Today was one of those half days off. At about 12 noon we headed for a drive around a few of the towns and villages in a region that the local tourist bureau has defined as "Pergord Vert" (ie Perigord Green). The area is to the north west of Perigueux, mainly in the valley of Dronne River.
We hadn't gone more than a kilometre on a back road from Chauzanaud, when we came across this exquisite meadow of multi-coloured wildflowers.
We are finding that the early afternoon between 12.00 and 2.30 is a great time to be wandering in France. At this time of the day the locals down tools, go to lunch and go for a nap. The roads in the country, away from the tourist trail, become calm and we have the towns and villages to ourselves. The only places that are open are the restaurants and Tabacs. The towns are so quiet, we find ourselves whispering. John turned off the fake shutter sound on the camera because it was embarrassingly noisy. That's how quiet it is.
Our first planned stop was the Village of Thiviers. One of the many villages in the whole region that claims to be the foie gras capital of the Perigord. Thiviers has the full range of photo opportunities necessary to make the visit a success.
The half timbered buildings
The old church
The main square with statue
The vine covered house
The Old ChateauJust look at the colour of the sky in some of the photos above. The afternoon was sunny, bright and warm. Just glorious considering that it had been showery, cool and gloomy all day, yesterday.
While we were in Thiviers Jenelle got to broswing in a real estate office window while John was taking some photos. After a while he looked around to see where she was and her nose was still pressed against the window. John had to walk back and drag her away. Amongst other things Jenelle had spotted a neat and tidy, 3 bedroom stone house in the country on 2000 sq metres for just 179,000 Euro. It is a dangerous thing to look in real estate windows, no good can come from it.
Our next stop was a village called St. Jean de Cole. In the guide books it is ranked as one of prettiest villages in the Dordonge and our visit confirmed it. During our time in St Jean all the stars were alligned. The streets were empty and quiet, a few old people were sitting outside their homes in deck chairs reading, the local restrauant was humming with people having a long, relaxed lunch under the dense shade of the trees in the square, families were picnicing on the grassy banks of the babbling stream and the rustic old buildings were doing what they had done for nearly a thousand years; just standing there looking venerable.
The camera shutter went crazy. So much source material for paintings.
The window box of geraniums
The stone building with the blue shutters.
The ancient stone bridge.
The 11th century church
The 12th century Chateau
The wisteria draped building
The grape vine with pots of geraniums
While we were in Thiviers Jenelle got to broswing in a real estate office window while John was taking some photos. After a while he looked around to see where she was and her nose was still pressed against the window. John had to walk back and drag her away. Amongst other things Jenelle had spotted a neat and tidy, 3 bedroom stone house in the country on 2000 sq metres for just 179,000 Euro. It is a dangerous thing to look in real estate windows, no good can come from it.
Our next stop was a village called St. Jean de Cole. In the guide books it is ranked as one of prettiest villages in the Dordonge and our visit confirmed it. During our time in St Jean all the stars were alligned. The streets were empty and quiet, a few old people were sitting outside their homes in deck chairs reading, the local restrauant was humming with people having a long, relaxed lunch under the dense shade of the trees in the square, families were picnicing on the grassy banks of the babbling stream and the rustic old buildings were doing what they had done for nearly a thousand years; just standing there looking venerable.
The camera shutter went crazy. So much source material for paintings.
The window box of geraniums
The stone building with the blue shutters.
The ancient stone bridge.
The 11th century church
The 12th century Chateau
The wisteria draped building
The grape vine with pots of geraniumsWe can't do more than 3 of these villages in a row, otherwise we just glaze over. Our final town for the afternoon is Brantome, the biggest of the three. Built on a small island in the River Dronne, Brantome's most significant feature is the church and convent of a former Benedictine abbey. The abbey was founded in the 9th century.
The former convent
The church of the abbey
The former convent
The church of the abbeyThe centre piece of Brantome is the River Dronne. Wide and slow flowing at this time of year, it is ideal, like most the rivers in the region, for canoeing and kayaking. The hire places do a roaring trade. People hire the canoe, paddle down the river for 5 or 10km, then the hire company comes and picks them up and brings them back to base. The French love it. But by the dodgem car type mayhem that we see, they are mostly casual paddlers. Again, like cycling, very much a family outing.
Bridge to the island Brantome is built on
The River Dronne,with paddlers in the distance
Bridge to the island Brantome is built on
The River Dronne,with paddlers in the distanceWe head off for home stopping when photo opportunities arise, like this field of sunflowers,
or at least John slows down enough for Jenelle to photograph another homely Chateau.
or at least John slows down enough for Jenelle to photograph another homely Chateau.
