Day 31 – gardens and pre-history

Larry has told us that the majority of local folk are old – many in their 80s and 90s. “It's all the goose fat and red wine keeping them going,” he reckons. “And the fact they don't have a stressful lifestyle.”


We've come across a few of the neighbours, including the widow next door who gets around in a 'house coat' – think 'house sac'.

This is all explains why when we visit the local market in the morning the goods for sale are all aimed at the geriatric market – men's wear including suspenders, flannel shirts, handkerchiefs, suits; women's wear including house coats, girdles, passion=killing underwear, comfy shoes. The other big item is plastic flower arrangements and furniture. Obviously a lot of these locals never leave the village so this is their monthly opportunity to buy goods other than food.

We drive to Les Eyzies take two for a visit to the Museum of Prehistory. An interesting visit even though we have to guess the explanations of many of the exhibits as they are all in French. This area is very rich in evidence of prehistoric man living in the many caves around the area.


It's raining when we come out of the museum so we decide to lunch.


Over to Sue:

"We all choose menu of the day for the ridiculously low price of 11 euros.  Alan has the onion and egg white soup, Lee a toasted sandwhich with an exotic French name, and I have a seafood mousse.  We all have coq au vin, with potato bake, grilled tomato and onions.  We finish off with walnut tart and a pannacotta.  All quite satisfactory." 


After lunch, still raining, we visit Les Jardins suspendus de Marqueyssac – sprawling parklike gardens in the 19th century French garden style, extending over a km on a spur overlooking the Dordogne valley. Quite remarkable!

Day 30 - castles and canoes

Third time lucky we find canoes on the riverbank at a small town called St Leon sur Vezere. We choose the three person model and after being driven a few kms up river we are soon paddling our way down the peaceful waterway.

Autumn leaves drift down from the beautiful trees lining the riverbank. Just when we are thinking 'Had enough trees' a chateau comes into view built into the rocks above, hanging precariously. Further down we encounter another chateau and a few rapids for a bit of canoeing excitement.


We are hungry when we arrive in Les Eyzies, famous for being the centre of cro-magnum man. All the restaurants have finished lunch but we manage to find a snack – sandwiches, pizza and omelettes.


Back home at around 6.30 pm we cobble together dinner supplemented by Larry's 'ribs' and his company for an hour or so.

A Sunday walk to the boulangerie to buy bread and croissants



A road leading out of  St Agnan

It's a change from our usual Sunday morning walks around Blackmans Bay.  This Sunday Sue and I walk into our nearest French village, St Agnan, to buy bread. 
The village has two boulangeries, one tabac, two restaurants, one bank, one very large gendarmerie, one beautician offering liptherm, one antique shop, a church, hall and lots of lovely houses and gardens. 

Hardly anyone is ever seen in the town.  One wonders what goes on behind all the closed shutters.

Hautefort with its castle and village below is just out of St Agnan, with the supermarche on the road towards it.  As we discover, just about everything is shut on a Sunday in rural France but it is oh so pretty.

Day 29 – Perigueux

Another lovely drive through countryside and small villages to Perigueux, the capital city of Dordogne. Some more things to note that we see often: wild deer signs, fields of corn, flowers - especially in pots at every house, village centres with flower balls half way up street lamps, zinnias, creepers, tiny cyclamen, begonias, cosmos, geraniums, hollyhocks... The French seem to favour a very mixed colour palette of flowers with an eclectic mix of plants including grasses.

The markets at Perigueux are predominantly for farmers' produce and are all around the central boulevard in the middle of the city near the cathedral. After a wander we sit at a restaurant in a little square while Alan has lunch (Sue and I have sworn off food for the day after last night's mammoth eating effort).

We talk with an interesting French woman about our age, who has lived all over the world and speaks six languages.  She says she is over France and Europe and wants to live in Australia.  "Everything is so f.... old here," she says.  Interesting that this is why we are liking it so much.

Next is a visit to Vesunna, an museum of gallo Roman artefacts. Alan is on a high, getting another fix of his Roman empire obsession.




Alan's toilette



 Before we enter the museum Alan has a very amusing episode in a self-cleaning toilettes. He goes in straight after me, without letting the cubicle do its wash and dry cycle. As soon as he shuts the door, jets of water shoot all over him and we hear shouts of distress from within! He manages to escape without becoming too soggy.

Dinner back at our gites is pork and vegies and is pretty hohum (and a bit burnt thanks to a dodgy oven and my distracted cooking efforts) but the strawberries and caramel walnuts for afters are divine.

Some pics of typical buildings in Perigueux:

More castles and food

There is nothing in rural France that is ugly. We drive through beautiful countryside, rolling hills, small villages, past lots of vegie gardens, walnut and hazelnut trees, leafy forests, the occasional castle. If anything new is constructed here it is built out of stone, or rendered concrete with the small tiled-roofing and shutters that harmonise with the old buildings.



Just before noon we arrive at Brantome, the Venice of Perigord, a lovely village built with small canals through the centre of town. There is a market stretching across a bridge and on either side of the canal - more fabulous local food produce to buy and I find a great hat for Bruce.


