On The Move Again...

This was our last day at Josse, our gite just outside of Monflanquin. It was also our first meeting with Preston, Nicole's husband. Preston works in England and takes long weekends every second weekend to stay in France and do work around the property.

Perhaps it is just as well he arrived at the end of our visit...we got on that well and spent quite a long time having a good old chat.....he would never have got any work done if we had arrived later!!!

So we said our goodbyes and headed two hours north, to somewhere outside the town of Sorges.

The reason I said "somewhere" outside of Sorges is that on the way we realised that we did not have the full directions to the property we were going to...Figtree Cottage. Once we arrived in Sorges, we stopped at a restaurant, which was full, so we bought a couple of coffees so that we could get in touch with the owners of Figtree, another English couple, Glenn and Roma. As we were only a few minutes away, Glenn came and got us and we follwed him back to the cottage.

What a great property, in the middle of a small forest. There is even a pool if we want to use it.

The Owners House

Figtree Cottage

Our Private Garden Area

The Lounge

Figtree Cottage may be small but it makes very good use of the floor space that it has. It has lots of character and is going to be a great place to stay while we explore the area....it has a really nice feel.

 

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Market Day At Villereal

Today we got up early and headed into the nearby town of Villereal.....it was their market day. It was raining most of the morning, but only a light drizzle, and not enough to stop us.

The Locals Were Out In Force.

All Clothes In The Old Medieval Shelter

History and Market Merge.

All of the great food stores were there, and the local shops were also open which added to the atmosphere.

You Can Gain Calories Just By Looking At These Great Cakes.

I think every market I have been to in France there is always someone selling these damn slippers!! I might be a grand father but I am not ready for these yet!!

There Is A Massive Warehouse Somewhere Full Of These!

After a quick walk around we returned to the car and headed to Monpazier for lunch.

However, as we had the whole day, we went the long way. On the way we stopped in the town of Beaumont du Perigord, which even in the rain seemed quite nice, so we got out and had a bit of a walk around. The great thing about getting an early start today is that in the mornings there always appears to be a bit of life in these French villages, but come the afternoon, after their lunch, it is quite often a different story.

Walking The Narrow Lane Ways

A Small Water Logged Market Was On.

Cute Lanes Everywhere.

To our surprise it was their market day as well, be it a lot smaller than Villereal's it was still a market.

We pushed onto Monpazier and came across this great little village....what a shame I cannot remember it's name!!

The Unknown Village

As soon as we got to Monpazier, it stopped raining, the sun came out, and it became quite warm...just in time for lunch!

The Walk To Monpazier's Square.

The last time we were here it was market day and very busy, today it was nice and quiet and very easy to take photos of this lovely village.

Old Buildings Lining The Square

For lunch we both ordered the Plate of The Day...it sounded so good...a Black Pig Sliced Pork dish...afraid it did not live up to its great description, but the wine was okay.

The Plate Du Joir

After lunch we headed back to Monflanquin and our gite, Josse.

 

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Dinner In Bergerac

Had a really easy day just hanging out around the gite today. However, this evening we took the 45 minute drive into Bergerac to go to the Villa Laetitia restaurant again.

Villa Laetitia Restaurant

We ordered from their evening "3 courses for 39 Euro" menu...thank goodness we actually ordered different to each other this time. For an Appetizer we both had a very nice Salmon Tartar. for the Entree Lesley went for Fresh Oysters, while I went for Fresh Picked Mushrooms. For Mains Lesley went for Sea Bream and Longastines, while I went for Fillet Steak with Foie Gras, and for dessert we both went for the Molten Chocolate cake...of course. Very nice meal, but with wine and coffee it ran out to over 125 euro, oh well, one big night now and then should not hurt the budget too much.

Lesley With Her Oysters

Main Meals

After a lovely meal, we had a walk around some of the old area of Bergerac before making our way back to the car.

Bergerac At Night

The only problem with the meal tonight was the coffee...it is now nearly 2am and I am still wide awake!!

 

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To Market, To Market...

We like visiting the local towns when there is a market on as they really come alive and have a great buzz. Today there were four markets on, so we chose two....our local village of Monflanquin, and another town, Monpazier about 20km away...incidentally both of these towns are on the most Beautiful French Villages website, so we expected a lovely day.

As we expected a small market was setup in the square of Monflanquin, there were the usual cheeses, meats, fish, clothes, mushrooms, and a bit of a favourite of mine the stalls with the really big pans and great looking dishes that you can buy to eat now or take a meal away for the family.

A Nice Market In Nice Surrounds

The Food Smells Great

The Square Was Full Of Stalls

We have not been back into the actual village on Monflanquin since the first day we arrived, and yes, we still think it is as lovely as the fist time we saw it...it is just a really cute little village.

Brilliant Old Architecture

Restaurants Getting Ready

After walking around the market we spent some time walking around the village, making sure we explored areas we had not seen yet.

Narrow Lane Ways

On The Edge Of The Square

After spending close to an hour in Monflanquin we made our way to Monpazier.

Leaving Monflanquin Gave Us A Different View

Monpazier had a great great feel and a real buzz going on, there were quite a few people in the market and eating and drinking in the restaurants on the perimeter of the square. All of the stalls we are used to were there, the temperature was moving into the high 20's with a light breeze blowing through the town....a very nice day.

Walking Up To The Square

Entering Through Medieval Arches

Monpazier had a different looking square to other towns, the buildings making up the square seemed to be a wide variety of eras, but still had a lot of charm. At one end of the square was a medieval covered area that I imagined could be used for winter markets and events, it looked great.

This Market Felt Great

The Old Covered Area

Olives Fro Sale

Eventually we settled down for some lunch in a restaurant in one corner of the square next to the covered area......you won't believe it, but we close the same meal again! This time we had a very tasty mushroom omelette with a green salad, with crusty bread and a local rose wine. As we ate we noticed that there appeared to be a very large number of older English people all of whom appeared to live here.

The Restaurant We Ate At

As we finished our omelettes and started on our shared cheese platter the market stalls were packed away, and the square was emptying out.

Lunch Time, French Style

Then we noticed that they were roping off the covered area and people were appearing from all over the place with big trays of mushrooms, which they placed on the floor of this area. We went in and checked it out, I heard someone talking in English with an accent about the mushrooms...so I jumped in and asked what was going on.......Apparently, this was officially the first day of mushroom season, and the pickers were bringing in tray after tray of mushrooms that could not be sold until 3pm, which was only minutes away. This was such a big thing that it was also being covered by local TV and radio stations.

The Mushroom Market

The Mushrooms Just Kept Coming

The person that told us about the mushroom market was Swiss, and got very excited when he found out that we were from Australia....he called his sister across who was actually Australian from Armadale in NSW. She was attending a cooking school for 5 days and was doing a market visit to buy foods....Lesley got talking to the French woman who ran the school. They spoke for quite a while...I am sure that they were exchanging ideas!

Local Shop With Local Produce

We had a look around the town, I can see why it is the beautiful French villages list....it really is beautiful.

Great Buildings On The Square Perimeter

The Square Emptying Out

Great, Assorted Buildings

On the way home we drove past the very impressive Chateau in Biron...this was our fist "real" chateau we had seen, very impressive.

Chateau de Biron

Well, another great day, great markets, great food, and very beautiful villages.

 

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