Sunday, 18 December 2022

The Beautiful Villages of France

After two and a half years of waiting to cross the English channel to France we made it!  

Ivan & Jane en Francais 

It feels like the adventures have begun again as we travel south through the beautiful country of France. However, we seemed to come across a theme. Meandering through rural France in our motorhome, keeping off motorways and toll roads, we came across some incredibly beautiful villages. For those of you that know France this will come as no surprise to you. Many of them are high on a hill, dominated by a castle and/or church and some are ancient medieval walled cities. All are not just beautiful, they are "plus beautiful". We found these villages were part of a clever tourist trail whereby you can visit some of the 170 places and be guaranteed historic beautiful villages that are well worth a visit: https://www.les-plus-beaux-villages-de-france.org/fr/nos-villages/. If you see the sign above then we recommend stopping to take in the sights.

Ancient arches often mark the entrances to the medieval villages.
Timber and stone work are hidden by moss, ferns and wall creepers. The ancient wooden veranda's defy gravity.
The streets appear traffic free, until a vehicle appears that seems wider than the road and rumbles loudly on the cobbled streets at a fast pace through the village.
Art work above doorways is unique and hand made. There are no shopping chains in these villages.
This gateway looked intriguing.
Tiny artisan shops are tucked away down alleyways.
The views are terrific with rivers winding in the valleys.


Small shops, especially Boulangeries were our favourite 😋
Villages are immaculately kept and no litter.



Saint-Cirq-Lapopie was a favourite village to visit. We loved the ancient doors, all different and each with a story to tell 

Luckily our friend's are now living in one of the beautiful regions in France. So thanks to Marc, Kathy & Aaron we were able to spend time with them and visit more beautiful villages, including the one they live closest to: Saint-Sylvestre-Sur-Lot. They are living the dream and have opened up an amazing bed & breakfast in southwest France https://lecoqenrepos.com/.


Marc took us on his Chateau tour to places hardly known to tourists and we learnt about local history and geography. Some places we would never have found on our own. 




We visited some beautiful Chateaux. Some were ruins, some open to the public and many are privately owned. They litter the French countryside and made a fabulous day out.



We only touched the margins of France and will have to come back.
A highlight of our visit was a light show one evening lighting up the historic buildings to music.

We hope you enjoyed our brief tour de France and it’s given you ideas of places to visit. We loved our trip and are onwards to Sunny Spain for some winter sunshine ☀️. 
Take care and thanks for reading. 



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