I’ve been going to Bergerac every few months ever since I was born: Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and of course in summer. Because it’s inland, the summer heat is never humid: it’s a dry heat and the air is lovely. I really love the weather in late August, when we get dry storms: the skies split open, the thunder rumbles, but no rain falls. It’s awe-inspiring.
“No place like home”
My house is the kind of family home we all dream of having: full of winding corridors with bedrooms everywhere, packed with old family heirlooms, and with thick walls that keep it nice and cool, even during heat waves. It’s right at the end of a cul-de-sac, so we’re blessed with unbeatable views of the vineyards that stretch out all around us, and enjoy beautiful sunsets that are never the same two days in a row.
It’s so good that I don’t even mind making a return trip from Paris on the train just to spend a couple of days there, even if it’s five and a half hours each way. It’s a place where I can reconnect with the important things in life. When I get there, I explore the house, and once I‘ve counted how many spiders are in my room, I head out for a stroll to visit the hamlet’s little church. That’s when I know I’m home.
“Duck in all its guises"
In the morning, after saying hello to the deer that make themselves at home in our garden at sunrise, we head to the pool. Whether out with the family or with friends, we always like to have lunch at Anne-Marie’s restaurant, “Une Cuillère pour Maman”, located in a pretty little shaded Bergerac square. Foie gras, gizzards, breast fillets… Duck in all its guises is a real reminder of where we are.
When we fancy a bit of exercise, we go canoeing on the Dordogne, where a bit of rowing is great for digesting lunchtime’s duck confit. In every direction, Périgord stretches out and never stops blowing us away with its villages that all end in “-ac”, its herons, and beautiful landscape. There’s nowhere like it!
It’s a shame that Cyrano never visited Bergerac: he’d have loved it!
Places to go
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“Une cuillère pour maman” to sample Anne-Marie’s dishes: 10 place du Feu in Bergerac
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“Laser Play” for laser tag with the kids: 21 route de Bordeaux in Saint-Laurent-des-Vignes
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“Canoë Attitude” for rowing along the Dordognerame: Les Quais in Gardonne
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