The valley
Prunes, bastides, and a river that does not hurry
Lot-et-Garonne is the bit of south-west France that the Dordogne traffic drives straight past. Same stone, same food, a third of the people. This is what we send guests off to do.
Markets
There is one every day
Buy for lunch, not for the week. The stalls change with the month — asparagus and strawberries in May, melons and tomatoes in July, ceps and walnuts by October, and prunes d'Agen the whole year round.
- Monday
- Sainte-Livrade
- Small, quick, good cheese
- Tuesday
- Villeneuve-sur-Lot
- Half the size of Thursday, twice as calm
- Wednesday
- Laroque-Timbaut
- Ten minutes away — go for bread and stay for coffee
- Thursday
- Villeneuve-sur-Lot
- The big one. Arrive before ten
- Saturday
- Agen
- Covered hall plus the street stalls around it
- Sunday
- Pujols
- Producers only, and a queue for the roast chicken
Days out, in order of how often we send people
- 01 Markets
Thursday market, Villeneuve-sur-Lot
The big one. Prunes, cheese, rotisserie chicken, and a queue for the oyster stand that is worth joining.
- 02 Villages
Pujols
A walled hill village twenty minutes away, best at seven in the evening when the light goes orange on the stone.
- 03 On the water
Canoeing the Lot
Put in at Casseneuil and drift down. Half a day, mostly flat, one small weir to portage.
- 04 Day out
Château de Bonaguil
The last great feudal fortress in France, and the least ruined thing you will ever climb.
- 05 Wine
Buzet and Brulhois vineyards
Under-sung reds, forty minutes west. Most domaines will open a bottle if you telephone first.
- 06 Villages
Monflanquin & Monpazier
Two bastide towns within an hour, both laid out on a medieval grid, both with arcaded squares built for lunch.
When to come
The year, roughly
- April – May
- Everything green, nothing crowded. The pool is cold until the third week of May. Best month for walking.
- June
- Long light until ten at night, cherries and strawberries at every market, the water finally warm.
- July – August
- Hot — often 33–36° by mid-afternoon. The house stays cool behind closed shutters; life moves outside after six.
- September – October
- Our favourite. Vendange, warm days, cold nights, and the fire in the barn earns its keep.
The house is let from April to the end of October. Winter stays are possible for groups of eight or fewer — the main house heats quickly, the cottage stays shut.
Getting here
Far enough out to matter, close enough to shop
The house is at the end of a private lane above Castella, halfway between Agen and Villeneuve-sur-Lot. You will want a car. Agen has the TGV — Paris in three hours twenty — and the hire desks sit at the station.
- Laroque-Timbaut — bakery, market, pharmacy
- 7 km · 10 min
- Villeneuve-sur-Lot
- 18 km · 22 min
- Agen — TGV to Paris & Bordeaux
- 25 km · 30 min
- Pujols — one of the plus beaux villages
- 20 km · 25 min
- Bergerac airport
- 1 hr
- Bordeaux airport
- 1 hr 50
- Toulouse airport
- 1 hr 40
- Caen ferry port
- 7 hrs
The exact address and gate code go out with the booking confirmation.
Pick your week and we will put a list in the house.
Enquire