South West France

Part of our series featuring places to stay and explore for a weekend or longer with recommendations on where to stay, eat, visit etc – recommendations from personal knowledge of people who know the local area well.

Why Entraygues-sur-Truyere? Entraygues-sur-Truyere is a picturesque riverside village, where two rivers meet, the Lot River and the Truyere.  Entraygues was founded in the 10th century and its fortified castle was built between 1278-1290.  Entraygues is located in an area with 10 of the, “The Most Beautiful Villages in France,” more than any othe region! (and rightly so! (Ed))

Where to stay: Sweet French Cottages,enchanting stone cottages for rent in the Lot Valley, Southwest France

Nearest Town: Entraygues-sur-Truyere, 12 Aveyron, Midi-Pyrenees

Where to eat (recommended by Raine Heron of Sweet French Cottages): Le Mejanessere, a beautiful rustic restaurant with stunning views. Also a vineyard and an organic farm.  Food is farm fresh and set menus often feature roasted pig, sausage in walnut oil, potatoes with wild mushrooms, green salad with edible flowers and herbs and dessert.  Delicious bread baked on premises.  Wonderful apéritif menu and local wines from vineyard.  Mostly open during high season (some mid season hours).

Where to eat (gourmet): Auberge du Fel.  Delicious, fresh, often regional food beautifully presented.  The Executive Chef, Mme Elisabeth Albespy, is the Mayor’s wife and the Sous Chef is their son, Mathieu.  The Mayor is often on hand to serve up their traditional as well as inventive dishes, including a vegetarian prix fixe menu.

Where to eat (value for money): La Casa.  Oven-fired thin crust pizza, pasta dishes and fresh salads.  Make your own pizza (our favourite is goat cheese, chestnuts and fresh tomatoes) or try the duck and Roquefort pizza, among many others on the menu.  Good table wine and tasty desserts.

Local food: Aubrac beef, duck, lamb, trout, foie gras, charcuterie, aligot (whipped potatoes with cheese), truffade, cabecou, fouace, honey, walnut oil, fresh chestnuts as well as chestnut vinegar, flour and chestnut butter, farcous, wild mushrooms

Local wine: Entraygues– Le Fel wine, which has recently had a come uppance when one of our Entraygues wines made it s way onto the menu at Michel Bras, a regional restaurant which ranks one of the top ten restaurants in the world.  There are also several local aperitifs including “Pelou,” consisting of chestnut liqueur and local white wine and “Rascalou,” consisting of walnut liqueur and local white wine.  Both are wonderful.

Local markets: Farmer’s Markets are held every Friday morning throughout the year.  In high season, there are two Farmer’s Markets, on both Tuesday and Friday mornings, and a local producer’s market (Marche des Producteurs de Pays) on Wednesday evenings with banquet style dining and live music.  All of the markets are held in the village square or along the river in Entraygues.

Must see: Poterie du Don, a museum-quality contemporary ceramic center in an architecturally-significant building.  Ceramics include traditional salt glaze tableware and ceramic creations by the gallery owner, Suzy Atkins, to ceramic sculpture and flatworks by many well-known European ceramic artists.

A bit of culture?: Since the  area is unspoiled and rather timeless, you definitely feel immersed in the French culture on a daily basis, particularly if you frequent the butcher, the baker, Farmer’s Market and mill around the villages.  With regard to museums, one that stands out is the Musee Fenaille in Rodez with the oldest and largest collection of statues-menhirs in France (think small, carved Stone Henge).

Shopping?: There are charming shops in Entraygues, as well as many lovely shops and cafes on pedestrian-only streets in the old town section of nearby Aurillac.

Somewhere for a walk? – There are 10 “Petites Randonrres” (small walking paths) in Entraygues totaling more than 100 km.  There are also longer walks, some taking 2-3 days, and more than 250 km of trails in the area.  There is also a 30-45 minute historic walk through the medieval streets of Entraygues, guided by sign posts.

Something for the kids? – There is kayaing, canoeing, river rafting and horseback riding in Entraygues, as well as several animal parks and farms open to the public in surrounding areas.  Also, the Micropolis (insect) museum and the Millau Viaduc (the highest bridge in the world) is not far from us.

