The history of the family activity started in 1898, when Geraud Bontoux made his business official by obtaining a distiller’s license in Montguers, a small village in the Ouveze Valley in Haute Provence region.

From the top of the hillsides, men carried the crop all the way down to the valley on a wooden slide, in order to be distilled. Genuine essential oil was obtained by steam distillation in an ingenious wood heated apparatus made of copper.

The women they had an important role both in the fields and at home where much of the time was devoted to sewing, embroidery, wool carding and silkworm breeding.

Guardians of the home and the health of everyone,  they transmitted from mother to daughter recipes of ointment, elixir and herbal mix, for general requirement of the family needs including beauty tips of nifty young ladies.

Throughout the 20th century, the following generations cultivated proper fields of lavender plants down in the valley. Additional valuable aromatic herbs and flowers were part of the family production: savory, thyme, rosemary and fragrant linden flowers.