Some of the beautiful villages in the region
We want to let the pictures speak for themselves but have to
give a tiny word of explanation nevertheless. St Chamant and St
Sylvain are our nearest neighbours, so you won't have to go far
to see some delights.
St. Chamant
Church
A Gate in St. Sylvain
Within a few miles of here, in the hills to the east of us,
there are many gorgeous villages, of which we've shown you just
a glimpse.
Soulage
Château.
Château just outside La Roche
Canillac
Finally in this section there's a couple of fine
châteaux, one of which the privately owned Château
de Soulage is very near, being just off the main road between
St Chamant and Argentat. This area has many fine manor houses
(for that's really what château means) of this
grandeur.
We would be remiss if we didn't show you some of the renowned
villages a few miles to our west. There's Collonges-la-Rouge, a
gorgeous village built in red sandstone, which was the weekend
retreat of the Counts of Turenne, another nearby village which is
worth a visit.
Then, of course there's Rocamadour, which
is the second most visited site in France, after the Mont St
Michel (we're a little far from there!) and which at
some 35 miles from here,is easily reached on a day trip taking
in the Gouffre de Padirac (a real must) and perhaps a trip to
the Lurçat museum at St Céré.
Curemonte - Mediaeval
Village.
The Tympanum at the Abbatiale in
Beaulieu.
While in the area, Curemonte is gorgeous too, a beautifully
restored medieval village on a hill top. Finally there's
Beaulieu. This is a town most of which has like Curemonte, been
very well restored. However, the really worthwhile sight there
(Michelin 2 stars) is the tympanum over the entrance to the
Abbatiale, the abbey church. This is the second best example of
a Romanesque tympanum in France, and our picture hardly does it
justice. The best is at Conques, and that to can be visited
from here in a day's excursion.
Rocamadour
A vertical village!
Rocamadour epitomises and encapsulates the best and worst of
tourism in France. The site is magnificent - with houses and a
chapel clinging to near vertical cliff faces almost seeming to
be crushed under the weight of the cliff tops above. In the
chapel is the tiny (disappointingly so if you're not
forewarned) medieval statue of Our Lady in black wood, which so
moved composer Francis Poulenc that he wrote his "Litanies
à la Vierge Noire de Rocamadour" A site of pilgrimage
and profoundly moving. At the same time, the main street is
lined on both sides with souvenir shops of the meanest kind,
selling plastic religious momentos, and inhabited by a
particularly french type of harpy. Dreadful. But Rocamadour IS
a must, and one just has to take the good with the bad!