Getting there?:– Driving across France is always a scenic pleasure.  By air, our nearest airport is Rodez-Marcillac Airport (only a short 1-hour flight from Paris) Ryanair fly from Stansted to Rodez.

Other airports in the area include Toulouse International Airport, Montpellier Airport and Limoges Airport.  Trains arrive at either Aurillac or Rodez stations

Getting around:– Buses and taxis are availabie in town, and the area is frequented by cyclists (including the Tour de France!).  There are train stations in both Aurillac and Rodez - and tickets direct from the UK can be booked through Rail Europe

When to come?:– There are festivals every weekend in mid and high seasons in Entraygues or nearby villages.  The better known festivals, however, are “Les Mediaevales” (Medieval Days) on 12 and 13 Sepetember 2009 featuring jugglers, musicians, medieval costumes, banquet-style lunch, wine, beer and several artisan booths. “Fete des Champignons” (Mushroom Festival) is held the last weekend in September and features folkloric museum, dancing, costumes, lunch and everything mushroom.  “Foire de la Chataigne” (Chestnut Fair) will be held on 24 and 25 October 2009 and is large festival with music, food, wine and everything chestnut.

For a longer stay?:– Take a day trip (and perhaps, stay one night) in Cahors or Gaillac or Cordes sur Ciel, or just take cat naps, go for walks down to the river or next to the local vineyards, through the historic villages, or just sit on the terrace while reading a good book and sipping wine, taking in the fresh air, views and sound of the flowing river.

Recommendations kindly supplied by Rain Heron at Sweet French Cottages

For more info on the local area see the local tourist office website

Part of our series featuring places for a short stay in the in France we visit the Gers, South West France.

Le Weekend in…Eauze

Where to stay? Domaine de Lauroux at Manciet. Domaine de Lauroux, situated 2km from the town of Manciet.where Karen and Richard Kitchener run a wine and Armagnac domaine in the Cotes de Gascogne. Manciet is close to the charming market town of Eauze. Lauroux is a 100 acre award-winning vineyard offering self catering and B&B accommodation together with evening meals

For more info see www.tourisme-gers.com For more info on the accommodation see http://frenchduck.com/latest/archives/2008/04/bb-or-gite-in-the-gers.html

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I suspect we all look for evidence to convince us that our bad habits are not so bad for us after all. I still quote numerous medical articles which “prove” that wine is good for you, conveniently ignoring the caveat “in moderation”.

More recently of course there has been Dr Roger Corder’s The Wine Diet, which claims that certain red wines such as Madiran with its Tannat grape have a positive contribution to health and might explain the so-called “French Paradox” whereby the French, despite having a diet high in saturated fats nevertheless have a low incidence of coronary heart disease.

Health and diet guru Michel Montignac recommends cooking with goose fat rather than butter. It is probably significant that both the wine and food of South West France play such a key role in a healthy diet!

And now French wine and food specialists Devigne Wines and Confit Direct are praising the health benefits of the key staple foods of SW France.

In view of the latest scare story from the food police regarding Saturated Fats, did you know that whilst Beef, Mutton and Pork Fat are up to 50% Saturated Fat, Duck Fat is only 33% Saturated Fat and Goose even better at 28%?

In addition Duck and Goose fat contain an antimicrobial ingredient known as palmitoleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid. Palmitoleic acid fights microbes in your intestines.

Foie gras, duck confit and goose/duck fat are almost health foods!!
Or perhaps that’s going a bit far!

For more info see www.confitdirect.co.uk/

Green and Blue, winners of Decanter’s Small Independent Wine Merchant of the Year Award 2008 stock two wines which are seldom seen in the UK - Entraygues et du Fel AC and Marcillac AC. These wines are really from deepest Southwest France coming from the upper Lot Valley and the Aveyron

2005 Laurent Mousset Entraygues et du Fel’ (£9.10) Like the wines of Marcillac, the dominant variety here is Fer Servadou although Laurent Mousset chooses to add some Cabernet Franc for a bit of added weight and texture.  It is a wine typical of the reds from the southwest corner which we love so dearly.  The red fruit is bright and zippy and although there is some rustic grip (these are not slick, glossy wines), they are essentially light and fairly soft.  These are wines to refresh body and soul and indeed, they used to be drunk instead of water (which sounds like a recipe for a far more entertaining day than those we spend sipping piously on Evian).   Although there is fabulous earth and stone flavours underlying the red cherry and raspberry fruit, this is not a wine to be studied with reverence, rather knocked back with gusto.

