Visit Vaison-La-Romaine, a town with a medieval and a Roman heritage
I had never heard of Vaison-la-Romaine until recently but it is a wonderful town. It has a medieval centre perched on top of a hill overlooking the modern town of which lies along the River Ouveze. This would be enough to be worth a visit but sat just behind the main market square in the [...]
Discover the many pleasures of Saint-Emilion
The delights of St Emilion await everyone who visits. Situated in the Gironde and famous for its wines, 103 Châteaux, and largest monolithic church in Europe, as well as being a World UNESCO site, St Emilion surveys the surrounding countryside from an elevated position on limestone rock in the shape of an amphitheatre, with 173 [...]
Basque villages of south-west France
The south-western corner of France, on the border with Spain, is well known for popular resorts such as Biarritz and for the western Pyrenees mountains that lie a little way inland – you can visit the beach in the morning and go for a walk in the mountains in the afternoon… Perhaps less well known [...]
Beautiful Provence villages
To list all of the lovely villages scattered across Provence would be a substantial job to say the least – at every turn there is another hamlet perched on a precipitous hilltop, a perfectly preserved medieval village with locals sitting on benches in the shade of ancient plane trees, or a small town where the [...]
Visit Argentat in the Valley of the Dordogne
Argentat is a small town in the southern Correze, at the heart of the Valley of the Dordogne region. It won’t take you long to explore and discover the highlights but be sure you do because it is a very lovely little town in an enviable setting. The old town in Argentat, the region behind [...]
Visit Mirepoix
The Ariege department of south-west France is often visited for the countryside and scenery, and the chance to enjoy outdoor activities, but there are also some interesting towns and villages to discover and explore – and one of these is Mirepoix. Situated to the north-east of Ariege (south-east of Toulouse, south-west of Carcassonne), Mirepoix is [...]
Mussidan
Mussidan is a sizable town in the (less visited) north-west of the Dordogne region, north of Bergerac. Escaping from the impact of tourism is perhaps a good thing for a town – but tourism also brings with it facilities, and money for maintenance. Perhaps the best way to describe Mussidan is that it has escaped [...]
Grimaud, Provence village
The action packed town of Saint-Tropez stands just a few kilometres from Grimaud, and in dramatic contrast! If you are visiting the Riviera and want to leave the car behind, why not take the train? It is possible to get to Grimaud on a little tourist train that parts from Port Grimaud, the coastal ‘twin’ [...]
South of Sarlat
Sarlat, ‘unofficial’ capital of the Dordogne department and tourist magnet because of its extraordinary number of medieval buildings, is in the centre of a very attractive region. This is not news! Most visitors to the region around Sarlat venture along the Dordogne River to see the villages and castles, and head up the Vezere Valley [...]
Aubeterre-sur-Dronne
Aubeterre sur Dronne is a remarkable village about 20 km west of Riberac. The most fascinating thing about it is its underground church, the Eglise souterraine Saint Jean. This has been hewn out of the rock and is 20 metres high at its highest point. It is the tallest of its kind in the world [...]