Top gifts to bring back in

your suitcase from the French Southern Alps

There are some memories which fade and some which stay… so, even if the beauty of the landscape is etched on your memory, you can bring home the savoir-fare of craftsmen with you. Souvenirs, gifts… we all have a good reason to bring back something of the French Southen Alps to make it seem like we never really left the region.

Fine crafts to update your decor

On Virginie Tollardo’s farm in the Mercantour, bees are the queen of the show. The mountain beekeeper makes cold-saponified soaps with the produce of her hives and wild and cultivated plants. Next to Le Savon du Mercantour, you’ll find some delicious culinary creations such as honey or gingerbread. La Maison de Produits de Pays des Alpes du Verdon, located in a restored former sheepfold in Beauvezer, is home to a specialized grocery full of 100% local products: decoration, felted wool-knitting, jewellery, candles and wax, cosmetics, images and books, pottery and ceramics and even clothing. They are all the work of passionate producers and craftspeople from the Verdon and the Valensole Plateau.

100% local wines and beverages

La Maison du Pays de Valgaudemar puts the emphasis on the savoir-faire of age-old crafts. Beer, ice cider, natural fruit juice and organic wine – try them straight away or take back with you in your suitcase as a precious souvenir. And on top of it all, you’ll find everything you need to go with your favourite drink – cheese, charcuterie, and homemade pastries! The family enterprise Maison Gayral Reynier makes liqueurs using a rigorous selection of fruits and plants, including the famous Génépi des Alpes. A few kilometres away, visit Le Domaine du Mont Guillaume in Les Orres, the highest winery in France, which produces wines which are faithful to the regional rootstock. Good to know: You can visit the winery and leave with a little delicacy!

Market products are the stars

The cooperative shop of La Maison de Pays de l’Ubaye is filled with the passion of 80 producers of sweet, savoury, and well-being products. One thing is for sure: you’ll leave with several 100% Ubaye souvenirs in your bag! In the resort of Montclar in the Alpes de Haute Provence, another cooperative gathers together around thirty farmers who use their savoir-faire for regional products: welcome to La Ferme aux Saveurs. Honey, charcuterie, jam, cheese, fruit jellies, sweets, biscuits and other local marvels will delight your tastebuds. And the place you mustn’t miss in the Hautes-Alpes, La Fromagerie Queyras cheese house, with 10 dairy producers in its association providing traditional and organic cow’s cheese.

 

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