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Regular readers will be aware the the Lot Valley in the South West of France features frequently in these pages - in many ways the essence of “deepest France”, it is less crowded than the Dordogne to the north and yet offers a wide variety of landscapes, pretty villages, great cuisine - and is home to the often under-rated Malbec-based wines of Cahors. Hence an essential recent purchase has been the revised edition of Helen Martin’s Book Lot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in SouthWest France, which is packed with insights, history and information on the Lot département (46) as part of the River’s journey from the Massif Central to its meeting with the Garonne near Aiguillon (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine).

Helen has kindly allowed us to print an extract of the section on Cahors and its wines…….
Lot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in SouthWest France

Chapter 8 The Lot Valley: West of Cahors
Below Cahors, the valley of the Lot belongs to the vignerons and the vineyards of the black wine of Cahors, châteaux-country in fact, but in times gone by it also belonged to the bishops of Cahors, who worked and played but mostly – in that great Christian tradition – fought along its banks.
Downstream of Luzech, the really wild cliffs you see to the east of Cahors become a thing of the past, replaced by gentler, graceful slopes, albeit with a certain grandeur to them, that, even though they may end in cliffs, are less formidable and are called cévennes. The river idles its way through the countryside in deep loops, or cingles, and was used as a major artery for transporting goods from the thirteenth century.
Along its banks grow the vines, and it was mostly the wine from these vineyards which used to be sailed downstream to the Garonne and Bordeaux and from thence to the world. The wine of Cahors may have had its ups and down in more recent times, but the Romans were making wine here in the third century and it had something of a reputation even then, so this river trade is very ancient. Finally, though, and in spite of the efforts of competitive Bordeaux wine-makers, it was phylloxera which put paid to the wine, and thus the trade, in the 1880s. By the time it had revived again, there were better means of transport. But even when the river was at the height of its usefulness, transportation was not always guaranteed. You would be surprised to know how many times the Lot froze right over in winter; the end of the eighteenth century was a particularly critical time – in 1766 it was frozen solid for two and a half months.
In the early nineteenth century, on a river much improved with the passage of time by locks and aids to navigation, 300,000 tonnes of freight was carried down it each year, including an astonishing 90 million bottles of wine – three times the number produced today. However, just as it was phylloxera that killed the river’s wine trade, so it was the coming of the railway that killed the river as a serious form of transport. In more recent years, though, it is coming to life again as leisure craft ply their way up and down, no doubt bringing new problems of pollution.
The villages along this western stretch of the river, unsurprisingly enough, are notable for their wine-producers’ houses – usually big and square with bolets or pigeonniers and sometimes both. You will notice, also, the use of decorative brickwork, the bricks being produced along the valley. Read more on this…

The Telegraph(1 March 2008) offers a list of “50 Spring Breaks” which includes the idea of staying in a modern, well-equipped treehouse in southern Normandy

In the heart of the Parc Naturel Régional du Perche, in southern Normandy, Perché dans le Perche is a treehouse with two bedrooms, a shower, internet access and panoramic views of the countryside.

Situated in the Orne (61 Normandie) not far from Le Mans (72 Sarthe, Pays de la Loire), the Regional Park covers an area of southern Normandie and is a great area for rambling, horse riding and exploring the gentle unspoilt countryside - see www.le-perche.org. For more info on the treehouse see www.perchedansleperche.com

Also included in the Telegraph’s list is www.campbiche.com in deepest South West France on the edge of “le Quercy Blanc” near the quiet but delightful bastide village of Lauzerte (82 Tarn et Garonne), not far from Cahors, Agen and Montauban.  I’m not sure if a glass of wine fits with a health cure, but you have the vineyards of Cahors, Buzet and Fronton and Coteaux du Quercy within easy reach. Then there’s duck, goose, foie gras…..

Stressed? Feeling fat? Try the new boot camp à la francaise: Camp Biche (020 7617 7253, www.campbiche.com), in Lauzerte, Tarn-et-Garonne. Eight hours of exercise – hiking, workouts, Pilates – by day, good food by night. About £2,300 per person a week.

In the Guardian 01 March 08 the Auberge des Liards in the Auvergne (Egliseneuve des Liards, 63 Puy-de-Dome, Auvergne) is one of 10 eco-friendly places to stay (as is the NormandyTree House above)

The property - part of a smallholding - is on the slopes of Puy de Liards, an extinct volcano on the outskirts of the village of Égliseneuve des Liards. The owners, Dutch couple Astrid Ursem and Walter Verhoeve, have created the guesthouse from two ruined farm buildings. The main house has two guest rooms, and a nearby building contains two “ecological” rooms constructed with natural and traditional materials. Insulation is provided by a mix of hemp, chalk, loam and hay - as well as soil collected from molehills, which they use to insulate the floor. The rooms are simply decorated, with natural colours and wooden furniture. Guests are provided with eco-friendly soap, there are low-energy lights and household cleaning products are biodegradable.