Sue describes lunch:


“We find a delightful spot by the river to eat our picnic lunch of three different cheeses, a basil pesto, tiny grape tomatoes, fresh bread, sweet strawberries and muscatel grapes – washed down with a local rose.”


Afterwards we wander over to Jardin Botanique, a communal vegie garden that has been going for a couple of hundred years. On the way home we stop at Chateau Puyguillham, all rather grand but not a patch on our local castle!


Home for a quick tart up and out for dinner at Cheviux de Cubas, the next village north.

Sue again:


“We all choose the menu of the day which costs 12.50 euros and and to develop our appetite we have aperitifs – peach and walnut.


“The vegetable soup is served from a large terrine at our table. After finishing the soup, which is delicious, we pour in a drop of wine from our bottle of red, as is the custom before starting to drink the bottle.


“Entree is a salad of duck gizzards and greens with a light dressing and was enough really in itself foodwise.


“Next course is a confit of duck legs (three) with potatoes sauted in duck fat. A platter of five different cheeses follows. We finish with a crème brulee, which slides down rather nicely, and we complete the meal with coffee before rolling home to bed.”


We are sure all the food is going to cost us more than 12.50 euros but no the total bill is a ridiculously small amount. It must be a conspiracy against foreigners in France - death by overconsumption!

Day 27 – Hautefort castle

It is a drizzly hazy morning. Sue takes off for the boulangerie to get fresh bread while Alan and I have a lazy time back at the farmhouse. She comes back all excited with tales of the miniature cyclamens covering a lawn up the road.

We visit our castle, which is just over a 1km away. There is hardly a soul around and it wonderful to have the place to ourselves. There appears to be only one attendant inside the whole castle. The rooms are lavishly decorated and the view of the manicured gardens, parklands and village below are superb. We have to thank for the restoration of the castle, parts of which date back to the middle ages, the Baron and Baroness de Bastard.


Afterwards we visit the Information Centre and Museum of Medicine, which contains a few instruments of dental torture from a couple of centuries ago.

Back at the farmhouse we have a late lunch, mainly consisting of all the things we bought at the Sarlat markets yesterday – a walnut and duck salami, a wonderful pungent cheese, olives, a strangely-shaped tomato and greens on fresh bread.


Sue and I wander country lane ways eating walnuts from the ground and apples from overhanging trees. Back at the farmhouse we put the fire on and find a music station on the radio.


Over to Sue for a description of dinner:


"We decide to eat in so head off to the local chacturie to purchase some veal, locally bottled haricot beans in sauce, some onion soup and plums for dessert.


“Home to prepare the food, while accompanied by a gin and tonic. The pot is left simmering on the stove while we relax in the spa bath – Alan plunging twice into the cold swimming pool.


“Although not quite the standard of the previous evening the meal is still pretty darn good and accompanied by another bottle of local red.”

 

Day 26 – Exploring countryside Perigord

Happy birthday Bruce! Alan volunteers to drive again, much to Sue and my relief, and we head off for Sarlat. We drive through acres and acres of walnut trees – one of the main staples of the area. Of course we get lost a few times but by late morning we are wandering the fresh produce market – agog with all the fabulous cheeses, sausages, olives, and walnut products. We taste chocolate and caramel walnut pieces – mmm.


Sue and I have a little shop before we take toute directions around and around a few times and head off towards Lascaux caves. At Montignac, a town bizarrely festooned with plastic flower bunting for the local Miss Periogord 2010, we have lunch at a corner spot. Over to Sue our food writer:


“Lee and I have a duck salad - cured duck and duck gizzards plus walnuts and croutons on a bed of greens. Surprisingly tasty for 7.50 euros. Alan has endive salad with duck and a couple of cheeses.”


The caves are reproductions of the original caves discovered in 1940, which have animal illustrations over 17,000 years old. All rather mind boggling but a little claustrophobic for me.  We buy a present for James here.


Back at the farmhouse, with a few more meandering detours, we debrief with Larry in the courtyard before taking off for dinner at a restaurant below our local Hautefort castle.


Over to Sue again:


“We have complimentary pieces of cured duck with an aperitif (peach, apricot and pear). Lee chooses a bottle of Chateau Barotte – a light merlot style red. We all choose the 3-course formulae meal for 19 euros.


“We share the three entrees of pate de foix, rillard of duck and rabbit terrine. All are served on top of greens with little berry and citrus preserves. Excellent start to a great meal. Alan and Lee choose the lamb with a sauce of mushrooms, chestnuts and cream and I choose the confit duck leg. All served with jacket potatoes with vegetables including lightly battered zucchini.


“Alan and I choose the mixed plate of apple tart and walnut, chestnut and almond cake for dessert. A very light cake served with vanilla ice cream. Lee has fig and plum ice cream but thinks she would have preferred our dessert. The exquisite meal is completed with a complimentary raspberry liqueur.


“The total cost is 81 euros.”


Four English people are at the table opposite. They remind us of the crew from the English tv series 'New Tricks'. They are very jolly and have a chat with us before they leave. “ I love it here,” says one of the men, “I am constantly full of duck and goose fat.”