On holiday in France

Thought I would send you a couple of images from the Dordogne area of France where we are on holiday.  It is east of Bordeaux and our holiday appartment is in quiet rolling countryside between Perigeux and Bergerac.  The area is steeped in history dating back to prehistoric times - the famous rock paintings at Lascaux are a few miles away and because the area is carved out of limestone there are plenty of trogladyte cave dwellings.  Then came the Romans followed in medieval times by the crusaders, Richard l and Eleanor of Aquitaine, etc, hence all the wonderful fairytale-looking castles which literally face you round every corner.  Lots of wonderful medieval towns and buildings.  Below is a typical house built of the local stone (a lovely creamy yellow colour) with the famous wode painted shutters.

Some gorgeous ornate door furniture in a side street.

Sorry, these are not in logical order but working on an ancient laptop and a weak wifi signal is testing to say the least!  This is a wall mural in a small chapel in one of the castles - the Last Supper.

A typical castle - Chateau Bannes.

And what about some relfections - sadly I couldn't get passed the trees without falling the river which although it was wonderfully still is a fast flowing river.  Still it makes for a touch of mystery....

This is the entrance to the holiday village (it is a bit like timeshare but different) - the architecture is typical of 'modern' Dordogne with steep terra cotta tiled roofs and bits of timber framing worked in with the local stone.  Because the weather until today has been quite good, we haven't seen many people but I do notice the number plates of the cars when we get back - French, Danish, Portugese and English.

One of those ancient houses showing its structure/skeleton.

The French have such style - the interior decorating shops are too die for!

Close up of one of the castles - difficult to get all the castle in when they so big.  This was taken walking up to the entrance to Chateau Biron.

The area is also right in the middle of the walnut growing and the foie gras producing areas.  The local wine isn't that special but you only have to drive west a bit towards Bordeaux and St Emilion for top class wines (mostly reds).  We have also found the most delicious prunes (Agen to the south is famous for prunes) and the produce found at the local street markets is tops.  Also grown locally (strangely) is tobacco!  I would like to take a photo of the tobacco drying barns befoe we leave - they have vertical window areas with horizontal wooden slats compared with the paper mills which have horizontal window areas with vertical wooden flaps to control the air and sunlight!

Hope I have given you a petit gout of the area - not much in the way of quilting inspiration - yet - but I have taken loads of photos of close-up details of various bits and pieces.

Hilary