Just a five to ten minute walk up the road to Chateau Fenelon brings you to Le Cantou. In the fields below the poultry (ducks) roam free-range. Everything on the menu here is natural too, no conservatives, no colurants. Though, for  vegetarians, there is not much in the way of meat-free (or in this case, duck-free) dishes. For here, it is all about duck in its many forms — pate, fois gras, mousse de fois gras, rillettes, gesiers and magnet seche (both in their delicious saladeperigourdine), confit, cassoulet…

There is a very pleasant outdoor eating area overlooking the fields and forested hills but, for our most recent visit, unseasonally cool August weather saw us eating inside. The dining room is a converted barn, with the original mangers still in place. The evening menus start at 20E, for soup, entre (salade or mousse de canard) confit de canard with a deliciously morish creamy potato bake for a main, and a choice of desserts (we both choose creme brûlée noix, yum). Hard to go wrong, here. Then, stroll home down the hill to La Vieille Grange. Continue reading →

Sunday afternoon, no bread and everything is shut. No panic. In the Intermarche car park in Gourdon, put one euro into this machine, wait one minute, and it will deliver a warm and crusty baguette. 

The old railway line along the Dordogne Valley between  Sarlat and Souillac is now a walking and cycling track. Gentle gradients, shaded and with a terrific tunnel to whoop and echo through. Hire a bike at the Sarlat end, or from the Saint Julien bridge, and enjoy a couple of hours of easy cycling, or pack a picnic and stop for a swim at the Saint Julien ‘beach’.