2006 Domaine du Cros Marcillac ‘Lo Sang del Pais’ (£8.75) Marcillac is rarely seen outside its own little part of SW France between Rodez and the beginnings of the Auvergne. It’s not because the wines can’t be good, but there’s just so little to go round – only eight independent winemakers exist and the number can’t expand because all the best sites (particularly the incredibly steep south-facing slopes with their dramatic terracotta coloured soil) are already taken.  It’s the combination of soil and the mansois grape that gives Marcillac it’s particular taste, a sort of wild, vibrant, leafy, raspberry and bramble fruit that’s fresh and moreish.

Philippe Teulier makes two styles of wine, his basic, traditional style (which this is) and a oaked version from older vines.  While we love both, the purity of the gamey fruit in this swung it for us on this occasion

South London’s Green & Blue won Independent Wine Merchant of the Year in the Under 12 staff category. The judges praised the tiny two-shop chain run by former Conran sommelier Kate Thal, for its attention to detail, noting the fact that ’staff will even print out a tasting note’ if the wine is for a gift!

Green & Blue Lordship Lane, 38 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich London SE22 8HJ T: 0208 693 9250 F: 0208 693 9260

Green & Blue Clapham, 20 - 26 Bedford Road, Clapham. London SW4 7HJ   T: 0207 498 9648 F: 0207 498 9649

Website: http://www.greenandbluewines.com

If you are ever lucky enough to get to the Aveyron, we can recommend some excellent cottages to rent owned by a couple of Californians – see wwww.frenchduck.com

Now here’s an opportunity to spend several months in one of the most beautiful and unspoilt parts of France next summer - near Entraygues-sur-Truyère (12 Aveyron, Midi-Pyrenees) in the upper Lot Valley. The American owners of Sweet French Cottages are looking for some help in setting up and running their gites in return for board and lodging.

Lance and Rain would like to “hire” some young and able individuals - or possibly a couple — to come and live for free in France (room and board including most meals) for 3 months during the spring/summer 2009 in exchange for working with us.

We’re looking for individuals or a couple that can help us get our properties ready for high season 2009. From maintenance such as painting, staining, planting, gardening to cutting/stacking firewood and moving rocks to helping with dinners for our cottage guests, laundry, cleaning, etc.

We’re asking for 6 hours per day of work, 5 days per week. Some knowledge of French would be great, but is not entirely necessary.

I could be tempted myself, but may not qualify as “young and able”. Seriously though, you could pay good money to spend time in such a place - almost a “retreat” from the hustle and bustle of the modern world and a long way from the nearest MacDonalds. Wonderful landscapes, river valleys and natural splendour but with easy access to a charming little town with all the important facilities such as shops, cafés, banks etc good food and very drinkable local wines - and the owners are really “cool” in the nicest possible way - and in no way “typical Americans”.

For more info contact rain.heron@orange.fr

For more about these Sweet French Cottages see www.frenchduck.com or use the enquiry form below.

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Despite already having a well-developed high speed train (TGV) network, the French have plans to double the length of the special TGV lines by 2020 from the current 1750km. Trains a Grand Vitesse (TGVs) do run on on many major routes, but not all the line is a dedicated TGV track which permits speeds of up to 320km/hr  (200mph) - e.g. the TGV Atlantique to Bordeaux is only high speed track as far as Tours.

Several major extensions of the network include:-

Tours to Bordeaux via Poitiers and Angouleme, bringing Bordeaux within 2 hours of Paris. Utlimately the high speed line will extend south to Bayonne and into Spain!

Le Mans to Rennes in Brittany - bringing Brest within 3 hours of Paris!

Bordeaux to Toulouse in South West France, reducing the travel time to 1 hour!

Marseille to Nice will complete the line to Provence and the Côte d’Azur

Montpellier to Perpignan and on to Barcelona in Spain!

It’s a great example of why domestic air travel in France becomes less and less viable with city centre to city centre times such as these in the offing - speedy and green!
You can book any train journey to and within France including Eurostar, TGV and local lines through RailEurope