Gite rural la Garipière

Round and about

Twenty minutes from Sarlat and 5 minutes from the Dordogne river the house is ideally situated for visiting the region and discovering the beauties of the "Perigord Noir". In the immediate vicinity there is the village of  Carves with its typical 14th century church and its astonishing 17th century alter piece, the town of Belvès with its quaint medieval streets and underground dwellings and the charming village of Urval. All around there are charming and beautiful small towns and villages : Beaumont, Molières, St Avit Sénieur, Montferrand du Perigord and the Couze valley.  Of course you must not miss the magnificent medieval town of Sarlat the bastide towns of Montpazier and Villefranche dew Perigord ( and in season its very important "marché aux cèpes" - mushroom market.

Belves

Urval

Sarlat

The Dordogne valley is near at hand with the castles ofCastelnaud, les Milandes and Beynac, and the beautiful cliffhanging villages of Beynac, Domme and Roque Gageac..

All through the summer there arefestivals, concerts and exhibitions : Bach in Belvès, the Summer Bergerac Festival, the Perigueux Mime festival, the Tuesday concerts at Banne, the Sarlat theater festival and dozens of others.>

For thesportsman there are innumerable possibilities : hiking on the very well signposted local tracks, tennis at Siorac and Belvès, horse riding, canoing on the Dordogne, golf(Lolivarie 18 holes or la Forge 9 holes). You can also discover the region in a hot air balloon or in a micro light.

For those interested in the history of the region there are numerous exceptional prehistoric caves in the Dordogne and Vézère valleys (Lascaux for instance ) and the new national prehistoric museum at les Eyzies de Tayac. And the hundred years war is never far away with the bastide towns..

For cooks and food lovers there are numerous  active local markets :Belvès on Saturday morning, a very important one on Sunday morning at St Cyprien next door. There is also a market at le Bugue on Tuesday,  at Lalinde on Thursday and at le Buisson on Friday. There is a market at Sarlat on Wednesday and Saturday but in summer it is very crowded and traffic and parking can be difficult. Wednesday evening during the summer you can picnic on the market square at Belvès. You take your plate, glass, knife and fork and buy at the market sausages, steaks that the local butcher cooks for you. Foie gras, pizzas,cheese wine  etc are also on sale. You sit at one of the tables set out in the market square and get to know your neighbours while listening to the band playing.
And 100 yards from the Mas there is Carve's gold medal goat's cheese maker from whom you can buy cheese while he milks the goats. 


For wine lovers you are not far from the Bergerac vineyards, Montravel, Montbazillac, Saussignac, Pecharmant, Duras. There are two very good local wine merchants : la Cave du Coux at Coux et Bigaroque where you can taste - and buy - a lot of local wines and Julien de Savignac at le Bugue..