Local fetes run throughout the summer season, and each weekend usually offers a fete celebration at one neighbouring village or another.

In the next village, Peyrille, is the very popular Restaurant Mourgues, which serves the regional speciality of Mique Levee every Wednesday lunchtime.

The bastide town of Gourdon is 10km and provides a great range of restaurants and bars, and also offers bike hire, a regular market day, boutiques and supermarkets. 

Gourdon, the capital of the Bouriane, is not more than a ten minute drive away. The town perches high on a limestone butte and can be seen from miles away. The medieval streets are a delight and the farmers' market is a must, giving a fascinating insight into the rural life of the area.

Cahors is twenty minutes down the autoroute. It is the capital of the Quercy region and bounded by the twisting river with its triple-towered Valentre bridge and lively Saturday morning market in the Place Chapou in front of the St. Etienne cathedral. Here you are indeed in serious wine country, as well as in the gorgeous area of the the Lot river valley where there are many not-to-miss villages (all with lovely inns). The town, bustles by day and is lively by night.

All along the banks of the Lot are stunning towns and villages, steeped in history. Puy L'Éveque and the medieval village of St Cirq Lapopie are only two of the many that must be explored. St Cirq Lapopie has been among the winners of the prettiest village in France annual awards. Stop here for lunch and admire its grand views, half-timbered stone houses built in tiers up the hillsides, and some interesting artisan ateliers.

Also on the Lot, 40 miles from Cahors, is the market town of Figeac, a wonderful example of 12th century architecture and town where it is fun to explore the shops along its cobbled streets.

Places to visit
Lot has its historic townships too, notably the capital, Cahors, built in a sudden loop of the river spanned by a fourteenth century, six-arched bridge, and bastides like Montcuq and Castelnau.

Rocamadour, the second most important listed site in France, lies a little to the north and clings to the cliffs above the Dordogne. And not far away are the medieval towns of Sarlat, Souillac, Domme, Beynac and La Roque Gageac.

Rocamadour rises from the Alzou canyon and is built up the sheer face of a cliff, to emerge at the top overlooking its surroundings. The hanging village literally clings to the cliff face and is awe inspiring. Originally founded as a stopover and hostel for travellers on the route to Santiago de Compostella, the site itself became one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in all of Christendom and even today retains some of is former religious fervor. The setting is superb, and as in the Middle Ages, the faithful continue to arrive here to worship in the town's Cite Religieuse, a cluster of chapels and churches: there are steps (216 of them) and an elevator up to the St. Sauveur basilica, built in Romanesque-Gothic style between the 11th and 13th centuries, and the chapel of St. Michel with richly colored frescoes. The artistic highlight of the religious complex is the Museum of Sacred Art.

Built on a plateau overlooking the Dordogne valley, the bastide town of Domme is an architectural and aesthetic masterpiece. Constructed as a French bastide, Domme changed hands between the English and the French several times during the hundred years war as it was seen as a strategic stronghold for both sides. The view from the belvedere in Domme is one of the most famous depictions of the region. The panoramic view stretches over many miles as the Dordogne river winds it's way through the valley below.

Perched on a limestone crag, 150 metres above the valley of the Dordogne, the castle of Beynac provides an yet another awe inspiring sight. Known as the "King of Perigord" the castle towers above the village of Beynac at the foot of the cliff. The present buildings date from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries and the main buildings form a strong and seemingly impregnable stronghold. The baronial flags of the States-General of Perigord still hang in the large thirteenth century hall where the barons of Perigord used to meet. It is worth climbing up to the steep castle roofs, as the view, from almost 200 metres above the river, is stunning.

The department of Lot, the Dordogne's southern neighbour, lies between the Auvergne and the Périgord and is one of France's most appealing regions. It has wide, gentle valleys and fertile plains, accompanied by beautiful villages.

In places, the River Lot, which ranks alongside the Dordogne for its beauty, has cut deep paths through the Causses twisting in a series of tortuous loops and leaving strips of green through the white wilderness. Tucked away between tobacco fields and walnut groves, the villages of Lot are among the finest and most picturesque of France.

The Lot is a region of sunshine, history and renowned gastronomy. The climate is temperate and the countryside green, hilly and wooded. Here and there the river flows between magnificent cliffs, up to 600 feet in places, which command views of a wonderfully varied landscape of multi-coloured fields set off by the slow-moving waters.

The Dordogne is one of the most celebrated areas of the world for evidence of the art of prehistoric man. Along the Vézère and Beune valleys cave paintings of bison and antelope can be seen, together with engravings and artefacts of all kinds dating back some 14,000 years. Les Eyzies houses the National Prehistoric Museum while nearby, at Montignac, lie the famous caves of Lascaux and their recently opened reproductions.