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Published: November 28th 2011
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The sun always seems to shine in France with a different colour much stronger and intense. It's not hard to imagine why artists loved the light and Impressionism was born. The landscape both large and wide and the car eats up the miles as we travelled southwards towards the Dordogne and Montfort our stop for the week. We passed aires with regular monotony every 14 miles or so. Driving a pleasure much as it should be. Slow vehicles relegated to an extra lane designated for vehicule lent. Tiny villages, churches, water towers and farms glimpsed between the trees and hedes. Still we headed south and into the sun.
Our destination for lunch was Hautefort. Ones comes upon the chateau quite suddenly as its pepperpot towers come into view across the fertile valley. Standing on a prominent limestone ridge it commands the landscape. This is the Perigord Blanc which bounds the much better known Perigord Vert and is a region of both gentle and deeply cut valleys. The Dronne valley is reputed to be its best known beautiful asset but that would have to wait for another year.
The chateau is stunning whichever way you look at it Different in
design to those of the Loire . Walking up the well kept gardens there was much promise of the flowers of the summer- clematis and roses. The upper courtyard a place to stop and admire the valley view and the neatly kept box hedges of the parterre knot garden. The chateau was gutted by fire in 1968 but despite this everything was recreated - from the tapestries to the pictures, from the oak trestle tables to the intricate roofwork of the master carpenter in the pepperpot roofs.
What a fine place to lunch under the town walls. A carafe of wine, water,bread, a salad vert and a salad saumau eaten in the sun. Apple pie french style to follow. What a delicious way to spend lunchtime.
As the afternoon wore on we travelled south and arrived at La Barde a bed and breakfast in Montfort. La Barde a Perigordian farmhouse of a mellow yellow stone similar to the Ham stone of Bath. The roof completed in lauzes the stone roofing material of the Perigord. La Barde was owned by Steve and Bronwen who offered a home from home. A large living area with refectory table where guests breakfasted
each morning. Walnuts a speciality of the area in bowls on the tables. A large fire to huddle round in winter.
Our evening was spent in Pech de Malet a restaurant to be found up a very narrow track which ran alongside the riverbank. At times it was possible to hear the sounds of families in their gardens, at others the sound of the river babbling. Most of the time there was the sound of birdsong or that rare thing silence. We sat overlooking the valley, the light breeze taking the heat out of the evening sun. Perigordian soup served in a huge tureen, thick and warming. Pate a delicacy of the region. Bread and a carafe of wine. Trout - the chef must have been a magician as there was not a bone to be found in it. As the sky darkened we ate french cheeses and finished with strawberries and cream. We aimlessly wandered back down the darkened lane pleasant in the cool night air. The sky clear, without light pollution it was possible to see the stars going on forever. Contentment on a plate.
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