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Bouchet

In the Middle Age, around the year 1137, Bertrand of Baux, Count of Orange, decided on the construction of an abbey in the locality of «Bosquetum» in the middle of a forest of green oaks. The Abbey never had more than 20 nuns. They suffered several seriously difficult periods during the religious wars, notably in 1200 when the Abbey was besieged by the count of Toulouse's men. On 18th April 1230 the death took place of the priest of the Bouchet cisterciennes... He was Bertrand de Garrigues, 1st companion of St Dominique. He was beatified in 1883. The life of the Abbey was eventful, but one can admire what remains of the original buildings. After the departure of the nuns in 1443, Ayguebelle rented land to auvergnat families of St Flour, who created the village of Bouchet. At the end of the 17th century the Abbey became an annexe of the «college du Roure» of Avignon.

In the 19th century and until 1971 the Abbey became a silk mill. In 1972 the «Cellier des Dauphins» acquired it as a place for the ageing of wine of «Côtes du Rhône» and the dormitory was converted into a reception room. In July 2005, the commune of BOUCHET became the proprietor of this historic monument.