corrÃ¨ze dordogne map 329 michelin local maps

CORRÃ¨ZE DORDOGNE MAP 329 MICHELIN LOCAL MAPS PLUS

Talk to one of the guides in the tourist office and they will be delighted to tell you of their famous former resident Coco Chanel, who lived at an orphanage housed in the monastery for several years and learnt to sew during her time there. Wander out of the village and you will find the monks’ canal, an impressive feat of engineering to divert water from the River Coyroux to the monastery, and now a pleasant afternoon walk among the trees. The village is home to pretty houses and a sunny square, which is great for people watching.

CORRÃ¨ZE DORDOGNE MAP 329 MICHELIN LOCAL MAPS PLUS

To discover the final two Plus Beaux Villages in Corrèze you will have to head north-west, first to Saint-Robert, built around a church high in the Corrèze hills, and then onto Ségur-le-Château, dotted with half-timbered noblemen’s houses built between the 15th and 18th centuries.Ī less well-known village in the south of Corrèze is Aubazine, which grew around a monastery founded by the monk Saint Étienne in the 12th century. Curemonte’s claim to fame is that it provided sanctuary to the French writer Colette during the Second World War. The third of the Plus Beaux Villages, in the south of Corrèze, is Curemonte, a medieval hilltop village with three towering châteaux. To really get a feel for the sleepy village though, take a leisurely stroll along its steep streets and enjoy an apéritif in the sun at one of the handful of restaurants on the Place de la Halle. You can learn more about the history of the village and the viscounts at the Château de Turenne, and make sure you climb the worn steps of the 12th-century Tour César for spectacular views of the surrounding countryside and the village below. From this village, the viscounts of Turenne ruled much of Limousin, Périgord and Quercy for almost 1,000 years. Just 15 minutes down the road is Turenne, built high on a rocky outcrop and dominating the surroundings.

Explore out of season and you can’t help but be seduced by its tranquil atmosphere and warm red buildings. Of the five of these villages in Corrèze, Collonges-laRouge with its distinctive red buildings is probably the most well-known and the most visited, and for good reason. Since then the association has grown quickly and now counts 156 villages under its protection. It was founded in 1982 by the mayor of the village, who felt it was his mission to help protect and promote the country’s picturesque villages. In fact, Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, the association which awards the classification of the same name, began life in Corrèze in the village of Collonges-la-Rouge. If quaint French villages appeal then you are in luck because there are no less than five of the ‘most beautiful villages of France’ in Corrèze. However, if you travel south towards the border with Dordogne and Lot, you encounter unspoilt villages along the Vézère and Dordogne rivers and even a few bustling towns. While exploring this corner of Corrèze, you would be much more likely to bump into one of the prized Limousin cows than a fellow human. The local wisdom is that ‘millevaches’ doesn’t mean a ‘thousand cows’ (although this would be entirely appropriate), but a ‘thousand springs’ as it is home to many water sources. Probably the most rural part of Corrèze is the Parc Naturel Régional de Millevaches en Limousin, which lies in the north of the department and also straddles the two other Limousin departments, Creuse and Haute-Vienne. Limousin has the reputation of being rural and this is very much deserved, with a green blanket covering most of the department, interspersed with the instantly recognisable brown Limousin cows and only an average of 43 people per square kilometre.

Corrèze, one of Limousin’s three departments, borders both Dordogne and Lot, and shares many of their charms: gastronomy, landscapes and quaint villages. In France’s rural heartland, the region of Limousin has been largely overlooked by those wanting to settle in France, many of whom make a beeline for the southern reaches or the ever-popular Dordogne.

Hidden away in the rural heart of France, Corrèze in Limousin has slipped under many a visitor’s radar but it has much offer including wild nature, sleepy villages and picturesque towns

CorrÃ¨ze dordogne map 329 michelin local maps