Following the river West, the houses in this section are scattered over an area bounded by the hills just east of Beaulieu and to the west, the Gironde estuary.

It is a region of widely varying and dramatic scenery. The river descends a narrower valley in the North, eventually passing down through pretty riverside towns and villages such as Beaulieu. East of St. Céré the hills are much steeper and higher, quickly rising to over 1800 feet above sea level. Going west, the landscape assumes a more rugged character as it spreads out over the limestone plateaux. This is the setting for Rocamadour, the remarkable village that is built vertically up the side of a cliff, for centuries the destination of pilgrims, and the astonishing Gouffre de Padirac with its mysterious river over 300 feet underground.

Travelling west from Souillac, the countryside becomes softer. The common thread is the river, whose clear waters flow through a richly cultivated valley of walnut groves and fields of Indian corn above which rise towering limestone cliffs. Here the gentler rhythm of the landscape is punctuated by wonderfully romantic castles which at almost every turn in the river, confront the visitor from their rocky pinnacles - Belcastel, Montfort, Castelnaud and Beynac. The valleys of the Dordogne's tributaries are also beautiful: among them the Ouysse echoes the same themes and provide marvellous places to swim, paddle and picnic.

The Vézère Valley further to the west is most remarkable for the prehistoric cave paintings that have been discovered there; the most famous of which are to be found at Lascaux. The Dordogne is attractive not just for the loveliness of its unspoilt countryside but for the wealth of its historical remains, mighty châteaux, crumbling villages of golden stone, the sediment of history settled on the landscape, the undisturbed backdrop to a way of life that appears to have changed little. The farmer's wife sitting in the autumn sunshine knitting and watching over her small flock of sheep, the blue clad people harvesting the grapes under a sky of blue, are sights that please by their harmony, tranquillity and sense of perpetuity.

Places of Interest

The Dordogne is rich in castles and claims some 1200, varying from little manoirs to ghostly ruins like Commarque; from petite renaissance castles like Château de Losse on the Vézère to mighty fortresses like Biron. Some were strong points when the Romans invaded, others owe their development to the dispute between the English and French Kings for mastery of the region. Castelnaud near Cenac and Beynac are stark monuments of such military power and endurance. In the triangle between Bugue, Montignac and Carlux there are twenty-five important châteaux: Montfort, Puymartin, Les Milandes, Salignac, Fénelon just to name a few.

The Dordogne also boasts a wonderful collection of churches and other ecclesiastical architecture. There are nearly 800 romanesque abbeys and priories. Within the region are several museums that are fun to visit: the motor car museum at Sarlat, the Museum of Automata at Souillac, the aquarium at Sarlat, the tobacco museum at Bergerac, and the stamp collecting museum in the town of Perigueux.

The best way to discover all these treasures is most certainly to rent a vacation villa in the Dordogne. Please click here to find your ideal Dordogne vacation villas.

Food & Wine

It is difficult to speak of a specifically Perigourdine style of cooking. It is said that a Gascon "will fall to his knees for a good confit"; but so will the inhabitant of the Perigord or the Quercy, where volailles (duck, hens, geese and poultry) play a leading role on the menu and where confit, originally a method of preserving the meat by bottling, has become an end in itself for the sake of the flavour it gives to dishes. But the most important part of the duck or goose has become its liver after which all other parts are side products. Paula Wolfert in her excellent book on the cooking of the south-west of France points to over one hundred foie gras dishes.

Throughout the south-west an important role is reserved for mushrooms, especially cèpes, and truffles. So, although there are differences of accent, for example in the Perigord and in the Quercy more use is made of walnuts than in Gascony for the simple reason that there are fewer walnut trees, it is truer to speak of a style of cooking that belongs to the south-west of France as a whole rather the separate parts of it. The wine of the Perigord is the Bergerac and the sweet white wines of Montbazillac. You will have no shortage of opportunities to sample the delights of this region's cooking in the numerous reasonably priced restaurants or in the excellent fermes auberges.

Pre-history and Caves

The guides describe the Perigord as the capital of Pre-history. The area certainly holds around a third of the decorated caves of France and literally thousands of prehistoric sites. The most important of the caves are located in the Vézère valley, of which Lascaux at Montignac is the most famous, followed by the caves at Les Eyzies like Font de Gaume, Les Combarelle and Lamouthe. The paintings in these caves are fabulously old. Cro Magnon people, the authors of the most noted paintings, were living around 40,000 years ago. Some time later the inhabitants of the Dordogne (and the Lot) carved out huge subterranean dwellings, called "cluseaux", capable of sheltering a whole village with its flocks in times of strife. Later on troglodyte villages were constructed. You will be able to find examples of these at Les Eyzies, Tursac, Le Bugue, Roque Gageac and Monpazier.

French Affair offers a wide range of holiday cottages in the Dordogne. Please click here to find your ideal Dordogne holiday cottage.

If you wish to return to the map of Dordogne then please click here.