On another of our days out from Sainte Foy we headed due south to the Dropt river valley, exploring the towns of Eymet and Duras and the countryside in between. The Dropt river is a tributary of the Garonne and today runs through gentle rolling countryside of corn, tobacco and sunflowers but originally would have run from mill to mill and would have transported goods in the wooden flat-bottomed gabares. Our first stop was at Eymet, a medieval bastide town in the purple Périgord part of the Dordogne department. The pretty town dates back to 1270 and was founded by Alphonse de Poitiers. It has the typical format of a square surrounded by arcaded shops and houses and the remains of the castle that would have existed before the bastide town are still evident on the side of the town.
Eymet is known for being very popular with the British – nearly 20% of the population is of British origin and our campsite owner told us there was even a British mayor at one point, which was apparently not popular with all residents. As we walked from the river and the former flour mill into the centre of the village we certainly did hear more British voices than French. This would probably put some people off, but the upside was that there did seem to be life in this village with most of the shops and restaurants occupied by businesses which is not the case in many villages we have visited.
From Eymet we wended our way west along the river to the town of Duras, much quieter than Eymet (i.e lots of empty shops) apart from a couple of restaurants busy at lunchtime. Duras is best known for its impressive castle and as a highly regarded, but small, wine region. The castle was built in the 12th century and was transformed in the 17th century with more luxurious residential accommodation and has undergone a lot of renovation in more recent years.
A plaque by the terrace where we stopped for lunch recounted that the author Marguerite Duras whose family were from Duras, wrote her first novel in the twin and took her name from the town – her real surname was Donnadieu.
More market specialities
Not sure we’d want to try the donkey or kangaroo based sausages!
When I worked for Laurie, Milbank Stockbrokers, in the 70s and 80, the Senior Partner (and my boss) was Tony Everett (Rupert’s Father, which is how I got to know him when he was about 14). Tony decided to build a house at Savignac de Duras, which he occasionally let out or allowed people to stay – we were in the latter category! It was a beautiful house with a galleried drawing room and four double en suite bedrooms. One year it was let to Margaret Lockwood’s daughter, Julia and friends and they almost trashed the place. The worst thing about its construction was that neither Tony, nor his Solicitor had taken note that in order to reach the house you had to travel over a very small part of a neighbouring farm. Boy did that guy fleece him when the property was ready to be handed over! The farmer always wrote in French and Tony would always try to embarrass me by asking for ‘that French letter’!!
That’s a great story Mary and lovely that you know the area (and the wine?) as well. Those issues with farmers still owning ‘odd’ bits of land are still very much around today. Love Claire xx
Yes, certainly the wine. Think it was on one trip I discovered Muscat de Beaume de Venice. The most delicious dessert wine , managed to find it once in a restaurant in the City, but never again 😟😟. Love Mary xx
P.S. Was made a great fuss of on my 90th (cannot believe that!) x
Off course you were made a fuss of – quite right! Hope you had a fabulous time xx
I typed VeniSe – phone thought it knew better! x
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