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Markets
SUNDAY
Pujols is an unbelievably beautiful village, just south of Villeneuve. Market is on Sunday and there’s a bar and gourmet restaurant in the villageTHURSDAY – Thursday is a bit a of market fest:
Montflanquin is a great market in the very square, market square. It’s about 20-minutes drive, north of St Sylvestre. When you get to Montflanquin, turn right onto the circular road round the village and drive to the top of the Bastide. Great views; walk through the church to the market square
From Montflanquin, you can go on a little further to an even nicer village
Monpazier Lunch at the L’Hotel de Londres or in the square is very reasonable
You can come back through Biron where there’s a very impressive 17th and 18th century Chateau to visit for Euros.5.30. And a little further is Gavaudin, an interesting village clinging to the side of the hillside.
FRIDAY Ste Liverade, just the other side of Villeneuve is a very large, slightly ethnic market with some small livestock. You can go from there to Le Restaurant Commandes in Le Temple sur Lot and visit the Water Lilies gardens, Latour-Marliac, which is the same gardens that supplied Monet with his water lilies for Giverny.
SATURDAY
Montaigu de Quercy is a gentle village market. A lake and beach area is nearby with boating and swimmingSarlat
SATURDAY MARKET worth getting up early to be there for 9.30am before the parking becomes impossible
About 60-miles and an hour and a half’s journey north into the Dordorgne
SUNDAY - there's also a couple of very good Sunday markets:
Montcuq just off the the road to Cahors is a really big and beautiful Sunday market
Roquecor is a trendy, English / Dutch enclave. Good market. Great to sit on the bar terrace if it's sunny - and you don't mind being surrounded by people speaking English. Chateau de l’Hoste also runs their offfces from an art gallery in Roquecor called Grenier des Artists – very worth a visit if you’re over that way
Toulouse
EVERYDAY - except Monday there's the fabulous Victor Hugo indoor market in Toulouse as featured in Rick Stein's French Odyssey. Drive in along the canal Brienne, park in Capitole and walk through. Remember to take lunch in one of the restaurants upstairs - ask someone if you can't find the entrance. Toulouse centre is well worth a visit. A well kept cityThere is a model medieval castle near Fumel called Château-fort de Bonaguil, which is an incredible example of a fortified castle with dungeons, caves, latrines, state rooms and a keep. A great half-day out – there's a couple of good restaurants for lunch at the bottom of the hill
Then there's Chateau Biron on the way to Monpazier - a timepiece of dereliction and restoration. Some of the rooms have been dressed for a film set so are very evocative
If you’re happy to travel a little further, there’s a chateau turned over to being a medieval war museum at Castelnau in the Dordorgne
Caves
Close by, there are two Grottes featuring stalactites and stalagmites, both sites just off the road to Agen from Villeneuve sur Lot. The Grottes de Lastournelle is probably the best http://dejagrand.infobebes.com/htm/sorties/sortie_fiche.asp?id_sortie=730
Therms and Spas
If the weather’s poor, there are 2-health centres:
Aphrodite in Villeneuve; Turkish bath, Jacuzzi, sun beds and treatments. 5 rue du Generale Blaniac. 05 53 71 22 08
Thermal spa in the centre of Casteljaloux featuring a Nordic Pavilion with icy showers, saunas and cold well, a Far Eastern Pavilion with a Japanese bath and lights, an Oriental Pavilion with hammam and Turkish baths, an indoor and outdoor pool plus bubble pools, massage pools and Jacuzzis
You can just turn up and have 2-hours for Euro.40. Take a towel and swimming costume - shorts not allowed
http://www.eurothermes.com/casteljaloux/casteljaloux.asp
Lakeside Walks
There are many lakes in the area suitable for walking, swimming and relaxing
Montague de Quercy and Montcuq both have municipal-run lakes each with a beach. Why not go to Montague lake after the Saturday market, or Montcuq lake after the Sunday market
St Beauzeal is a hidden away jewel – you drive up the side of the Marie de St Beauzeal. There’s also a pretty church and rambles
Beauville also has a lake through the camp site – suitable for taking a barbeque
Boating
Canoeing and Swimming in the Dordorgne
About an hour’s drive, on the way to Sarlat on the D60, there are loads of places to canoe and swim in the Dordogne, for example Pont de Vitrac, or a little closer @ Cenac
Boating on the Lot
You can hire boats from Port de Penne by the hour, half day, day or for longer. Downstream 45 minutes is the 13 meter deep Villeneuve lock; and then there’s the sluce de Lustrac about an hour up stream. There’s even a canoe station on the Lot @ Puy l’EviqueThere's an Equestrian Centre called Centre d'Equeste de Sigbel at St Beauzeil on the way to Roquecor.
Ballooning
There are a couple of places where you can do ballooning, both near La Roque Gageac, on the Dordogne about an hour’s drive north:
Chateau des Milandes for Euros.180 per person for about a 45 minute flight http://www.perigord-dordogne-montgolfieres.com/
montgolfiere-du-perigord which cost Euros.200 for an hour – they also seem to do 2-3 hour excursions around chateaux as well
www.montgolfiere-du-perigord.comWine Tasting
Penne d’Agenais is pretty well located for wine tasting.
Going west, there’s St Emilion – a 2-hour drive. You can stop off at the impressive Chateau de Duras
Eastwards, there’s wine tasting around Cahors as near as Puy l’Eveque and Montcuq
Northwards is Bergerac country and the famous sweet wine chateau of Monbazillac, just near Bergerac airport
And going south is the Armagnac region, with tasting distilleries on the route from Condom to Eauze (pronounced Ay-oze). Or visit the Roman town of Seviac, the fortified town of Larresingle, Fources or the beautiful Chateau Cassaigne, all just south west of Condon.
Air Bus Factory Visit – near Toulouse Airport
Tel: +33 (0)5 61 18 06 01
Taxiway, 10 avenue Guynemer, 31770 Colomiers, Francehttp://www.francealacarte.com/toulouse_aero.htm
http://www.france4families.com/Lot/RegionsLotAttractionsAirbus.htm
Advance Booking: http://www.taxiway.fr/
One-and-a-hours English tour on Wednesdays; French tour on Saturdays
Strong difference of opinion about how good this tour is; you are kept a long way from the planes, but the information they give is interesting - including the spectacular new double decker A380.