Dordogne

One more in the long drawn out series of holiday posts. Hey, that's OK, it prolongs the holiday for me!

Brantome. We arrived here after a whole day of driving from Brittany. It felt like paradise after the car! The village is a manmade island surrounded by this beautiful river. We arrived on dusk and saw water rats and something almost beaver like that we still have no idea about. Wandered in the dark, peacefulness and had a beautiful room overlooking the river. Just beautiful.

View of the Dordogne river valley. This was us nostalgically retracing our last France trip when we spent 10 days cycling in this area. Walnut orchards, sunflower and maize fields abound. The river, and several others in the area, the Lot, Veziere, for example, wind languidly through limestone country. There are lots of cliffs and an endless number of quaint villages with houses built into the cliffs (I have a secret dream to live in a troglodyte house just for a week or so!). This is also an area full of caves and some of the most famous cave art in the world. Lascaux is near here. And amazing chateaus, great markets and wonderful, wonderful food.



We stayed near here in a B & B on a farm. The owners family had the property since the 1700s. He'd converted an outbuilding into a restaurant and a couple of guest rooms. Wonderful food. The lovely owner took Chloe for walks around the restaurant so we could enjoy our food fully. So if you're ever in the area look for Le Roi Carotte and go there! Feeling like King Carrot is a local term for the way you feel when little things, like a flower bud in your garden or the sun coming out after rain, make you happy.

St Cirq Lapopie, famously beautiful cliff-perched village.

Gardens at Le Manoir d'eyrignac.

I have been lazy and haven't checked spelling. Please forgive me if you spot glaring errors or if you're French!