Driving around the stunning Dordogne region was a dream come true even though we didn’t have the weather we were hoping for! But in a way the slightly grey skies made for dramatic vistas, moody landscapes, atmospheric shots and the gorgeous colours of the region shone through anyway!
When you think of rural France you may think long window shutters, beautiful golden, sandy stone coloured buildings, lushes greenery, muted and weathered colours, charming quaint villages where you’d sit out and drink wine!
It truly delivered on all those fronts and more and these images captured just a few of the wonderful sights and places we encountered and very much enjoyed!
After a few days spent in Bordeaux we then based ourselves in the wonderful town of Perigueux which was more or less central to all of the places we wished to visit – a car obviously being essential!
PERIGUEUX has a huge, imposing cathedral, lovely cobbled streets in the old part, a big fresh food market on a Sunday which was lively and everyone was very relaxed and friendly!
From here we visited the following places … BRANTOME which was actually our favourite place of the whole trip as it is like walking into the most beautiful oil painting you could imagine! So picturesque at every turn as it is set on either side of the river and was truly breath taking!
SARLAT LE CANEDA has some of the best medieval architecture you could possibly hope to see! It was a maze of alleyways with hidden squares that were all so beautiful along with an abundance of medieval themed and decorated eateries that made for such an atmosphere!
LA ROQUE GAGEAC has one of the most dramatic settings that we came across! The compact row of golden coloured houses of the village run along the river under a sheer cliffΒ where a troglodyte fortΒ sits about 40 meters up!
CHATEAU & JARDINS DE MARQUEYSSACΒ are the perfect places to see highly manicured gardens, a stunning grand house and unrivalled views down over the winding Dordogne river!
From the smallest of villages that we drove through to these landmark places that we stopped and visited it was all like a fairytale of beauty. This area definitely has a feel, a look, colours and total charm all of its own and we could easily go back and do it all again as can’t imagine we would ever tire of discovering more and more of this blessed region!
For more detail and images click on the links below of our other french posts :
CHATEAU & JARDINS DE MARQUEYSSAC
