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A life balance break in Brantôme

Suzanne
9 June 2024
3

As a treat and respite from house and garden preparation, and before our first guests arrrived in July, we took the opportunity to visit somewhere new to us. Brantôme came highly recommended when in the Perigueux region, as a picturesque and historical place of interest.

Interesting facts:
  • Brantome is referred to as the ‘Venice of Périgord’
  • La Via Lemovicensis, an old pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, runs through Brantôme.
  • Population of around 2000
  • The Abbey houses one of the oldest 11th century bell towers in France
The village of Brantome itself is fairly small but full of small shops, cafes, restaurants and beauitiful old architecture. The bulk of the village is an island surrounded by the river ‘Dronne‘, and accessed by a series of bridges, hence the Venice reference, and it is dominated by the imposing and visually magnificent Benedictine Abbey of Brantôme. The Abbey itself is surrounded by beautiful gardens and the large riverside forecourt and river bridges offer the perfect place to hold the Friday morning market which we enjoyed immensely. There’s plenty do do in the area – canoeing, walking, tours of the Abbey, caves, and castles to visit. It’s also great for foodies like us.

Before heading to Brantôme from Perigeux, we had a couple of hours to visit a chateau, another of our favourite past-times. Fifteen minutes drive from Brantome lies the Renaissance Chateau – Chateau de Puyguilhem, which is crammed with architectural and decorative elements, some of the best we’ve seen. The chateau is situated in woodland and It wasn’t overly busy so if you don’t enjoy crowds this one could be for you. The car park was set a fair way away from the Chateau so some eight minutes walking is required, although I think you can pre-arrange to drive closer if walking a fair distance is a problem. Tours are available but we were a bit late so took ourselves around, it wasn’t massive so didn’t take long, about an hour or so. We’d certainly recommend Chateau de Puyguilhem if you love history and architecture and/or have princess fantasies.

The hotel we stayed at in Brantôme..
 
We decided to splash out a bit and stay overnight somewhere special with a good restaurant, being foodies, as it was also our 28th wedding anniversary. We chose the striking Le Moulin De L’Abbaye with it’s photogenic riverside location and one star Michelin Guide 2024 restaurant. We were not disappointed…
 
We had a stunning corner room overlooking the river from two windows – the noise from the river weir might be a bit loud for some but we loved it. Early evening drinks on the terrace overlooking the weir and across to the Jardin Des Moines set up the evening in style, and the restaurant set meal with a different wine for each course was sublime – we chose the three courses but if I remember correctly a choice of five or seven courses was on offer.
Tip: Always remember les amuse bouches and other little tempting morsels are usually par for the course in France so it usually pays to not overdo it. Three courses was just perfect for us and we left very happy and not over stuffed. We will be back! 
 
We have and do recommend Brantôme as worth a visit, our friends who visited loved it too.
 
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