Hi all,
DW and I will be in Bordeaux for a couple of days next month and we are looking to extend our stay in a cottage in a nice, quiet medieval village nearby. We are hoping to rent a cottage if possible for 6 nights.
Within two hours drive from Bordeaux would be ideal as we have to return to Bordeaux to travel out.
And if anybody can recommend a cottage that would be worthwhile staying at, that would be fabulous as well.
Thanks for any suggestions or info in advance.
Russell
I have little experience with the outlying area of Bordeaux since we had no car when we spent a week there. That being said, St Emilion was a beautiful and delightful town.
Larresingle on the pilgrims route ...
http://www.francethisway.com/places/larressingle.php
Along with nearby villages of Fources, Montreal, Condom.
Check more info here ...
http://m.les-plus-beaux-villages-de-france.org/
We've spent a week in Fources, and visited the other towns mentioned: Larresingle, Condom, and Montreal du Gers. Any of them would fit your criteria except for Condom, which is larger. You can read a little bit about our visit to this area here (and in the following posts): http://mainelywinenews.blogspot.com/2012/04/leaving-aveyron-and-into-gers.html. I wouldn't recommend St. Emilion for an extended stay; while beautiful, it's quite touristy.
Cottage rental in this region tends to be by the week not the day. We stayed at a wonderful cottage in Cadouin last fall. Tiny town but a bakery, a couple of restaurants, a lovely Abbey, an ice cream shop and organic food store and a weekly market. For serious grocery shopping we had to go further afield. We booked through an agent we had used 10 years previously to book in Limeuil which is another small town mostly made up of ex pat lodging. The link for several cottages in the area was:
http://www.perfectionfortwo.com
The one we had in Cadouin was ideal for two couples as it had two roughly equivalent master suites each with an excellent modern bathroom.
About 10 years ago we spent several days in Salies-de-Bearn, which seemed to be a very pleasant, kind of sleepy little town. The people we met there were very nice. Peter
Thanks to all for your suggestions. We have found a great place to stay in Chalais.
You may be interested in these detailed articles about things to see in this region. They are from the New York Times, which does limit the number of articles per month that non-subscribers can see, so you should print them out if you will want to refer to them later.
Gascony: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/travel/gascony-food-restaurants-france.html?_r=0
Food and wine in Bordeaux: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/travel/food-and-wine-in-bordeaux-france.html
Médoc: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/travel/medoc-france-fine-wines-country-cooking.html
