TRAVEL: DELIGHTS OF THE DORDOGNE Judith Schrut Enjoys The Food, Drink And Other Pleasures Of Dordogne, France Go with the Flow, cruising the Dordogne on board a traditional gabare
Expat American writer Henry Miller said of the Dordogne, “…this great peaceful region of France…must have been a paradise for many thousands of years”. My last visit to France’s Dordogne region was exactly 30 years ago and nothing like paradise. It was, instead, a long, harrowing trek from London in a cramped campervan with two grumpy toddlers at the height of summer’s tourist season. Not keen on being strapped in a hot speeding vehicle for hours at a time, staying in overcrowded campsites and subsisting on cold frites, Toddler A used every opportunity to show off her expertise in potty training and parental manipulation. Every 20 minutes or so she would howl from the back of the van, “Need potty!” My husband would then swerve into the nearest ditch and slam on the brakes. Pots and pans, towels and toddlers flew from front to back of the van, followed by a race to reach the rear chemical toilet in time … at which point Toddler A would declare, “Don’t need it any more”. This time, my visit to the Dordogne is strictly for grown ups. We’ve come to sample the delights of the Dordogne: its gardens, gastronomy and gabares, the best of its Beaux Villages, the most charming of its chateaux and the loveliest of its liquid pleasures. Paradise had arrived at last! 8
AMERICAN IN BRITAIN
The stunning Marqueyssac gardens and chateau, Rogue Gageac
Chef Stephane Chambon’s roast saddle of Quercy Lamb
Chef Stephane Chambon’s asparagus with freshly smoked salmon
Chef Adrien Castagne’s walnut cream-laced Martel Brest
Gastronomy At Its Best
Is there any better way to start a French holiday than with a long, lazy lunch? After a short flight from Stansted to Brive-laGaillarde’s impressive new airport, it’s only a matter of minutes before we’re in our rental car, out of the airport and deep in the heart of rural Dordogne. We head straight to Martel, a once prosperous medieval town famed for its seven towers and elaborate 18th century wood-roofed marketplace. Fame and riches may be long gone but Martel’s charm, ambience and marketplace still flourish, especially on twice weekly market days and every Wednesday evening in summer, when locals gather for live music and dancing. And joy of French joys, dotted round the marketplace are several small but punchabove-their-weight cafés and bistrots, including Le Petit Moulin. There’s no ‘little mill’ in sight, but Le Petit Moulin’s award winning chef-proprietor Adrien Castagné is clearly pumping big energy into every dish and drink emerging from his kitchen. Lunch is a simple but scrumptious four-course affair served personally by the vivacious young Adrien. Adrien takes pride in a daily-changing
artisanal menu using local ingredients, mostly from his family’s farm, walnut orchard and vineyard. This means homeproduced foie gras, bread, meat and creamy Rocamadour cheese, riverfresh fish, just picked vegetables and the freshest walnut oil you will ever taste. It’s best enjoyed with Adrien’s own vintage red wine, La Castagne. Dessert is a fabulous Martel Brest, pure choux pastry bursting with whipped walnut cream. Oh dear. I could easily eat here every day and grow fat but happy!
Saints And Sustenance
It turns out that the best way to work off those stratospheric gourmet lunch calories lies just half an hour’s scenic drive south, to the extraordinary perched town of Rocamadour. We’ve come for a vigorous afternoon workout led by welcoming local guide, Cécile May. Rocamadour has been a famous Christian pilgrimage site since the Middle Ages. The town and its ancient holy shrines cling spectacularly to surrounding cliffs as if suspended between heaven and earth. For more than nine centuries pilgrims have, like us, trekked the 14 stations of the steep and winding Chemin de Croix or climbed
