Exploring the Dordogne – week 2

Last week was mainly about finding our feet and getting Lucas settled in, this week we have ventured out a little more.

This week we have visited Mareuil which is 10 minutes from where we are staying. It’s quite a big town but was fairly quiet. We spotted a few restaurants, butchers, bakers, pharmacy, shops and tourist office. It has a beautiful Château too that was built in the 15th century on the site of a medieval stronghold destroyed during the Hundred Years War. There is a flamboyant Gothic chapel and a room dedicated to the First Empire where furniture and documents retrace the history of Marshal Lannes, Duke of Montebello (1769-1809), ancestor of the current owners.

We visited La Tour-Blanche, we had a quick wander round but didn’t stay here long. There was one restaurant we could see, a pharmacy and “Manoir de Nanchapt” built in the 16th and 17th centuries was completed in 1617. Restored in the 18th century, its facade and roof were registered with the Historical Monuments in 1948. It consists of 2 main houses at right angles, with pointed roofs whose interior angles are joined by a polygonal tower enclosing the staircase connecting these two buildings. There was also a small market but it only consisted of three stalls which suggests it isn’t the busiest of villages.

Our favourite place we visited this week was Verteillac. Verteillac had a lovely bustly feeling to it. It has a general store (Merlaud, which sells everything from lettuce to lawn mowers), butchers, bakers, a brocante, a choice of cafes and restaurants. We also found the library which was closed for lunch but there was a dresser outside the library, filled with reading books and activity books that people could take and return as well as putting their own read books in once they have finished with them. Lucas enjoyed relaxing here with one of the sticker books as it was in a lovely shaded courtyard which was a nice relief from the sun. We met 4 expats here too that said they absolutely loved the area, explained to us where the school was, the tennis courts and communal pool.

We have also done lots of playing around where we are staying and relaxing in the pool. It is so hot and you really can’t beat the relief of walking into the pool to cool off. Lucas has been enjoying playing junior monopoly this week. When we do buy a house and settle, I’m going to buy him his own set of monopoly junior and Lucas has already seen the bike he would like to buy, a ninja one from Super U x