Deep in the Aude, in the heart of the Cabardès, Jean Eloffe, owner of the ancient Cistercian Abbey of Villelongue gladly talks of culture in all its forms. The events staged in this highly spiritual place are many and varied : concerts – conferences.. seasons of culture and the culture of the seasons.

Because Jean Eloffe is also an amateur and a fervent admirer of squashs. In this intimate setting the colour blue radiates. Jean Eloffe sees life in blue….

Something drives him to transform everyday objects, namely his collection of chairs, with a with a brush dipped in blue paint; garden chairs, wooden slatted chairs, kitchen chairs with broken down straw seats, all turn a luminous blue under his brush. They are then placed in his garden to support the heavy fruits of the gourds as they ripen among the foliage that winds its way up on the surrealist riggings.

Also blue is the wheelbarrow used to hold the heaviest fruit. It sits, as if left behind in some forgotten alleyway, cradling its plump-cheeked gourds in brilliant orange – a stunning still life.

Inside the various buildings, on tables, floors and on all available surfaces and shelves sit a host of gourds of all shapes, forms and sizes: dried, emptied of their content, polished, varnished in iridescent colours; round, smooth, curled…nothing short of a poetical feast for the eyes.

In one of the guest rooms, pinned inside a wardrobe door you may find an ode to this ancient fruit: ‘The gourd unites all those who love it’.”

« Jacques Bruyère – Terre de Vins »

Monks already ate squashes in the Middle Ages, then is not that surprising that the visitor or the one-night-guest finds squashes at each steps of its visit: in the garden, the guestrooms, the shop or the house…
There are in every corner of the abbey: say the magic word and Jean will unveiled its collections…
A squashes fair used to be held too and gathered squashes amateurs for thirteen years. Today we grow them up in the garden and you will be able to intercept them sleeping on their blue chairs: eatable, decorative, huge, tiny, yellow, green, red and blue…