After some domestic duties we set off in beautiful sunshine to visit two mediaeval villages. As is the way around here we discovered a couple more as we drove through the countryside. The land here is undulating hills and river valleys with a mix of grazing and orchards. The golden brown Limousin cattle are very photogenic but we couldn't find anywhere to safely pull over on the narrow roads to take pictures. We were travelling the smaller rural roads as you don't really see much from the motor ways. We were on "apple highway" and we certainly saw lots of orchards. All very neat and netting covered.
The first village we stopped at was Alassac and we were virtually stopped in our tracks by the massive church and round tower which dominated the square. We walked around them and in to the Church. There was no way to identify their age but mediaeval fits the bill.
From there we found Volutezac which again had massive stone buildings. The location had obviously been strategic as from the valley we looked up at a wall of stone buildings. It was siesta time there with everything closed so we took a couple of photos and moved on to Pompadour. I wonder how this name became attached to a hairstyle. Here there is a massive fortress which we could not visit due to renovations in progress. We had a salad for lunch in the Le Marche bistro as the boulangeries were not selling sandwiches. Here we had information on out placemats of the towns other claim to fame. In Autumn they host a major equestrian season at their hippodrome. We souveniered a clean (paper) placemat for our friend Virginia.
Segur-la-Chateau was the village to spend time in. We were given a map for a self guided walking tour at the Information Centre complete with an English translation of the descriptors of the buildings by a charming young French woman. Armed with this we set off around the village soaking up the feel and the views of this 15th to 16th century village. A couple of future kings had their origins here, there was the old mill building intact complete with mill pond and stone grinding wheel propped against the wall. The Chateau was undergoing reconstruction but it's position on the crown of the ridge made it's importance obvious. The river wound around the town and we crossed the wooden bridge just up stream to see the "fountain" where Richard the Lionheart had camped during his campaigns.
We drove home to a quiet night with a very French pizza for dinner. It was unusual as it was cooked with only half the ingredients on it. The rest such as the jambon, red onion, rocket and cheese were added fresh. This made it very tasty and we polished it off before devouring our patisserie contraband. Early night after loading the washing machine.
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