Colette (1873-2023 ): when gardens tell the story of a great woman of letters.

Publié le 18 April 2025 par su_laetis

Colette lived in Corrèze for around ten years between 1911 and 1923. Those who know her really well will know this, but for others it's a bit of a mystery...

For the record, it all began with a love story (as is often the case!).

Colette fell in love with Henry de Jouvenel, one of the editors-in-chief of the newspaper Le Matin, and was writing her first stories at the time. It was 1911 and it was love at first sight. Henry de Jouvenel took her to her native Corrèze.

She stayed at the château de Castel-Novel, nicknamed "La grande baraque" by Colette. She spent the summer months there between 1911 and 1923.

She was particularly fond of the Corrèze and especially "the fruits of the Limousin earth".

Life in Corrèze, her marriage, the birth of her daughter, her encounters.

On 19 December 1912, she married Henry de Jouvenel and in July 1913, Colette Renée de Jouvenel was born. She was brought up in Corrèze by an English nanny, Miss Draper. She had the same nickname as her mother, Bel-Gazou (meaning "beautiful language" in Provençal patois, as Colette's father was from Toulon).

Here is Colette's portrait of her daughter:

"Bel-Gazou, fruit of the Limousin soil! Four summers have painted her in the colours of this country. She is dark and glazed like an October apple, like an earthenware jar, with a short, stiff head of corn silk hair, and in her eyes, neither green, nor grey, nor brown, cheeky, brown, green, grey, the reflection of the chestnut, the silvery trunk, the shady spring...". (Colette, Les Heures longues, 1917)

In Corrèze, Colette recruited Pauline Vérine (from Dampniat, near Brive), who became her favourite cook, accomplice, confidante and friend.

Photo of the writer Colette with her daughter Bel Gazou at Castel Novel, Varetz

She followed her for 38 years, everywhere and right to the end. Colette loved all pleasures, especially good food. Colette was a great gourmet, and she quickly fell in love with the cuisine of Correze, "food as simple as it is alliaceous... Every day a cup of cream from heaven and garlic by the cartload", letter to Annie de Pène, Castel-Novel, 3 August 1917, or "I ate six cloves of garlic for dinner and two onions for lunch". She also spoke of ceps, poultry, salted butter, black pudding...

Colette had quite an appetite, which stayed with her all her life. Pauline used to say that "Mme Colette writes better when she has eaten well".

How well do you know Colette?

Colette loved MUSIC

Did you know that she worked with Maurice Ravel between 1919 and 1925 on L'Enfant et les Sortilèges?
"If I had a son to marry, I would tell him: Beware of the young girl who loves neither wine, nor truffles, nor cheese, nor music.

Colette and the GARDEN

Did you know that in all the regions where she stayed (Burgundy, Franche Comté, Brittany, Corrèze, Provence, Palais Royal) she always had a garden, even a vegetable patch, to her great delight?
"The Jardin-du-Haut commanded a Jardin-du-Bas, a small, warm vegetable garden, devoted to aubergines and chillies, where the smell of tomato leaves mingled, in July, with the scent of apricots ripened on espaliers".

Colette and COOKING

The press has had fun saying that Colette wears her greediness on her sleeve. She made no secret of it and replied, "I like to be greedy".
"If you're not capable of a bit of witchcraft, there's no point in getting involved in cooking".
"I entered the world of wine with no professional training other than a certain fondness for good bottles.

This is just a small sample of what she loved.

Les Jardins de Colette celebrates the 150th anniversary of the writer's birth throughout the year

The 150th anniversary of Colette's birth will be the focus of events at the Gardens this year, with three themes: gourmet delights, music and the garden.

April "Gourmandise de Colette
From 9 to 23 April: Easter (treasure hunt, face painting and shows)
June "Between cuisine and music"
2, 3 and 4 June: Rendez-vous aux Jardins "Garden music".
July - August "Musique, passion de Colette"
- 19 July at 8pm: Festival de la Vézère "Misia, reine de la nuit" - reading concert with Julie Depardieu (actress), Juliette Hurel (flute) and Hélène Couvert (piano)
Other evenings - programme to be announced
September: "Between cuisine and music
16 and 17 September: "Living Heritage" Heritage Days
October - November "Colette and the garden"
- From 25 October to 5 November: Halloween ( cucurbit decoration workshop, face painting, treasure hunt, shows, etc.)
- 27 and 28 October: Halloween Nights in the Labyrinth "Where is Alice?