The Grotte de Villars: Original Prehistoric Cave Paintings Most Tourists Never Find

Most people visiting the Dordogne with an interest in prehistoric art head south, toward Les Eyzies and the Vézère Valley, where the famous sites cluster. That is a reasonable instinct. Lascaux is there, Font-de-Gaume is there, and the valley has been a centre of prehistoric discovery for well over a century. But in the northern […]
Périgueux in a Day: What to See If You Only Have a Few Hours

Périgueux does not shout. It is the capital of the Dordogne and has been a significant settlement for over two thousand years, but it carries this history without making a spectacle of it. Walk into the old town from a car park on the edge of the centre, and within five minutes you are standing […]
The Friday Market in Ribérac: Is It Worth the Trip?

It depends on what you are looking for. If you want the kind of French market that feels genuinely local rather than arranged for visitors, with producers who have driven in from the surrounding countryside, conversations happening across stalls, and the whole town briefly transformed into something considerably livelier than its usual self, then yes, […]
Canoeing the Dronne River: What to Expect and Where to Start

The Dronne is not the kind of river that announces itself. It does not have rapids or drama or the sort of scenery that ends up on postcards. What it has is something quieter and, for many people, considerably better: clear, slow water through unspoilt valley meadows, poplar trees leaning over both banks, and the […]
A Day Out in Aubeterre-sur-Dronne: What to See, Where to Eat and How Long You Need

Five minutes from Longeveau, down a lane that drops through woodland toward the valley, the village of Aubeterre-sur-Dronne sits perched above a long curve of the River Dronne like something from a painting. It has been officially listed as one of the most beautiful villages in France since 1993, and it was voted the French […]