The Dordogne is a wonderful area to explore out of the main holiday season.

The countryside is hilly with ancient villages, castles, rivers and forests. The weather is often bright with warm days and cool nights. In October and November the oak, beech and poplar trees change to beautiful reds, oranges, golds and browns.  It can get very cold in January and February, transforming the countryside into a white magic scene with hoar frost on all the trees and fences.

La Vieille Grange is always welcoming and warm. The thick stone walls are insulated and dry lined. There is a wood burner in the living room and central heating throughout. The windows are all double glazed. This is the ideal spot for peace and quiet. It is at the edge of a rural hamlet at the end of a lane but only two miles from all the essential shops. If you want to stay in, freeview satellite television and DVD are set up and Wifi broadband is available using your own laptop.

A number of the tourist attractions are open throughout the year. The picturesque castle at Beynac is open all year except for Christmas day. Peace talks were held there during the hundred years war between the French and Richard Lionheart. The famous gardens at the Manoir d’Eyrignac are also open all year. The attraction there is the architectural, formal layout which is as interesting in winter as in summer.

There is an 18 hole golf course 10 miles away at the Souillac Country Club which is open all winter.  

They erect an ice rink in one of the squares of the mediaeval town of Sarlat and the shops, especially the patisseries, are decorated in the most attractive way for the Christmas market, usually held in early December. 

It is an ideal area for walking and cycling. In recent years the Office de Tourisme has come to recognise this and has marked out many circular walks and rides.  They are marked with wooden posts or with yellow marks on trees or buildings. The walks are shown and described in a collection of leaflets and maps provided for our guests. The views are sometimes even more spectacular when the trees have lost their leaves.